15122010 - Phonsavan should be called the Plain of Bombs

Arrived in Phonsavan after an 8.5hr bus ride from Luang Prabang. It was about halfway when a military guy boarded the bus with his rifle! I looked and saw that the magazine was still attached and the process of guessing whether it was empty or not was not exactly very enjoyable. A similar deed back home in Singapore would mean a 7 year sentence. Guess it’s just another day in a Laotian local bus.

Visited the MAG gallery in town and witnessed the atrocities that happened during the Vietnam war years. The US rained bombs on the Lao side in an attempt to wipe out the supply routes of the viet congs. 1 in 3 of these bombs failed to detonate and right now people are getting blasted everyday by UXOs(unexploded ordances) For many of us we only knew about the war in Vietnam but was clueless about what happened to Laos.

Visit : http://www.maginternational.org/laopdr

In the MAG gallery

Had my first case of food poisoning and I vomited and had diarrhea 4 times. Never had food poisoning till the extent of vomiting and it was the worse feeling ever. Went over to the Plain of Jars : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plain_of_Jars and i only visited 1 site before I had to retreat back to the guesthouse to recuperate after barfing another load beside one of those stone jars haha!

People have said that if these  jars had no
holes in them they would just be regular
stone blocks which no one will be curious
about. 

It was also the Hmong new year and during this time of the year, members of the opposite sex gather and toss balls back and forth with one another and during this process they talk and if they like each other they get married. It was an interesting spectacle and unlike the modern countries where usual process is to wine and dine before people get acquainted This time of the year the crops and rice are all harvested and people have nothing to do. So other than it being the dry season, it is also the wedding season I guess.  

decked in their colourful ethnic costumes