Plain of Jars
Trip Start
Mar 10, 2007
1
31
153
Trip End
??? ??, 2007
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Phonsavan,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Thursday, May 17, 2007
Right, sorry to keep doing this to you, but i felt this little piece of history is something that people need to know about, mainly because i had no idea about it before i left and when i found out i felt soo ignorant that i was oblivious to something as important as this. In the 1960-70's Laos was extensively bombed by the US in the Indochina wars against communism, in what has come to be known as 'the secret war'. In fact, Laos is the most heavily bombed nation in the history of warfare. One frightening statistic is that the amount of bombs dropped on Laos equates to one planeload being dropped every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years! The amount of bombs equates to half a ton per person in Laos. Ridiculous.
The first stop on our tour was a bomb crater site, where i was amazed to hear our guide say, as we observed these small white tennis ball sized pieces of metal, 'and over here we have some unexploded bombs' WHHAAAAAAAATT? BOMBS, YOU MEAN WE'RE LITERALLY STANDING TWO INCHES FROM A BOMB?' was going through my head, but i played it cool (I'm a man after all! :p) . I was disgusted by the fact that, whilst there is a group that comes and removes them, and they have been reported, it usually takes this group about 2 months to remove them, meanwhile kids are playing catch with the bloody things.
a seal inside a cave
How the priorities of different nations differ i guess.Next stop off was a waterfall, which i believe was the tat Saloei, which made a nice lunch stop. A forest walk to a black Hmong village was a very relaxing way to spend the afternoon. The villagers had used leftover shrapnel and bomb casings to build their houses, for example the stilts several houses were built on were actually bomb casings. Another example of how these wars have affected the people is the fact that these villagers rely on farming methods to survive, and yet now their fields are filled with unexploded bombs they have to be soo careful, and their productivity evidently suffers due to certain areas effectively being off limits. They even have to light their fires in bomb casings as on the ground they could cause bombs to explode.
A sunset walk amongst the plain of jars finished the evening perfectly, and we even got a rainbow to make it that extra bit special (aaaaaaaawwwwwwww). The plain of Jars' sites are fields consisting of giant stone jars, some up to about 2m in height. The jars are believed to be used in some sort of burial ceremony, though archaeologists are still unsure as to how exactly. The locals however believe that the jars are used in a big feast like ceremony to store food and Lao Lao (slightly less likely i feel). There are believed to be around 60 different jar sites, though only 3 have been cleared of Uxo's, the main three. We only visited one, but having done so i would have to say that one is enough; it is interesting but all three sites would be overkill i think. Next day i border a bus to Sam Neua, from where i went straight to Viengxai to check out the Pathet Lao caves the next day.
