Blogs from East, Laos, Asia - page 18

Phonsavan, Plain of Jars. We left Luang Prabang and headed on down to a little dusty town where, scattered in the surrounding highland hills, lie huge jars that where carved from heavy stone boulders and somehow dragged to these sites and left to rest on these evergreen grassy hill sides. It is amazing that these jars survived the Vietnamese / American war, as over 2 million tons of ordinance was dropped on Loas during this time - more than what was dropped on Germany and Japan in WWII - and most of the world never knew, go figure. We took these sites in with a few other couples: Irish, American and British. The day was one of interest and wonder as we were transported from site to site in our super swift van. Locals always know ... read more

Another river journey, but this time in my own privately chartered vessel. Expensive relative to getting a shared boat (which wasnt possible today) but still an absolute bargain! I stopped for lunch at Muang Ngoi, I tiny village with no roads. It kindof a small pile of guesthouses and a school and small temple. The view is great, over a forested valley which could easily be used to film the next Jurassic Park. However I don't think I could stay here for long - the setting may me idyllic but the village really isnt. So its back on the boat, and we carry on north. The scenery changes gradually from the rugged cliffs and mountains to more gentle and rolling hills. At times teh extent of the wet season flooding is evident as the boat navigates ... read more

After the excitement of the kayaking trip, Alex and I needed a couple of days' rest before moving on...It had been our intention to leave Luang Phabang for the province of Xieng Khouang on Friday, but difficulties in finding transportation pushed our departure from Luang Phabang to Saturday. More on that later. The morning after the kayaking trip I woke up with my whole back and arms horribly stiff and sore. I was in charge of steering the kayak (coxing experience from college came in very handy here !) and navigating through the rapids required much twisting around to keep the kayak perpendicular to the rapids...Alex suggested a Lao massage to loosen up stiff muscles so we headed off to the "Garden Spa", a rather fancy name for a little house in a quiet backstreet of ... read more

Dem vielen Wasser in Luang Prabang entfliehe ich in Richtung Osten. Nahe der vietnamesischen Grenze befinden sich die “Field of Jars”. Die deutsche Uebersetzung “Ebene der Tonkruege” ist irrefuehrend, weil die Kruege gar nicht aus Ton sind, sondern aus Stein. In der Gegend um die Phonsavan wurden die per Hand behauenen Steinkruege inklusive “Deckel” auf mehrere Huegel transportiert und dazu benutzt die Asche von Toten beizusetzen. Wie der Transport der bis zu 15 Tonnen schweren Kruege abgelaufen ist, welches Brauchtum dazugehoerte und welche Kultur hier ueberhaupt ansaessig war, das ist ziemlich wenig erforscht. Fuer die Laoten steht jedoch fest: die Kruege sind Becher aus denen der Riese “Kha” Reiswein gebechert hat. Mann, muss “Kha” voll gewesen sein - bei insgesamt 300 Kruegen… Die vielen Wisschenschaftler, die sich eben nicht mit der Erforschung der historischen Hintergruende bes ... read more

The plain of jars is fascinating and interesting historically - both for the 3000 years they've been there and the damage done during the American War. But the bus ride was even better! I visited the plain of Jars with two Slovenian girls (later I was to check out the CIA factbook to find out where the hell Slovenia is) and two Austrians that I met on the most interesting bus I have ever been on. Friday 3rd March, 2006 Woke up, stood up, and collapsed in agony as pain soared through my lower back; I knew immediately that my old army injury had returned to haunt me. Back in 1995 during fire and movement drill on an officer training course I had put my back out and had limited movement for 8 years until, on ... read more