Phonsavan
After spending a lovely few days in Louang Prabang, it was time for us to move on... it was hard to say goodbye to Mama and Papa and we all felt that we could have stayed there a bit longer.
But Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars was calling! So we hired a minivan to take us from Louang Prabang to Phonsavan and then on to Vang Vieng. We shopped around for ages and managed to get a great price on the car and driver. It was going to be six of us: Phil, Matt, Tom, Pete, Olivier and me. Our driver was called Dhebt. I'm not sure about the spelling... never mind.
The plan was to leave at 8am, but as some of us had been out on the beers the night before - you know who you are! - we didn't leave the guesthouse until about 9am. Then, we had to pay, but none had their money ready, then someone realised they forgot their shoes so we had to go back and someone else forgot their laundry so we had to go back again. By the time we hit the road, it was nigh 11am and everyone got hungry. Poor Dhebt was very patient with us.
On the road finally and we started the snaking mountain route to Phonsavan - it's only about 200km away, but it took us about 6 hours to get there. The roads are narrow and windy. Very windy. I felt ill for a lot of the time. But not as ill as Tom. Tom felt very very ill... We did make a couple of stops and it was funny trying to find a place for a wee, as you're not really meant to go in the bush because of mines and then again, I really didn't feel like showing my bum to the whole of Laos and the boys, who would have wet themselves laughing.
After yet another enforced stop - Dhebt really didn't want to stop - we got back in the car only to screech to a halt after a couple of metres. Olivier had managed to step in some poo - God knows where, none of us had seen any - and had then managed to get it all over himself, the car and the seats! Oh my God, I nearly died laughing! After some serious cleaning, we finally managed to be on our way again and then only stopped once more for some food - I think Dhebt gave up when he realised we wouldn't stop complaining about being hungry - we had a really yummy hot noodle soup in this random roadside village with lots of naked kids running about. Really interesting, because everyone stared at us, and probably thought we were crazy.
We finally reached Phonsavan and went off in search of Site 1 of the Plain of Jars. The jars are a mystery. They have been there for thousands of years and no one knows what they are there for or what they've been used for. Theories go that they were used for funeral urns but lots more theories abound. They are jars carved out of rock scattered about this wide open space in different sizes and shapes. They are really amazing and you can walk around and touch them. The area where they are found was one of the most heavily bombed areas during the Secret War and even today there are still tons of mines to be found there. Fortunately though, you are able to walk around in the cleared bits though you have to be careful of course.
We had a really good look around at all of the jars and then tried to find a place to stay for the night. If you ever get to Phonsavan, book somewhere. You will have a much nicer time this way. We couldn't find anything! And everything was very expensive. But the town itself was very strange, there was absolutely nothing going on! Dead quiet... we finally found a hotel that had the most enormous carved wooden staircase, but not much else. Our room was fine, but the boys had really strange ones with brick walls in all sorts of different places popping up... a bit eerie.
Next day, we took in Site 2 and Site 3 of more jars and then went off in the van, heading for Vang Vieng. Another long journey...
But Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars was calling! So we hired a minivan to take us from Louang Prabang to Phonsavan and then on to Vang Vieng. We shopped around for ages and managed to get a great price on the car and driver. It was going to be six of us: Phil, Matt, Tom, Pete, Olivier and me. Our driver was called Dhebt. I'm not sure about the spelling... never mind.
The plan was to leave at 8am, but as some of us had been out on the beers the night before - you know who you are! - we didn't leave the guesthouse until about 9am. Then, we had to pay, but none had their money ready, then someone realised they forgot their shoes so we had to go back and someone else forgot their laundry so we had to go back again. By the time we hit the road, it was nigh 11am and everyone got hungry. Poor Dhebt was very patient with us.
On the road finally and we started the snaking mountain route to Phonsavan - it's only about 200km away, but it took us about 6 hours to get there. The roads are narrow and windy. Very windy. I felt ill for a lot of the time. But not as ill as Tom. Tom felt very very ill... We did make a couple of stops and it was funny trying to find a place for a wee, as you're not really meant to go in the bush because of mines and then again, I really didn't feel like showing my bum to the whole of Laos and the boys, who would have wet themselves laughing.
After yet another enforced stop - Dhebt really didn't want to stop - we got back in the car only to screech to a halt after a couple of metres. Olivier had managed to step in some poo - God knows where, none of us had seen any - and had then managed to get it all over himself, the car and the seats! Oh my God, I nearly died laughing! After some serious cleaning, we finally managed to be on our way again and then only stopped once more for some food - I think Dhebt gave up when he realised we wouldn't stop complaining about being hungry - we had a really yummy hot noodle soup in this random roadside village with lots of naked kids running about. Really interesting, because everyone stared at us, and probably thought we were crazy.
We finally reached Phonsavan and went off in search of Site 1 of the Plain of Jars. The jars are a mystery. They have been there for thousands of years and no one knows what they are there for or what they've been used for. Theories go that they were used for funeral urns but lots more theories abound. They are jars carved out of rock scattered about this wide open space in different sizes and shapes. They are really amazing and you can walk around and touch them. The area where they are found was one of the most heavily bombed areas during the Secret War and even today there are still tons of mines to be found there. Fortunately though, you are able to walk around in the cleared bits though you have to be careful of course.
We had a really good look around at all of the jars and then tried to find a place to stay for the night. If you ever get to Phonsavan, book somewhere. You will have a much nicer time this way. We couldn't find anything! And everything was very expensive. But the town itself was very strange, there was absolutely nothing going on! Dead quiet... we finally found a hotel that had the most enormous carved wooden staircase, but not much else. Our room was fine, but the boys had really strange ones with brick walls in all sorts of different places popping up... a bit eerie.
Next day, we took in Site 2 and Site 3 of more jars and then went off in the van, heading for Vang Vieng. Another long journey...
posted by Phil and Tanja @ 2:40 AM
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