Ugh. There are few words which I can use to describe my feelings after having traveled from Luang Prabang to Phonsavan (and ugh is one of them). I left that peaceful oasis of a town at about 8:30 after having a sandwich at the bus station (which was amazing by the way). And that was the highlight of the day. It's unfortunate when the highlight of the day comes at 8:00 in the morning, but that was indeed the case. I ended up sleeping most of the time on the bus. I didn’t realize that I was that tired but I couldn’t stay awake for more than a few minutes. I read a bit, but always got too tired to read so I closed my eyes and slept. The bit of the landscape that I saw was absolutely stunning. We just wound around, up and down, mountain after mountain passing through this gorgeous town’s right on the side of the rode. We would pass through a town every 30 minutes or so and each town was perched right along the road with either a cliff rising up behind the houses or dropping away underneath them. The road however was less impressive. Despite the fact that this was one of the best roads in the country and a significant amount of traffic plies back and forth on this road, it was in a significant state of disrepair. It was narrow and windy and hard to navigate. At several points, there were areas that had been covered by run off from mudslides and it was clear that there had been a significant number of mudslides recently. It’s very easy to see that road being shut down without too much difficulty. After one of my many naps, the scenery changed. It went from being mountainous and tropical to being hillier with
rolling meadows and pine trees. The houses switched from being built from bamboo to being built from planks of pine. The transformation was incredible. There is definitely a difference in temperature. It hasn’t been too hot, but it’s a lot cooler at the moment than in Luang Prabang or Lampang. The pine trees (inevitably) reminded me of home and there were lots of flashbacks to home.
I got into Phosavan after a grueling nine hours on that bus. In a half-asleep state, I descend the stairs and exited the bus to fetch my bag and before my foot even hit the ground I was bombarded with propositions and guest house touts. I had only just awoken and wasn’t at all prepared for that – even fully conscious it would be overwhelming. And as my last entry prior to leaving alluded to, I’m not a fan of the bus station tout. I normally avoid them and find some other means of transport into the city or simply walk. However, in my semi-delirious state, I acquiesced to their demands to take me somewhere. They were aided but the appearance of a young Japanese guy who attached himself to me after I got off the bus. His English skills weren’t very good and felt like his best bet was to befriend me and have me help him find a place to stay. I was more than happy to do so and we ended up spending the next couple days together. But his appearance and willingness to go along with anything made me a much easier sell. We eventually did find a place after a painful 20 minutes of the tour operator who eventually was given the honor of transporting us trying to get us to sign up for different tour packages. We did find a place and after a few deep breathes in my room, I was ready to venture out into the town. Phonsavan is not a pretty town. It has a very industrial and bleak appearance – a drastic change from Luang Prabang. I was hoping it would grow on me but it never did. We ended up finding a place to rent a motorcycle and thus avoided being forced to take one of the package tours out to the Plain of Jars, the attraction in Phonsavan.
The reason I, and many others, come to Phonsavan is obviously not the town itself. It is the nearest town to the Plain of Jars. Anyway, the Plain of Jars is an archaeological site in northeastern
Laos. They’ve found hundreds of stone jars of varying sizes, many of which are bigger than a person, lying about. They were all carved from single stones. They aren’t sure exactly what they were used for but people now believe that they were funerary urns of some sort. This area was a crossroads for trade a long while back and they think they originated then. There hasn’t been much research into them given that
Laos has had a rough last hundred years, but they are starting a few big projects soon and hope to learn more. It’s hard to study something when it’s being bombed. At several of the sites there are many visible craters left from the
US bombing
Laos in the 60’s and 70’s. During the many Indochina Wars of the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s,
Laos was the most heavily bombed place on earth – ever. More ordinances were dropped on
Laos than in all of WWII. Now the challenge, in addition to having very few Lao who can carry out the studies, is that many of the sites are littered with unexploded ordinance from the bombings. So before any archeological activity can happen, they have to be cleared of explosives. In Phonsavan, there is an office for the NGO that has been responsible for clearing most of the ordinance in
Laos so far. Anyway, there are three main sites that have been found and cleared of any unexploded ordinance, so that's where I went. We left early in the morning and headed to the first site. This is the closest site to the city and the site that most people visit for that reason. There were several clearings where the jars were congregated. Most of the jars are as tall as I am and are scattered about. They are in different positions - some are still standing up while others have fallen over. Originally they all had lids, but most of the lids have long since disappeared. At this site, it was very easy to find several bomb craters on and near the site, a testament to the many challenges to uncovering the secrets behind these jars (and the indiscriminate bombing that took place). The second and third sites are much more difficult to get to. The owner of the motorcycle shop cautioned us that the road to the second and third site would be muddy and slippery. His warnings didn't come close to describing the actual condition of the road. But at the end of the road were the second and third sites, which were more pristine and spectacular so the drive was worth enduring. But after the bone-jolting bus ride the day before on top of the bone-crushing motorcycle ride, my entire body had been shaken in places that I didn’t realize could (and most likely shouldn't) shake. Driving back into town I noticed the Lao Red Cross building and remembered reading that they offered steams and massages at the Red Cross. So, after a quick trip back tot hotel to drop of some stuff I came back out and had myself a steam and massage.
No comments:
Post a Comment