Phonsavan - The heart of darkness

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After leaving the beautiful Luang Prabang, we took a horrendous 6 hour journey (which felt like the world's worst rollercoaster) to a gritty town called Phonsavan. We found out that until a month before we arrived they didn't have streetlamps, and so tourists would often hurt themselves walking back to their hotel at night!

During the Vietnam war, the CIA conducted a secret war in Laos, as it bordered Vietnam. During the 15 years it is estimated that the CIA flew a bombing mission over Laos every 9 minutes! This meant that over the bombed areas 12 tonnes of bombs were dropped per square kilometre. There were also lots of CIA officers in Laos, the most famous of which was Colonel Tony Poe, who used to cut off his enemies ears and staple them to reports sent back to Washington; he was the basis for the character Colonel Kurtz in Apocalypse Now. The province in which Phonsavan falls was the frontline of the secret war, and bore the brunt of the constant bombing by the US. Today only 1% of the unexploded bombs have been found and disarmed.

The main attraction in Phonsavan is the Plain of Jars. This is several sites where large stone jars were discovered. It is thought that they were used as old graves; bodies would be cremated in a nearby cave and then placed inside these jars. However, no one knows for this for certain. So we took a tour where we could see the jars, and also see the effects of the bombings. We went to a village where the UXO (unexploded ordinance/bombs) were used to build houses, plane doors were used as doors for houses and the metal used for a runway was used to make a bridge. We also went to a "spoon village" where the inhabitants are using recovered scrap weaponry, melting it down and making spoons! Here we sat drinking Lao Lao with a man whose house was covered in spare bomb parts! We also saw a Russian tank, and stopped on the Ho Chi Minh trail (supposedly). We had a fantastic day and it was really interesting to see how the country is overcoming such a brutal history.

Although Phonsavan is such an interesting place, the town itself is pretty low key and we couldn't afford any more tours! The food was terrible and the hotel was worn, so after a quick visit we moved on to Vang Vieng.

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