Jars on a Plain

Trip Start Oct 15, 2008
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14
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Trip End Ongoing


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Where I stayed
White Orchid Guest House
(Phonsavan hotels)

Flag of Lao Peoples Dem Rep  ,
Tuesday, November 25, 2008

I would like to take this opportunity to announce that I have made an amazing, groundbreaking discovery here in Laos...I have discovered the world's smelliest man. I guess it's unfair to take all of the credit, seeing as he pretty much discovered me when he sat down next to me for the 9 hour bus ride from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan. I'm still waiting for the laboratory test results, but I estimate the composition of his stink to be approximately 40% mop water concentrate, 20% standard BO, 25% cat piss, 10% cow manure, and 5% mold. I tried to plug up my nose with Tiger Balm, but that only served to weave menthol into the stank bouquet. Once we arrived in Phonsavan several of the other passengers approached me to express their sympathies.
 
My purpose for traveling to Phonsavan was to explore the enigmatic Plain of Jars. I challenge you to find the Plain of Jars listed in a Laos guidebook without first being qualified as either Mysterious or Enigmatic. Basically they're just a bunch of possibly 2000-year-old jars on a plain, well 3 plains to be exact, and nobody knows where they come from. The most popular theory is that they were used as funerary urns. There was something else about the stones being quarried from a mountain about 25 km away, and they are too heavy to be carried by elephants. It was hard to get much more out of the guide, who spoke very little English. Think Lao Stonehenge...LaoHenge. After touring the jars for several hours the real enigma was revealed: Why did I travel 9 hours to see a bunch of stone jars? I think I was still a bit bitter from my prolonged encounter with Mr. Smellypants.
 
The most enlightening portion of my stay in Phonsavan was my evening visit to MAG (Mines Advisory Group). MAG has worked in Laos since 1994 as a UXO-clearance operator. A UXO is unexploded ordnance, including unexploded bombs, rockets, missiles, mortars and grenades. I mentioned in an earlier entry that Laos is famous for being the most bombed country on earth. Between 1964 and 1973 three million tons of ordnance were dropped on the country and I think something like 30% failed to explode. Xieng Khuang Province, home of the Plain of Jars, was the hardest hit - every single town and village was bombed. Thanks to MAG, the Plain of Jars is now safe for tourism, but there is a lot more work to do. Here's the MAG Lao website: http://www.maginternational.org/maglao/
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Comments

volberding
volberding on Nov 25, 2008 at 10:26AM

Who are the ladies you are photoed with?
I hope they are not with those two old dudes.

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