Sixth day in Laos
This morning I had breakfast with fried bread and chicken soup for a change.

I left Luang Prabang from the Southern Bus Station. 85 000 Kip with the public bus.

Temporary I was now leaving the big river behind, taking a detour to the eastern mountain. My goal was Phonsavan, the capital of Xieng Khuan Province.

 

 
 

Muang Phu Khoun, Road Junction
Road junction at a small village, Muang Phu Khoun. Just  a few houses along the road but big commerce. We made a short break here to eat local food and stretch our legs. Straight ahead you go south to the capital Vientiane. My tour was going left and eastward to the mountain.

 

Newly built road
I also noticed that the roads was well paved and had nice ditches. I later learned that this part of the road was built by the the Chinese. The road going eastward from Phonsavan was built by the Vietnamese but already cracking up.

 

Steep and burned hills
The bus tour lasted 8 hours of which 7hours was going really slow up hill until we reached the high plateau. Quite steep hills and I noticed the many slopes looked quite bare and burned. I was later enlightened about the reason for that.

 

Xieng Khuang fact
The province holds a population of 200000 people of witch 60000 lives in the capital. Several minorities lives here on the plateau: Lao, different Thai groups, Vietnamese and Hmong, among others. The former capital was totally destroyed during the Vietnamese war and was simply abandoned in 1975.

Battlefield
It has during the centuries served as a battleground for the Vietnamese, Chinese Haw, northern Vietnamese and lately the USA. Hmong groups has until recently, more than 30 years after the US withdraw, had armed forces opposing the communist regime. Even so there was rumors during my stay of a bus hijacking. I never learned what happened.

 

 

Phonsavan
Like all places here in Laos the colonial heritage is quite obvious. This could almost be the American wild west in late 19th century. The town seemed much less touristy than Luang Prabang and gave the impression of a small city, still it held the double population compared to Luang. Even so, the streets was newly repaired and had paved sidewalks.

Sabadhi Hotel
I got a room at the Sabadhi Hotel, meaning "Hello-hotel", at 3 US dollar with hot shower in the room. Though, they had chickens outside the window, with a cock that, as he is supposed to, started to make noises at 3 am. Well, that's life!

Funny
I heard that foreigners was not allowed to rent motorbikes in the area. Maybe to dangerous, it's not unusual that westerners hurt them self , or maybe to many opium fields around?

The funny fact was that we had a Japanese tourist, a painter, in our company and HE was allowed to drive of into the mountain. Seemed that foreigners and foreigners wasn't the same.

 

Onsdag, februari 14 2007 16:49

Om någon undrat så har jag läst era mail. Tack for breven, det ar skönt med lite kontakt med verkligheten. Om någon annan undrar hur man skickar mail härifran sa finns det mitt i det ganska enkla samhallet en förmaga att snappa upp moderniteter, som tex internet cafeer. Uppkopplingen är inte den bästa här men ändock ADSL-modem. De flesta internetcaféer kan säkert också bränna foto-CD. Dom är driftiga, asiaterna. Finns det en dollar att tjäna missar man inte det. Häromdagen bröts dock linjen i hela staden (Luang P) medans jag skrev. Alla datorer stod stilla nån timme. Ett annat problem är att västerläncska mailservrar ofta tar lång tid att nå och logga in på. Bilder är ganska otänkbart att öppna. Bloggen är mycket enklare att använda. inte så mycket krusiduller.

Förutom internet är tvätt en liknande praktisk fraga. Man kan naturligtvis tvätta sjalv, i hårschampo och kallvatten, men lite lat är man ju. Det finns "Laundry" överallt. 7000 Kip per kg, dvs kanske 5 kr. Men i bland kärvar det. I helgen var jag i desperat behov av tvätt, Jag har  tre ombyten och rest i en vecka. Fast i söndags fanns plötsligt ingen ström i hela staden. Det gick inte att tvätta, det gick inte att koka kaffe eller ladda mobilen, duschen fungerade inte - inte ens kallvattnet for det gick genom en elektrisk värmare - och naturligtvis inget internet. Så det gick ytterligare två dagar utan ren tvatt - fick fuska lite i handfatet och likaså "duscha" i handfatet.

Duschar är i allmanhet coldshower, även om man betalar for varmvatten. Antingen fungerar inte strömmen eller så orkar man inte vänta pa att vattnet kansk skall bli varmt. Ibland är det så konstiga rörkopplingar att man helt enket inte betgriper hur varmvattnet fungerar. Vatten ar ju en bristvara (likasa el) och man får visa en viss respekt for det. Laos är ända bättre än Burma och Kina där det var så gott som 100% kallduschar.

Har nu anlant till en bergsprovins som heter Xieng Khuang. Huvudstaden hette det samma men den bombades så hårt av amerikanarna att den inte gick att återuppbygga. I stället befinner jag mig i den nya huvudstaden Phonsavan . Jag och dom tokiga fransmännen skiljdes på busstationen, dom skulle försöka lifta - tog flera timmar att lära Gil saga hitch hiking - till nästa stad, i riktning mot huvudstaden. Själv har jag som sagt tagit en "detour" innat landet.

Det tog 8 timmar med lokala bussen varav 7 på slingriga bergsvägar - i kanske 30 km i timmen. Tämligen obekvämt men otroliga vyer och massa små bergsbyar pa vägen. Detta ar ett hopkok av en mängd minoriteter men Lao dominerar. Här finns också Hmong - det krigiska folket som fortfarande inte helt lagt ner vapnen i sin kamp mot regimen. De stred också på amerikanarnas sida under vietnamnkriget.

Ganska grönt och halvdjungel på vägen upp på högplatan. Ca 1200 meter högt. Runt staden är dock ganska kala kullar. En del skog ar nog avverkad men jag hörde att det spreds mycket napalm över området och det kommer aldrig att växa någonting här igen.

forts...

 

Local Market
The local market was as interesting as always. Clothes, cigarettes, vegetables or a quick lunch were available here. The even sold alive animals, a kind of raccoons, for food.

 

The Handy Man
I got trouble with my sandals. They broke down. No big deal, the handyman on the street fixed it with a heavy needle and tread. 3 bucks for that. I got similar memories from Africa.

 
Seventh day in Laos
Breakfast at the Chinese restaurant. They served American breakfast, French baguettes, Italian pizza but no Lao coffee! Well, well...Anyway, I had one of those guided tourist tours this day, taking me to the local attractions. 13000 Kip, to little expensive maybe, but I'm not counting my money.

Plain of Jars
One of the main reasons to visit Phonsavan is the Plain of Jars. Prehistoric jars made of stone, and there are hundreds of them. By whom or for what reason is still unanswered. Even their age is somewhat a mystery. 2000 years old is likely.

The Russian Tank
As a bonus you got to see the famous Russian tank, that 1963 got stacked into the irrigation system and was never released. In recent time it has been robbed from all its exterior cause Vietnam now pays loads for all metal.  Now the local farmer wants to keep the tank as an attraction, still making some profit from it.

 

The Silver Caravan
A mysterious caravan of brand new shining cars was following me up in the mountain. Not really the ordinary Toyota brand - this was Chevrolets! Found out that this was a team from the Chinese state television, CCTV,  doing reports from famous sites in the neighborhood. Three weeks later I found them still following me, this time at Angkor in Cambodia.

 

forts...Hans-Peter Nilsson onsdag, februari 14 2007 16:49
 

Mest kännt är Phonsavan för "The Plain of Jars". Ett stort område fulla av mystiska krukor, karvade i sten. De lär vara 2-3000 år gamla och en del är manshoga. Troligen gamla begravningsurnor. Här finns tusentals krukor. Lika många som krukor finns det också bombkratrar och landminor. Fortfarande idag, 30 ar efter kriget håller man pa att rensa fälten och årligen dör männinskor som kommit i kontakt med gamla bomber.

Kriget är således högst levande här, trots att Laos inte ens offentligt ingick i det. I morse åt jag frukost på en restaurang som hette "Cratern" och hade några manshöga rostiga bombskal som dekoration på verandan.

De pågar en intensiv uppbyggnad här, vägarna är asfalterade och trottoarerna stenbelagda. Uppför hela bergsvägen fanns djupa armerade diken - redan i mars börjar regnet här uppe. Elnätet håller på att byggas ut till bondbyarna och det byggs rejäla stenhus överallt i staden. Det tycks vara kineser och vietnameser som bekostar bergsvägarna.

Mina fina sandaler som jag köpt i Burma for 30 kr och passar perfekt. gick sönder idag under rundturen. Tänkte ta mig till markanden i eftermiddag innan de stänger men på vägen gick jag förbi några hantverkare som satt utmed vägen. De tycks laga allt - klockor, radioapparater och SKOR. Han sydde snabbt om mina sulor med en liten "harpun" som han stack genom gummit och fångade upp tråden på andra sidan enligt samma princip som en symaskin. Knappt 20 kr.

Far nog vidare mot huvudstaden i morgon om inget oförutsatt inträffar.

hp

 

 

The Plain of Craters
The Plain of Jars turned out to tell a complete different story than I had expected. The old jar that has been standing there for thousands of years had finally given up for modern weapon. Behind the broken jar is the crater of a bomb that finally caused it to crack. Everywhere around here you see those craters, as a reminder of a tragic history that should not be forgotten.

The hillsides tells the same story. I had noticed that many of them looks dead as a desert. I was told by an American tourists that they had been exposed to napalm during the war and nothing is going to grow there again. Ever!

 

The Secret War
During the Vietnamese war the Americans dropt loads of bombs over the highland. A farmer once expressed it as they scattered bombs like a farmer strew seed.

Actually they dropt more bombs in Laos than in Germany and Japan together during the WW II. Laos wasn't even in the war! This is known as "The Secret War", and for a long time simply denied by the US. 

Cluster Bombs
Mines, and especially, cluster bombs is still a big problem in Laos. 30 millions unexploded cluster bombs are estimated to lay around in the soil.

Still 30 years after the ceasefire there are thousands of  casualties every  year in Laos. Children playing in the mud, students walking in the schoolyard or farmers working on the rice fields. Cattles and sheep's killed are not even counted.  

 


 

How to use a bombshell
The wars has left a lot of military waste in the country, especially here in the mountains. Creative as they are, people here has made the waste a part of there everyday life and economy. First class metal should not be thrown away. It could be used for decoration, as a fireplace, a bell or as a key holder. The Chinese restaurant below is called the Crater Restaurant.


 

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Hans-Peter Nilsson