After the epic bus ride, would Phonsavan be worth it? Hells yes it was! As soon as we stepped
off the bus we found a super restaurant / bar run by a Scot named Mark (or was
it a Mark named Scot?). Mark was very friendly, helping us find an ATM, hotel, and
an idea of what to see. The restaurant is called Bamboozle – the food is well
priced and excellently delicious, especially their chicken sandwiches. He was
so helpful, I hope someone reads this and goes there – tell Mark that “Blog of
the Morning Calm” sent you.
Phonsavan
is an interesting place to kill a few days, as there is the wonderful Plain of
Jars – over 70 sites containing thousands of clay pots. No-one is quite sure
what they were made for, but they have sat there for up to 2500 years. The
locals believe they were used to make alcohol but archaeologists believe they
were originally used as burial urns. There are three main sites open for
tourists – the rest will open when they are cleared of bombs (more on that
later).
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| Even though they say it has been cleared of bombs, it's better safe than sorry. |
We met a
German called Stefan and we tried to negotiate a good price with some tour
companies. However everywhere quoted us around $17 per person, which is a right
rip off – tour companies are not up to much in Laos. We ended up doing my
preferred choice – we rented motorbikes and took them to site one to explore.
Site one is the biggest, closest, and most spectacular site (from what we
heard) so we only went to this one.
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| Crater from the war |
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| The biggest pot containing the king's remains |
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| A pot blown open by a bomb |
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| Iconic image from site one |
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| This one has a lid! |
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| This one supported a different theory of ours. The plain of jars were actually used as toilets. |
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| This nearby cave was used for cremation. |
After the
thoroughly entertaining Plain of Jars we went on a long bike ride to a Hmong
Village, and a site with lots of bomb craters. None of them were particularly
big, but the “Craterscape” was both interesting and upsetting.
The Hmong
village is famous for something quite odd – using old bomb parts as a building
material.
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| Local children playing |
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| Bomb plant pot |
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| More locals playing |
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| Fence made of bomb casings |
It wasn’t
as touristy as we expected – they generally just used the material for
construction. Anyway, I bet you’re wondering what’s with all these bomb craters
and bombs? There wasn’t a recent war in Laos, was there? Well there was, but
you won’t read about it in many history books. It is known as the “secret war”
and it was carried out by… you guessed it, our favourite warmongers, the
Americans.
Not
satisfied with dropping bombs on Vietnam, they concurrently bombed Laos, which
was neutral during the “American War”. They did this for two reasons.
1.
Vietnamese troops moved through Laos on what is known as the Ho Chi Min Trail.
2. American
Pilots did not think it was safe to land with un-dropped bombs (which was an
issue in bad weather) so would empty them over Laos rather than land with bombs
and risk blowing up.
I know.
That second reason is mad right? Remember, Laos was neutral in the war.
The 9 years
of bombing makes Laos the most bombed country in the world per capita. 0.833
metric tonnes of explosives were dropped for every person in the country. It
actually averages out at more than 2 metric tonnes for each person who was living
in the heavily bombed zones. More bombs were dropped on Laos, in a war American
citizens didn’t even know about, than on Germany and Japan combined in WWII. On
average, a bomb was dropped on Laos every 8 minutes. For 9 years.
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| Some of the injuries are horrible |
New modern
warfare techniques lead to cluster bombs being used. Around 30% of these failed
to explode, for various technical reasons, and now lie around in fields waiting
for a sharp impact from a shovel, which will cause them to explode. Since this
illegal and secret war has ended, over 30,000 people have been killed by
unexploded ornaments (UXOs) – the Laos population is around six million. It is
a massive and ongoing problem and has really hindered the development of Laos,
as the people are unable to use land for farming until it is cleared. Even
worse, people often farm the land anyway and suffer horrendous consequences. It
is worth noting that less than 1% of these people were killed by Vietnamese laid
landmines – a low percentage mainly because mimes maim, whereas UXOs kill.
Laos is one
of the poorest countries in the world and without tourism would be even more
lost. These UXOs, locally called “Bombies”, kill hundreds of children every
year, even with the help of charities such as MAG. 40% of all UXO related
deaths have been children.
Another
anti-american / war fact is that the CIA paid the local tribes to produce opium
so they could sell this addictive drug to help finance the war (this is in the
1970s). Opium addiction is a big problem in Asia, another legacy of the British
who started the Opium Wars. I remember reading that in Afghanistan, heroin production
has more than tripled since the Taliban were “defeated”. Is the CIA at it
again?
The
American government has been pretty callous and stingy in its efforts to help
the Laotians, with individuals and NGOs doing most of the leg work. We learnt
all this information about the secret war in the museums located on the main
road of town – there was a very informative and well produced hour-long documentary.
Cluster
bombs are known to leave UXOs when used so you’d think they’d be illegal,
right? Oh no, the Brits used them in the Falklands and NATO used them in Kosovo
(even when it was about getting people back to their homes!). They have been
used in lots of recent wars. The western war machine keeps growing stronger and
unless people stay informed and oppose conflicts, the poorest people will
continue to suffer the worst.
Costs (per person)
Bus from
Hanoi to Phonsavan = $34 (£22)
Laos Visa =
$37 (£25)
Bus from
Phonsavan to Luang Prabang = 110,000 Kip (£8.80, $13)
Plain of
Jars Entrance = 10,000 Kip (£0.80, $1.20)
Hotel Double AC per room (Namchai) = 80,000 Kip (£7, $10)
Motorbike
Rental = 70,000 Kip (£6, $9)
