Have backpacks will travel....

After a few days wallowing in the laid back atmosphere of Luang Prabang, we chose to explore the area that is commonly known as the "Plain of Jars". We could have taken a public bus to Phonsavan, and took a tour from there, but chickened out when we read of occasional attacks by bandits and insurgents in this province (Xiang Khouang) on public transport. In one case, several people in 2004 were killed by gunmen on this road (including foreign tourists). Although nothing seems to have happened since, and from what we saw, it appeared safe to travel in this area, we decided to take a tour in a mini van from Luang Prabang. We still saw several men with semi-automatic weapons (that appeared over the top for hunting!) on the journey from Phonsavan to Vang Vieng - but they didn't seem to be pointing them at the tourists.

Typical decor on Luang Prabang's numerous Wats.

Leaning Buddha in Luang Prabang

The first day was taken up by driving a gruelling 7 hours on winding, vomit inducing mountainous terrain. Although the Brunton's don't really get car sick, we felt decidedly queasy by early evening. We should have skipped tea, not because we felt sick, but because the cuisine in Phonsavan resembled sick. And the following day it made our Norweigian friends actually sick (and gave Lisab a dodgy tummy).

The following day was taken up by a tour of the Plain of Jars sites. They are set amongst beautiful scenery of rolling green hills and farmed fields. Since French archaeological research in the 1930's, the jars (which are sometimes higher than Lisab) are believed to have been produced around two and a half thousand years ago, for the use of funerary urns - as human remains and ashes have been found in some jars. However, the Laos people still like to believe that they were used to store Lao Lao (rice whiskey) or food stuffs. They appear a little elaborate to be used as ancient tupperware though.

A large number of the jars were bomb damaged during the 2nd Indochina war (1964-1973) but they still amount to several hundred intact jars over numerous locations. Incidentally, this is a relatively new attraction for Laos, as the sites were only cleared of mines and UXO's in 2003 by the Mines Advisory Group (MAG). We saw these in action, clearing a field close by. There are a few warnings to stick to the paths, and Andyb was bursting to sneak behind a bush for a pee, but couldn't for fear of losing a leg. Eventually, the Plain of jars sites are aiming for UNESCO world heritage status, but it is clear that a lot of work needs to be done to improve access and increase research regarding the significance of the jars. Little work appears to have been done since the initial French investigations.

The Brunton's at the jars

Mine clearance

Talking of the 2nd Indochina war, The Rough Guide tells us that Laos was the most heavily bombed country (per capita) in the history of warfare. Apparently, our friends the Yanks flew 580,944 "sorties" (missions), and dumped a total of 2,093,100 tonnes of bombs on Laos. This is equivalent to one plane load of bombs every eight minutes, 24 hours a day, for 9 years being dropped on the locals. Little wonder that the National Museum in Vientiene gives a totally unobjective account of the American involvement in the war.

You can still see the bomb craters pocketing the landscape today

Russian tank. The locals had taken the top off to use as part of a fence

Bomb damaged temple in the old capital of the Xiang Khouang province

Damaged buddha

The final day of the tour was another arduous winding journey through the beautiful Laos landscape, stopping only briefly to observe the landslides and collapsed roads caused by the heavy rains that had fallen on Laos recently. We were told that the road was completely blocked the day before, and probably still would be but for the several JCB's we passed on our way. We saw lots of over - flooded rice fields, as the river had burst it's banks, resulting in more ducks than workers in the fields.

Balcony view from our hotel in Vang Vieng. The river had flooded several bungalows and bars

We had one day in Vientiene and went to see the concrete monstrosity of the Victory Monument. Apparently it's Laos's answer to the Arc de Triomphe.

Everything was going so swimmingly. Immigration and visa entry points in Houayxai were quick to go through (despite it being a cattle market of backpackers), we even got a 30 day instead of our expected 15 day visa. Although alarmed at the number of people who had pre booked their boat trip, there was no need; we got a ticket and were even amongst the 1st van load of people to be dropped off by the river. They just needed our passports to show the officials. And then it all started to go a bit Lisab shaped (pear). Truck loads of backpackers arrived and were making their way to the boat. Meanwhile our group were plonked in a cafe to wait (over an hour) for the return of our passports. The tour agent then announced "who wants to go by bus instead? We take you in a free taxi to bus station now". Given that the 2 day sail down the Mekong had been a long awaited highlight of our one year trip away, we said "no thank you", along with the rest. His reasoning was quite novel though - "you will be in Louang Prabang tonight. It will be cheaper, no overnight accommodation , breakfast or lunch to pay tomorrow". He said this to a bunch of tourists (not locals returning home) - as if when we reached Louang Prabang we would enter the land of the free! Fatal flaw in his argument.

The passports arrived and we made our way to the boat. It's a wonder of physics that it hadn't sank under the weight of people and bags already packed into it. And people were STILL trying to board. As we're not sick of living we didn't step a foot inside, but along with 26 others decided to get into the next boat along, reasoning that if they'd sold so many tickets they would have to sail 2 boats that day. WRONG - the Laos boat operators (who appear to have missed their annual health & safety update for this year) expected over 100 people to get into the one boat. After much confusion the Laos learnt an important lesson - don't mess with the Brunton's. It was all terribly exciting as we took part in our first "sit in", until they finally agreed to sail two boats - our victory came at a cost however, as we each had to pay an extra 280 bhat. We also need to admit that we literally sat on our bottoms whilst a great young Englishman (university educated) did all the negotiating for us.

The overcrowded boat

Life inside our boat

And so we set sail. Us, in our spacious long boat, the other 80 in their much narrower, packed in like sardines, over crowded boat - the irony! It was a lovely, hot and sunny day and we were travelling in style. Reading a book, moving around the boat, sitting on an open window ledge to look out onto the Mekong, stretching out on the floor to take a nap. Andyb also gave up his cushion to the wife (hence his sore bum, though Lisa's is peachy).

We were the first to dock in Pakbeng and later heard that the other boat had made several stops to pick up extra passengers along the way. This is the halfway stop - with rudimentary accommodation - where they placed a cockroach instead of a chocolate on our pillow and the leccy went off at 10:30pm. Still, we met a fun American named Faith, who swapped a Donna Tartt for a Bill Bryson (which made the next day on the boat go by very quickly for Lisab, though left Andyb wandering the boat with no one to talk to).

View from our guest house in Pakbeng. Whilst we were sat enjoying a beer, we spotted a man high in the tree (no safety net), chopping off the leaves and branches of the trees in the foreground. We don't think this was just for our benefit, to make our beer taste better, but the guest house boasted a "room with a river view".

The next morning started off swimmingly. Our crew were waiting at the dock for us, directing us to a new (smaller) boat for our next day's trip. They fiercly guarded entry to the boat - if your name wasn't down, you weren't coming in - as several passengers from the sardine can tried to sneak on board. Then more confusion; we would have to change back to yesterday's boat for some (unexplained) reason. So, after playing musical boats for a while, we set sail again.

The second day's sail was just as lovely as the first and made more interesting when they stopped to pick up the locals. This included a young boy with a suspected leg fracture who was going to hospital. We had a whip round for his expenses and everyone had a good gawp (as you do). Travelling along the Mekong was a great experience - made all the more memorable because of the 1st day's dramatics. The water level is quite high as it's rainy season & it's mesmerising to watch the currents swirl in different directions. Although perhaps not the usual way to sail down the Mekong in our under capacity boat, we had a lovely, relaxing time and pitied the fools on the other one who would have been lucky to glimpse the Mekong in their packed out vessel.

River Mekong scenery