Blogs from Phonsavan, East, Laos, Asia - page 5

One of the fundamental rules of the roadtrip, in any culture, seems to be that the driver gets to choose the music. Period. End of story. Non negotiable. And everyone else just has to deal with it. This definitely was the case today. But first, the morning. Every morning, the monks from all of the wats around Luang Prabang wake up at 4am to pray. At 6am, they're ready for breakfast, having not eaten anything since noon the day before (although one did tell us that they're allowed to have coffee, tea and Ovaltine). Instead of ordering up some eggs and bacon or grabbing a latte and cinnamon bun from the nearby bakeries, these guys walk down the main street of town, collecting food (and candy; money too) from the people who live in the village. ... read more

To get from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan we needed to back on the nerve-shredding route 13 and head north. Fortunately, our driver this time seemed slightly more sane and the journey wasn't quite as frightening as before although this might have been because he was wary of the heavy mist that settled over the area for most of the journey, obscuring the distant hills but making the nearer ones look even more spectacular. I did manage to take some photos but it was a case of sticking my hand out of the tiny window while the bus was bumping along and trying to snap the scenery as we zipped past. Following the Laos tradition of bringing odd objects onto public transport, a teenage Lao couple boarded with two pet birds on strings that sat on the ... read more

Phonsavan, Laos is a town in eastern Laos that is in one of the most heavily bombed areas in the world. During the "Secret War" in Laos (1964-1973) the United States dropped over a million metric tons of explosives on this poor country. An estimated 30% of the bombs failed to detonate leaving unexploded ordinances littering the land. These bombs are still responsible for many deaths every year including children who tend to gravitate toward the ball shaped cluster bombs. Many farmers here have to risk their lives when clearing land to farm, because the other option is starving. The stories of what the people of this region have been through is deeply disturbing. Despite the fact that my government is resposible for creating this situation, I couldn't have been treated nicer by the beautiful Lao ... read more

Day 79/80/81 - Phonsavan The three of once again dragged ourselves out of bed at a ridiculous hour to catch the bus south to Phonsavan - "Plain of Jars". The bus was quite empty so we each got to spread out and have our own row which was a first for us. It ended up being a complete blessing since it was by far the worst bus journey we've had in the last three months. Even worse then Myanmar. It wasn't the roads that was issue - they were even paved. It was the winding up and down, across and around the mountains at top speed. The constant swerving gave us all severe motion sickness and half way through the ride, they handed out black plastic bags that we assume we in case any of us ... read more

We managed to get the last two seats on the bus to Phonsavan. People who arrived any later had to make do with a plastic stool in the aisle and as usual the bus was packed. The roads in these areas have a history of hi-jackings so we had a gun toting guard on board as security. Luckily the only hold up was due to a burst tyre thanks to some pretty shocking driving but we got there in the end. Phonsavan is an ugly, dusty town in the Xieng Khuang province of Laos. The place only merits a visit becuase of the ancient and mysterious Plain of Jars, which we'll come to later, and for its involvement in the 'Secret War'. Between the years of 1964 and 1973, during the Vietnam War, the USA conducted ... read more