Weapon's, bombs, wars, and a lot of Jars (Asia Trek pt 19)

Leaving Vientiane for the last time was uneventful, so much so that I can hardly remember it except for the fact that it was another gruellingly long bus trip. I think over ten hours. This bus driver was also one of those bus drivers that make you wonder why you take the risk travelling through these parts. Looking out the window and seeing the ground dissapear as the bus squeks it way round maountainous bends is enough to make your heart flutter, but as usual, we arrived safely without any dramas. One thing that was a bit odd was that halfway through the trip while eating lunch I realised that there was a younr man on the bus with an AK47 hidden underneath his jacket. With no markings on his clothes and no uniform, I was actually glad that I had read something about Laos before embarking on this trip.

The first thing that eased my concern was that he was eating lunch with the bus drivers which indicated that at least he was something official or prearranged! As I said I had done some reading and was aware that during the veitnam war there had alos been a struggle between the communists and the US in Laos. With the US dropping almost 10 tonnes of ammunition in Laos for every person, while the local Hmong people fought the communists on the ground with the support of the US. No the communists won as we all know and after that have tried to erdicate the hostile Hmong foces that still roam the countryside. However this is not that easy gien the incredibly mountainess terrain. Consequently there was a period where the hmong insurgents would come down from the mountains and attack the buses travelling through the area to obtain money from the bus drivers and tourists. Since then all buses have taken on private secruity (I believe with government support) in order to stem those attack. Hence the guy with the AK47. I have actually posted a link to an interesting article in the New York Times which outlines the history of the CIA's 'secret'war and some of the ongoing consequences that are playing out even today, with 800 Hmong refugees recently forcibly repatriated back to Laos.

Anyway, that explains the armed security guard, and with little fuss we arrived in Phonsavan. No for the first time in my trip, when I arrived at the bus station none of the Tuk-Tuk drivers seemed at al interested in taking me so I had to approach them myself. AFter realising that it was going to be reasonab;y expensive to take a tuk-tuk by myself I got talking to an American who was the son of refugees from Laos who had come back to his home town. He agreed with his family to let me hitch a lift, which was mighty fine. Arriving at the main street I booked into a hotel before exploring my option for a tour of the Plain of Jars (the main tourist attraction in this area. Two shops down the road I found a tour company that had spare room for one more person so I paid the money and signed up.

The next day I got up early and went of to see the plain of jars, or more correctly plains of jars. These Jars date from abut 3000 years ago, and while there are many collections of stone jars spread around the area, currently only three are accesible due to Unexploded Oridinance. These jars made out of carved stone or baked stone vary in size from around 1 meter to 3 meters tall and around 60cm and 2 meters in diameter. There exact origin and purpose is unknown but two competing threories range from being an ancient burial ritual to being used for the creation of rice whisky. The latter comes from the local population. For more information see this wikipedia link . The hundreds of jars just sit in the fields around phonsavan, which has for me, a striking resemblance to the area around Canberra only greener. Walking across the plains made me think alot of home, but not enough to make me want to go back.

The three sites currently open are the only ones accesible by tourists as the area has been cleared of Unexploded Ordinance (bombs). The area was heavily bombed by the american government which caused damage to many of the jars and left craters still visible scattered throughout the area. The Mines Advisory Group (MAG)and UXO Laos have been working to remove the ordinance and make it safe for tourists. As you walk around you can see tiles laid in the ground indicating which areas have been visibly searched as well as underground testing and the areas that have only been visibly searched. Those area that have only been visibly searched are still not safe to walk over so you need to keep on the white side of the tiles.

Also on the tour is an old american bomber, or at least the hole where it used to be. The whole plane has now been removed by locals bit by bit to sell the scrap metal on the market. An old russian tank also lies dormant and stripped by the side of the road in the area. LAstly like all tours in Laos it provided free tasting of rice whisky. I had already drank my fair share so I wasn't that excited and even less so after I tasted it!

The first two sites are quite interesting, however by the time you get to the third the jars get somewhat monotonous as there is little to distinguish between them. Only one of them has any kind of marking on it, and noone is quite sure what the meaning of the marking, which is the vague image of a man, means. On the whole the jars are confounding and well wort at trip as it is or is close to being listed as a UNESCO World heritage site.

In the evening the tour guide invited us around for dinner. So I at the traditional Laos meal which consists of sticky rice, and little bit of meat, and chilli and salt for flavouring. Sometimes bamboo soup is also eaten. Once everything is on the table it is dig in with your hands, no cutlery required. There were many times that I though I would get sick sharing the sticky rice with the locals but it never happened. After dinner the guide pulled out his guitar and me and him went tit-for tat with songs. Luckily we stopped at five cause I was all out of idea by then. At this stage a few others had joined us including Aiden who would travel with me to Sam Neua and Nelleke and Marga who I would later cross the borber into china with. With plenty of Beer and Rice Whisky to share around the night passed away and we all went to bed, with good memories.

The two days there was follwed by, you guessed it, another long bus trip. This time into oe of the most remote towns in Laos. Towns as distinguished from the normal village of which there are some which take three or four days walking to get to. The trip so Sam Neua was more exciting, though not more comfortable. The bus, this time a smaller bus was a bit of an old wreck but it had a certain charm to it. The back seat was almost completely broken. When me and Aiden stepped onto the bus we had our serious doubts that it would make it.

Anyway we headed ointo the winding mountains raods stopping at various places picking up and interesting collection of people. At one stage past the halfway mark a lady hopped on board to sell pig in Sam Neua, so two pigs in heshan sack were lifting squealing onto the roof of the bus and tied down. I can tell you those pigs weren't happy and I can't imagine lying in a bag on top of a bus while it was driving was a particularly pleasant expereience. LAter on a lady bought a whole stack of wood which was carefully placed in the isle of the bus making entry and exit somewhat cumbersome. LAstly a lady got on boards carrying three very young children all off which were snotty and unkept and there little bodies swung back and forth to thre amusement as the bus round the bends. Upon leaving the bus, one child was put on the back, one holding and the thrid had to walk itself. Really there was little more she could. Probably the most inreresting bus trip I took.

Arriving in Sam Neua the Bus station is located on a smalle plateau overlooking the city about 5 min out of town, so again into na tuk-tuk to find a hotel. This proved a little more difficult than expected as many of the hotels and guesthouses were full. It turns out that there was a small festival happening in the town as a new monument had been built and it was having a grand opening celebration with people comoing form many different places. And while I was not present on the actual day of celebrations I was able to witness some of the practice runs for the parade. Nothing overly spectactular, which is to be expected from a country with not a lot of money but all the people were joining in to do their little bit to make it a day of celebration.

After watching the parade for a few minutes the following morning, me and Aiden went to the tourist information bureau which was surprisingly useful depsite the claims of the Lonely Planet (wretched book that it is!) before hiring motorbikes for the day trip to Vieng Xai. Finally after 4 month of travelling I finally worked up the guts to hire and drive my own motorbike! After some early uncertainties, like which way teh traffive was going, I quickly picked up pace and headed down the road. However only five minute into the ride my back wheel started feeling awfully shaky and after coming to a careful stop, I founf that I had a flat tyre. Not really wanting ti go all the way back to the shop which was now a few kilometers away, I,due to a convenience only found in Asia, went into a bycycle repair shop right across the road from where I stopped. There I replaced the tyre and was also advised to replace the brake pads which where looking rather worn. In the interest of my own safety I decided to pay the money (about $4) and continue on, hoping to get a return on the money when handing in the bike at the end of the day. Continuing up the road, Iwa ssonly 2k further when all the power disspeared from my bike, as I and Aiden who was riding another bike, both ran out of petrol.

Both feeling a bit helpless we looked around to see where the nearest pertol station was, only to realise that there was a small shop just across the road. We think the plan of the motor rental place is to only give you enough petrol to get to the nearest petrol station. Anyway after refueling we were on our way and had no further problem on the mountain drive to Vieng Xai. We passed small villages, river and limestone landscape on the way.

When we got to Vienxai we had real difficulty finding the tourist information centre where we were told we could obtain a guided tour of the area at 1pm. But after backtracking and asking we finally arrived at the right place. Vieng Xai is the central hideout of the Laotian communists during the vietnam war. The reason is that the limestone karsts and mountains in the area hid many caves were thousands of soldiers where able to hide during the American bombing raids of the area. As in Phonsavan many of the crater are still visible. These caves which also housed the current and previous leaders were quite sophisitaced with a theatre, isolation room with fresh air supply in case of chemical attack, post office, telegraph and manufacturing spaces. A whole population and functioning community existed in these caves as the americans bombed the area.

The tour take your through the more important caves and sites which housed the leaders of the communist movement, which had elaborate underground living spaces and networks of tunnels. LAter on when the bombing had stopped and before the leadership moved to Vientiane, many built houses and gardens just outside the caves. These are now all able to be viewed and provide a very testament to the secret war. It is a shame that these event transpired in the area as the valley in which Vieng Xai sit is a beautiful place and I was disspointed that I was only there for a day and would have liked to stay another day or two. but at the end of the day we had to leave the tour guide to play volleyball with his colleague and drive ourselves and two extras back to Sam Neua.

On the way back we had decided to stop off at a waterfall, which I read about on a brochure. Reading the brochure it read ëasily accessible from the road. So we stopped on the side of the road where we though it was and headed into the forest to see the fall. Now the path took us passed the waterfall to a point where the path ahd broken apart and one could slide directly 50m to the bottom of the water fall. I thought I could cross it before panicking and turning back to safety. One more step and I would have gone for a ride! But with that behind me we found an alternative route continued to walk. After about 15 min I started to question the easy access from the road as we started to head very steeply downhill. ONly after about 10 more minutes downhill did we arrive at the bototm of the waterfall, in total are 30min wialk. Now the waterfall was beautiful but it was the end of the day so we were short on time so we looked and left to walk back. A bit confused about the easy access I reffered back to the brochure and reading properly it said "top of the waterfall has easy access form the road." Oh, well, no harm done. We got back on the bike and headed back to Sam Neua with no difficulties. HAd dinner with my room mate and the two lifers before heading to bead. Not much of a night light in these towns.

The next day I left, missing the actual parade for the monumental opening but sometimes you just ahve to keep moving. Leaving early in the morning I got on the bus of 7:30 to head to Nong Kiew, which on the map is not so far and according to the schedule I should have arrived the in the early evening. the bus drove on and on through the ubiquitous winding roads with traditional and contemporary Laos and Thai tunes playing loud all the way. As we passed villages people would hop on and get of the bus a gradually the day rolled on. At one particular village we had a slightly extended stop for some reason and three kids on the side of the road started laughing at me. At first I had no idea what they were on about, but then they started jumping like monkeys. Then I realised that I had not shaved for about three or four days and had grown a substatial beard, something at which the asians can only manage amatuerish attempts. So clearly unfamiliar with this the kids thought I looked like a monkey! Initially I could take this with good humour but after about five minutes of being called a monkey its start to get tiring and I wished for the bus to move along, which it thankfully did. And so the bus rolled on as the sun set and night fell. WE passed a village where I could have stayed but I had not indicated that I wanted to go there so I stayed on the bus for another 2 hours to get to Nong Kiew. So I arrived tired at 9pm at night and walked out of the bus straight into the first geusthouse I came to. This happened to have nice bungalows on the river for a cheap price so I settled in andthen went for a short walk and drink before bed.

All in all to travel from Vietiane to Sam Neua and then to Nong Kiew probably took over 40 hrs of travel in 6 day, so I was due for a rest. I slept in and did little the next day unkonown that I was about to embark on a whole new adventure, but that can wait till the next edition. Thanks for reading, I know I write to much!