Blogs from Phonsavan, East, Laos, Asia

At the crack of dawn (seems most all buses in Laos leave from 6am-8am) I made my way to the terminal in Luang Prabang and purchased a ticket ($95,000kip) for the eight hour journey East to Phonsavan, or locally known as Xieng Khouang. Located in the North Eastern Province of Laos, close to the Vietnamese border, the rolling dusty valleys pegged in by mountainous jungles are home to some unique ancient archeological sites and the friendly Hmong hill tribe peoples. Unfortunately due to the strategic location and the events happening in the late 1960's and early 1970's this area of the planet was subjected to the largest and most intense aerial bombardment in the history of warfare and certainly in the history of mankind. All in a nation that was declared neutral by the Geneva Conference ... read more

Geo: 19.4811, 103.13... read more

Saw a flyer in need of a Native English speaker to volunteer in Phonsavanh, Laos. The ad was for volunteers to interact with kids who are learning English. Technically, I'm not a native English speaker, but close enough. I got in contact with Salithsay and arranged a volunteer date. I'd contemplated teaching english overseas the last couple of years. This was me dipping my foot in the water for the first time. The kids were very polite and greeted me with "Sabaidee." We spent a couple of hours going thru workbooks. Every now and then. I'd try to get interactive with them by acting out scenarios in the workbook. For the short amount of time these kids have been learning english, they actually understood what I said very well. I was quite surprised. Forming sentences ... read more

I had Opium Wine today with a fella by the name of Vong. The wine was made from sticky rice. Opium flowers and roots were aged in the rice wine for about two weeks. Its commonly used as a painkiller. I was told that it would help alleviate painful joints. The wine itself taste sweeter than other wines I've had in Southeast Asia, but not to the point of labeling it as a dessert wine. It also has a leafy after taste. It gave me a good buzz and made me a bit sleepy. Locals in Laos are allowed to grow a small amount of Opium. It is legal to make wine with it, but not to smoke.... read more

The 8 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan allowed us to see in amongst the hills and valleys we has seen from the slow boat. Outside of the city this presented a very different side of Laos. Houses are wooden with bamboo roofs mostly raised off the ground. Children and adults shower in a communal area and food is eaten on the ground. Chickens, pigs and buffalo roam seemingly freely and cows sit outside the houses, some tethered, some not, as if like dogs near the front door. Phonsavan is the gateway town to the Plain of Jars, an iron age archaeological landscape comprising of clusters of stone 'jars', the original use of which is open to some debate. We visited sites 1&3 of the 3 main sites and saw jars of between 1-2 ... read more