Phonsavan - Home to Jars and UXOs

31 January - 1 February 2015

We are about to go off the beaten path in the country of Laos that is already off the beaten path.  The only thing that sits in the way is the 8 hour van ride on a twisty mountain road...thus the "off the beaten path".  Most people traveling around Laos skip the northeast of the country because the travel is slow and tiring, but not us.  The trip started out great when only 6 people boarded the van...at least we will have plenty of room for the trip.

The good parts of the drive are the incredible scenery and when we drive through villages.  This picture was taken out our window while we were passing through a village:

And here is our lunch stop:

After enduring 8 hours of being in a constant turn we made it to Phonsavan.  We checked into our hotel and then decided to check out the UXO Information Centre run by the British organization MAG (Mines Advisory Group).  For those of you that don't know, a UXO is an unexploded ordinance and there are supposedly millions of these lying all over Laos and in particular in this northeast area of Laos.  According to MAG, Laos is the most heavily bombed country, per capita, in history.  Here are some scary statistics:

• The US performed more than 580,000 bombing missions on Laos from 1964 to 1973 during the Vietnam War.
• That's equivalent to one bombing mission every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for nine years.
• Over two million tons of ordnance was dropped on the country, with up to 30 percent failing to explode as designed.
  
• More than 270 million cluster munitions (or ‘bombies’, as they are known locally) were used; up to 80 million failed to detonate, remaining live and in the ground after the end of the war.
  
• Approximately 25 per cent of the country's villages are contaminated with unexploded ordnance (UXO).
• From the end of the war in 1974 to 2008, more than 20,000 people were killed or injured as a result of UXO accidents.
• There have been approximately 300 new casualties annually over the last decade.
• Over the last decade 40 per cent of total casualties were children.

After walking around the exhibit and watching a film about the subject we were compelled to purchase a t-shirt to help the cause.  We then went next door and purchased a scarf with the proceeds going directly to families that have been affected by UXOs.

After that eye-opening experience we went for dinner where I experienced river weed for the first time.  It is like seaweed, but from a river so it isn't very salty, but it was delicious.

The next morning we set out on a tour to see a Hmong village, Tham Piu Cave, and Plain of Jars Site 1.

First the Hmong village.  Some of the more interesting things in this village is how they use bombs for everyday objects.  Also, notice the last picture of this group.  These villagers, according to our tour guide, is preparing some kind of root that someone in the U.S. ordered to help with lowering blood pressure.

Bombs to grow gardens in.

Bombs as a fence.

Playing catch with a village child.

Preparing root to send to U.S.

Next we stopped at Tham Piu Cave where during the so-called Secret War on 24 November 1969, a single rocket fired from a US aircraft killed an estimated 374 people, rumoured to be an entire village, who had taken refuge in the cave. 

Finally, the star of the day, a visit to Plain of Jars Site 1, a megalithic archaeological landscape in Laos.  No one knows what civilization made these jars, but it is believe they date back to 500 BCE.  There are more than 90 jar sites, but site 1 has the largest concentration: 

Oh...this place is one of the areas the US bombed intensely, so it is important to stay within the "lines".  We are supposed to walk on the paths on the side of the white stripe:

After Plain of Jars we returned to Phonsavan, had dinner, and called it a night.  Tomorrow we must endure a 10 hour, 155 mile van ride to Sam Neua for yet another "off the beaten path" adventure.