I arrived in Phonsavan, Laos this afternoon after a seven-hour bus ride through the mountains. The road from Luang Prabang is composed of approximately 10,000 s-curves in a row, with an occasional hairpin turn, all at breathtaking altitude and with very little or nothing to prevent the bus from plunging over the side of a cliff should the driver sneeze or possibly even blink at the wrong time. I often caught myself wondering with a kind of passionate intensity about things like the general maintenance practices of the Lao bus fleet and the overall well-being of the driver. Was everything okay at home? How’s his health been lately?
I’m here in Phonsavan to visit the Plain of Jars, a group of sites containing thousands of massive stone jars which are the remnants of an ancient and almost entirely mysterious culture. This area of Laos is also still heavily blanketed with unexploded ordnance (UXO in the lingo), the remnants of not-so-ancient aerial bombardment by the U.S.A. The reminders are everywhere; the lobby of my guest house has a display case filled with bomb casings and mortar shells and the like. Plus, I just had a quick beer in a bar named”Craters.”
Reports of tomorrow’s excursion, as well as photos and stories from Luang Prabang and the Mekong in the next day or two.
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March 17, 2007 at 9:04 pm
Lauren
I love unexplained megaliths! If this were a YA book, you could climb inside a jar and find that it’s a portal back in time to some ancient culture, then return to the present with a new understanding of the futility of warfare and the ties that bind us all, blah blah.
WTF at the UXO. I just read that maybe 20,000 people have died in Laos since the end of the war because of unexploded bombs. Does that sound right?! Jesus. It sure seems like it should have been our responsibility to send over a few teams of bomb disposal experts sometime in the ’80s, doesn’t it.
March 20, 2007 at 11:31 am
Forbis
This morning (Tue. 20 March) CNN.com featured a video clip about a veterinary hospital in Thailand that helps rehabilitate elephants who have been injured stepping on land mines while working along the Myanmar border.
March 23, 2007 at 11:43 am
Thomas
The UXO situation is unbelievable here in Laos. I had no concrete idea of the extent of the bombing, and even less idea of its aftermath. If you ever have a chance, see this documentary . I caught it in Phonsavan right after seeing some of the craters that were left by the US bombing missions and it had me in tears. Also, have a look at the page for a group called MAG (Mines Advisory Group) . They’re doing most of the site clearing around the Plain of Jars. For our part, the US has given aid–State Dept. web site says $21 million and strike target data since 1993–but we seem to treat it like another foreign aid project rather than something we are directly responsible for. It’s just a little bit shameful.