Phonsavan

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Uz nekolikrat jsme se pokouseli pridat na nas blog nejake fotky z poslednich etap, ale bohuzel rychlost / pomalost mistniho internetu nam to nedovoluje. Budeme to dal zkouset.

Pondeli jsme opet stravili v autobuse na presunu mezi Luang Prabangem a Phonsavanem. Tato cesta spise pripominala horskou drahu, ale videli jsme, podle Lonely Planet, nejake omracujici scenerie.

Phonsavan sam o sobe neni vubec nicim zajimavy, ale v jeho okoli se nachazeji tzv. Plane dzbanu. Jak jiz nazev napovida, jedna se o plane s desitkami kamennych dzbanu, z nichz nejvetsi vazi asi tunu. Kvuli absenci jakehokoliv organickeho materialu {tudiz radioaktivniho uhliku} je pomerne obtizne urcit jejich stari. Odhaduje se, ze jsou stare zhruba 3000 let a puvodne slouzily k pohrebnim ucelum. Ale mistni legenda pravi jinak: rika se, ze kdysi davno je nechal vyrobit mistni kral a na oslavu sveho vitezstvi je nechal naplnit Lao-Lao {ryzova whisky}, kterou na te oslave vsechnu vypili.

Nejjednodussi zpusob jak navstivit tyto planiny, je zaplatit si organizovanou turu. My jsme spolu s dalsimi vyuzili sluzeb naseho guesthousu. Soucasti teto tury byla i zastavka u sovetskeho tanku a v nekolika vesnicich. Skoda, ze nemuzeme vlozit fotky.

Tank byl opravdu pusobiva pripominka Vietnamske valky, ackoliv z nej nezustalo skoro nic, protoze mistni vetsinu tanku bud prodali do sberu, nebo pouzili na stavbu svych domu. Dal jsme pokracovali do "Bomb village", kde jsme udajne meli videt americky arzenal vyuzity na stavbu domu. Vesnicane uz dnes od teto tradice upustili a z bomb jsme videli postaveny vseho vsudy jeden chlev. Posledni zastavkou byla tresnicka na dortu v podobe "Whisky village", kde mistni pali Lao-Lao {tez prezdivana svecena voda}. Palirna to byla opravdu primitivni. Jedine co jsme videli, byla misa s kvasici ryzi a jeden zrezly barel s trubickou {destilacni kolona}. Nikdo z nasi skupinky nevypadal moc zklamane, kdyz nam bylo receno, ze nam bohuzel nemuzou dat ochutnat, protoze zrovna nic nemaji. Jinak se nam ale vylet libil.

Dnesni den jsme pro zmenu stravili na ceste. Tentokrat do turisticky vykriceneho Vang Viengu.





We have tried to add some pictures for several times to our blog but the internet is so slow in here... We are going to keep trying.

We spent whole Monday on a trip from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan. The road was like snake zik - zak, but according to Lonely Planet we could see some stunning views.

There is not much to see in Phonsavan but there are Plains of Jars near by. As the name describes there are plains with dozens of stone jars. The biggest weights almost 1 tonne and they are said to be 3000 years old {although there is no clear evidence for this}. It is believed that they were originaly used for burial purposes. But the local legend says something different: Once upon a time, there was a king who won a big battle and to celebrate this, he ordered to make these jars and fill them with Lao-Lao {rice whisky}.

The easiest way how to see these plains is to hire a guide. Our guesthouse offered this so we took it up. Part of our trip was also seeing of Soviet tank and couple of local villages. Pitty we cant add photos.

The tank was an impressive memorial of Vietnamese war, even though, there was not much left of it. The locals flogged the steel to merchant or used it for building their houses. Then we continued to a "Bomb village" where we should have seen US bombs used as a decoration. This custom seems to be dying out and only building we saw decorated with bombs was one stable. The final stop was in a "Whisky village" where the Lao-Lao is being made. The distillary we saw was really primitive. There was basicaly just one bowl full of rotten rice and one rusted barrel with metal pipe {distillation column}. We were told that there is unfortunately no Lao-Lao for us to taste, but after seeing technological background nobody from our group seemed to be really disappointed. On the whole we enjoyed the trip very much.

We spent today in a bus for a change. We arrived to a very turisty place Vang Vieng.

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