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We were the last to get on the minibus and ended up the weird foldy end of the row chairs which proved violently uncomfortable through the very windy and mountainous roads. We stopped off for food after a few hours but neither of us trusted our stomachs enough to consume food, while we were drinking the industrial strength Laos coffee the owner produced a dead flying squirrel for our lunch! Luckily we managed to get away with just taking a photo and got back on the bus for the rest of the vomit inducing journey! We arrived in Ponsavanh with our stomach lining intact and checked into the aptly named nice guesthouse, which was very…… nice. We went down to the food market had a steaming bowl of noodle soup, booked our trip to the jars for the next day and settled in for an early night with bbc news. Unfortunately in the middle of the night, sick note (!!) came down with a pretty nasty bug and needless to say the next twenty four hours were no fun at all! Luckily tel felt well enough the day after to go on the trip so we were up to see the
sun come up and set off for the jars. Site one was about 10km from the town and after a short walk we were surrounded by these amazing giant stone jars. They are pretty awesome to see and all the more interesting when you find out no-one knows how they got there or what they are for; one theory is burial pots but nohuman remains found so far and another whicky jars.There are over 80 sites with these giant jars but only three have been cleared of UXO (more of which later!) Site one had the largest jars and was pretty eerie with massive bomb craters all over the site. Site two was beautiful and had lovely views all over the surrounding countryside. After lunch we wandered over the rickety bridge, through the paddy fields and past the water buffalo’s to site three which was my favourite of all. From here we visited a random Russian tank in the middle of someone’s garden and then a Laos Laos rice whisky making village - Jono your fermentation tanks are futuristic in comparison! We then headed back to the bizarre concrete jungle that is Ponsavanh to go to the MAG office to
start our real education about Laos.
Caution - History Lesson is on it's way!
Now comes the very serious bit, please read this as up until a few weeks ago I had absolutely no idea about this. It might be my ignorance or not listening in history but I had heard all about the Vietnam war and the terrible things that occurred in Cambodia but I never knew that between the years of 1964 and 1973, during the Vietnam War, the USA conducted one of the largest, sustained aerial bombardments in history which resulted in Laos becoming the most heavily bombed country ever. The air-strikes violated the Geneva Contract, which the USA had signed just a few years previously, and because of this the bombing campaign was kept a secret from the US congress and the world and so it became known as the Secret War. Whilst the news at the time focused around the war in Vietnam the attrocities going on in Laos remained unknown to the public for years. Over two million tonnes of bombs were dropped on Laos, thats half a ton for every person living there at the time, and needless to say enough
to kill the entire population at least twice over.
There are three reasons given as to why the secret war occured,the first was to stop the spread of communism in northern Laos, the second that the USA were trying to destroy the Ho Chi Minh Trail to thwart Vietnam's attempts to get supplies and strengthen their campaign. The third and most amazing reason given is that when the American planes' missions were abandoned to Vietnam due to unavailable airspace instead of returning and landing the planes fully armed and loaded (which was very dangerous!) they dumped the ammunition all over the north of Laos killing thousands of people in the process! When the USA announced they were ceasing their air-strikes in Vietnam all the left over bombs, which was a lot, were effectively dumped on Laos. It was only then, after thousands of Laos people were made refugees, that the world learnt of what was happening and the bombing stopped.
Many of the bombs used in the campaign were cluster bombs. These evil things are not created to nuke buildings or targets they are designed to kill and mame people. Each bomb casing releases six hundred and fifty smaller bombs,
'bombies' as they are known locally, which explode on impact firing over two hundred stainless steel ball bearings packed within them at ballistic speeds in all directions. However 30% of these didn't detonate on impact and they now cover large areas of Laos as UXO (unexploded ordanance). It only takes someone to hit one whilst digging in the fields or for a child to pick one up or even for someone to just stand on one for them to explode with obviously devastating consequences.
What has been left behind by the bombings has been catastrophic for Laos and its people. Many areas of land can't be utilised due to the UXO which has resulted in stunting Laos' economic growth. Farmers live in constant fear of hitting UXO whilst digging the fields and being killed or injured and many people are permanantly disabled after falling victim to the UXO.
A British company called MAG are currently leading the efforts to clear up the mess left by the US. They are working on safely clearing the land of UXO and are raising awareness with the locals to try and reduce accidents. However it will take many decades until the country is cleared.
The film 'Bombies' that they showed us in the MAG office detailing the above left us speechless and in awe of the spirit of the people of this country who are still having to deal with the consequences of an unprovoked campaign of the worst bombing in history.
History lesson over!
After our education at the MAG office we had some food with a few people we had met on our trip to the Jars and prepared ourselves for the hopefully not too vomit inducing bus ride to Vang Vieng tomorrow.
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Lu
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Fascinating!
What a fascinating story! Well told Ab, i was entralled! Please be careful not to tread on any UXO, it would really not help sicknotes poorly toe!! Or maybe it would, that could be your solution, quicker than an amputation! X