Secrets old and new

It's now been over a week since we entered the fascinating land of the Lao People's Democratic Republic. We have been all over and I have had no opportunity to write down our experiences for you to read, but believe me, there have been many. Recalling seemingly distant memories now is no easy feat, but I will do my best, so stay a while, and listen as I tell the first part of our travels through the Land of a Million Elephants.

From our experience a big part of the impression you get of a place stems from how you arrived there. If you fly in to the Himalayas it feels less distant and exotic than if you take a bus across narrow mountain passes on bumpy roads. Therefore, to get the real jungle feel, we decided to kick off our journey into the unknown with a two-day boat ride down the Mekhong river. After smooth processing at the border we took a Songthaew to Huay Xai, the docking village, and immediately we noticed this wasn't Thailand. The roads we're more bumpy and less crowded than what we were used to. Laos has a population of 6.6 million, compared to Thailand's 66 million. We were also confused with the right hand driving after seeing it British-imperial style for the last two months. Generally, Laos' populated areas look pretty much what we imagine Thailand looked like 20 years ago. Practically time-travelling!

The boat ride was just as scenic and peaceful as we had imagined. Two seven hour rides over two days took us through a cascade of rolling hills, jungle and beautiful images of the life along the Mekhong. Every now and then children would play on the rocks in the river, fishermen would fish from shore or by boat, and villagers would wash clothes or just enjoy life by the riverside. Sometimes the peace was broken by deadly longtail speedboats shipping passengers to Luang Prabang in only 6 hours. Imagine what they were missing holding on for their life as they passed the beautiful landscape at near light speed! We would pass the time by reading, writing, chatting up neighboring passengers or just watching the landscape and thinking about how this was a pretty cool place to be.

A beautiful day on the Mekhong comes to an end.

Our serenity was also put to a halt at our overnight stay in Pak Beng. This small village had been tainted by the high influx of daily tourists arriving with our boat. We found the staff at the guest house to be rude and impatient with familliar glimpses of dollar signs in their eyes. A stark contrast from the overly polite Thais and what we expected from their neighbors. A cool surprise was seeing two elephants on the other side of the river on the morning of departure. Now, heading for the Vietnamese border, I'm still 999,998 elephants short of the promised million.

Our blissful ride was not without its hazards. We stayed away from the open engine during business hours.

Luang Prabang came floating down the river on Tuesday afternoon, and we soon found ourselves in a guesthouse filled up with friends from the boat ride. This was also a recurring event during our two nights stay in Luang Prabang. Whether we were walking past the French-colonial hovels and croissant bakeries, or eating at the fascinating street food market, we would always meet familiar faces from the boat. This instantly caused a bond between us and we soon felt we knew everyone in town. For surely, this was a tourist town. We could see it everywhere. Our main watering hole was Utopia (for us at least, maybe not for the monks in the nearby Wat). The atmosphere and the people there was really cool, but the place was a copy of similar places we've been to in other countries, and there wasn't anything specifically Laotian about it. One day we woke early to watch the traditional Buddhist ceremony where monks collect alms from people on the street. Alas, our view, from a respectable distance, was obscured by camera lenses showering the poor monks in a blitz-rain. The monks in Luang Prabang had allegedly asked to be excused from the ceremony, but had been ordered by the government to continue. The same government that 30 years ago, after the revolution, forbade alms collecting or any kind of "excessive religious ceremonies". Interesting.

The best meal for a buck we have encountered yet!

Monks in the morning. No paparazzi in this view though.

Hm. That paragraph may have come out a little negative. Luang Prabang really was a fantastic place to visit. The town was beautiful, we met wonderful people, and the trip to the nearby waterfall was fantastic! Photographing, a hike to the top through the jungle, and a swim in one of the many lagoons (check), left us revitalized and ready for new adventures. However, we needed to get off the backpacker highway to Vientiane through Vang Vieng altogether and headed eastward to the desolate town of Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars.

Several spots like this got us excited at first...

...but the main attraction came at the top!

Here's a not-so-fun fact for you. Laos is the most heavily bombed country on earth. From 1964 to 1973 American forces dropped around 2 million tons of bombs over the eastern part of Laos - a bomb every 8 minutes for nine years! Breaking international law, secret supply lines to the Vietnamese were targeted, but also leftover bombs from failed missions were dropped over an empty plain so the planes didn't have to land with ordnance. Except the plain wasn't empty. Xieng Khouang, the province of Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars, was completely decimated from the bombings and has been crippled ever since, as has several other parts of Laos. We came to Phonsavan to see the mysterious limestone Jars scattered across the rolling hills. It was fascinating to wander among this over 3000 year old pottery for giants. Though there are many theories, nobody really knows where they came from and a paraphrase of the great Samuel L. Jackson comes to mind: "Who the hell put these god damn jars on this god damn plain!?" (censored for family-friendliness)

Mysteriousness is very mysterious!

Since many of the jar sites are very scenic locations, one theory is that
they were for dead bodies.

Barrel-riding! Over barrel...

...and under barrel!

Though the jars were a sight in themselves, the plain also had more modern history. Right next to the historic jars were bomb craters and trenches, and only 7 of the around 50 sites were cleared of unexploded ordnances (UXO) and open to the public. 30 % of the small "bombies" inside the cluster bombs never detonated and remain a deadly threat to people today. We learned a lot about the work around the UXO and we visited two organizations working with this: The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and UXO Survivor Information Center. MAG is the organization tasked with clearing the land of the deadly mines, and the UXO Survivor Information Center does the vital job of rehabilitating the many victims of UXO and making their transition back into society possible. We saw many heartbreaking witness accounts and learned of the important job these organizations do. (Links for the organizations will be provided at the bottom of the post) We also saw a very interesting movie: The most secret place on earth is about Americans and the CIA's involvement in what is called the Secret War. Because the movie is banned by the government, we had to put on a decoy movie before the police stopped by, and then put on the real one!

Although we have seen the desperation and horror that follows with war, the forthcoming and friendly locals have kind of adapted to having weapons of mass destruction all around them. The huge bomb casings could be found all around town - as decorations, as stilts to set up houses, and even as boats, shuttling people across the small rivers. A literal meaning of the phrase: Making swords into plowshares.

Cluster-bomb shells. Each of these could contain about 300 bombies.

Phonsavan town was a neat place to visit in its own right.

We have now, after a 24 hour do-it-ourselves transit marathon with every type of transportation available under the sun, made it to Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam. Before leaving we swiftly died and went to climbing heaven in Tha Khaek, and it's been a week since Phonsavan, but Laos has really made a lasting impression. I still find myself thinking of the inspiring way the locals there have dealt with a hopeless situation. Other impressions looking back at our Laos trip have been the relentlessly stunning scenery making even the tenth cramped bus ride enjoyable, delicious food blending French, Thai and Vietnamese flavors, friendly co-travelers both on and off the backpacker trail, and a slight regret that we have rather limited time.

Now we're heading out to explore Hanoi, and we promise an update from here before too long!

Links:

The Most Secret Place On Earth - documentary on America's "Secret War" in Laos.
Mines Advisory Group's work in Laos - these guys really make a difference, employing local people in mine clearing work, and deserve all the money they can get.
Cooperative Orthotic and Prosthetic Enterprise (COPE) - Giving UXO victims in Laos a future.