Phonsovan, Laos

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We hadn't originally planned to go to Phonsovan, but we met a French/Laos couple who had worked as tourguides in Laos during the 70's before fleeing to Laos during the revolution. They suggested we should go here to learn some interesting history - and we certainly did.

Phonsovan's regular attraction is the Plain of Jars, a series of huge stone jars scattered across various sites. The one we went to had over 300 jars. Nobody is really sure what they are for or indeed who put them there. The most common view is that they are burial jars and that the ashes of the deceased were put in here.

Phosovan's less regular attraction, but far more interesting to me was their recent history during the "Secret War". During the Vietnam War, many Vietnamese troops hid in the area of Laos that bordered Vietnam and a number of Laos people also joined the Vietnamese cause. Given that both the USA and Vietnam had publically declared Laos' neutrality, the war remained largely secret and was denied by the US government at the time. Xieng Khouang province (where we were) is the most heavily bombed province in the most heavily bombed country (per capita) in the world. Half a ton of explosive was dropped for every person living in Laos at the time. 1.36 million metric tons of bombs were dropped. The tragedy for the current people of Laos is that a third of these bombs didn't explode and are still there. It's fairly hard to imagine to put this into context, but I'll try:

Helpfully enough, Laos is about the same size as the UK. The weight of the unexploded bombs on Laos is roughly the combined weight of 10%!o(MISSING)f the entire British population or at 6.4 million people, slightly more than the weight of the whole Scottish population. So, now imagine that 10%!o(MISSING)f the British population went off and hid somewhere - like a huge game of hide and seek. Now, imagine that you live in this place and if you touch one of these people then there's a good chance that you'll die. This is the life that the people of Eastern Laos lead.

The people here are already living in poverty and are not helped in the slightest by the fact that they're too scared to plough new fields for fear of striking a bomb. The children here we noticed play in the road - it's much safer here than playing in the fields. The USA dropped hundreds of cluster bombs. These explode before hitting the ground and release around 200 "bomblets" each, with many failing to explode. These are about the size of a tennis ball and for children they look like a nice new toy to play with. I don't think I need to explain any more about that.

Most fatalities now, however, are caused by local people trying to diffuse the bombs themselves so that they can sell the bomb casing for scrap metal. They will only get about 7 pence per kilo for the metal, but to them it's often the only option they can see to make some money.

A charity called the Mines Advisory Group or MAG ( www.maginternational.org) is slowly trying to clear the unexploded bombs (known as UXO - or Unexploded Ordinance). At their current rate it will take them about 100 years to get the job done. In the meantime they are also trying to educate local people of the dangers and trying to substitute the scrap metal trade. I definitely recommend having a look at their website.

We drove through the countryside, seeing ponds that were suspiciously round. These were bomb craters. At one village they were putting old (empty) bomb casings to good use - as the stilts for houses, fences and even for growing spring onions in. We also visited a cave where 374 Laos people were killed when a rocket was fired into the cave from a plane. The area is covered with caves and this one was big enough to serve as a school, hospital and house for 3 whole villages during the war. Our guide explained (in an astonishingly unbiased way) that the attack happened at around 1am. Because the carpet bombing mainly happened in the day, the fields were tended to in the middle of the night. This resulted in people watching on from the fields whilst the cave was blown apart with their families in it. The cave, though, contained both civilians and soldiers so it's unfair to simply criticise the US for attacking children. Using civilians as a human shield also asks a few moral questions.

This was the most interesting place I have been to so far on this trip.

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