Even on my way to Phonsavan I wasn’t sure if it would be worth the trip. But that’s the thing about traveling, if you take a chance, at times you’re rewarded with unique experiences you never expected to have. Phonsavan is the capital of the most bombarded province in the world! Not just Laos, but the world! Still thousands of bombs are scattered around the landscape. In Laos, people still get hurt by unexploded ordnance on a daily basis. So why on earth was I heading this way?
It took me over 6 hours to get here from the popular Van Vieng. At the North bus station I boarded a big family car. What!? Yeah, this was my bus. My bag ends up on the roof and I sit on a fold-out seat next to the window. There are 3 rows of people and 2 people squeeze in next to the driver. Believe it or not, it was my most comfortable ride in Laos! The ride went higher and higher through the mountains. The Karst mountains with sharp, spiky peaks made way for rounded mountains full of forest and tall grasses. Many towns along the way were completely stretched out to follow the road and showed a mix of bamboo houses and modern stone houses that were under construction. Often there was a steep drop right behind the them.
Kids were riding their bikes in school uniforms. The smaller kids were running between the cows and chickens. People bathed in the river and gathered at shared water points. Our family car just drove through this picture of typical life, honking to warn the kids and cows. The cows however were not impressed and we often had to slalom around them. Luckily there wasn’t too much traffic on these roads, that often had blind hairpin turns. Once, a big bus flew around the corner and nearly hit us. Our driver cursed, I think, and then delivered me safely in Phonsavan.
At first glance Phonsavan wasn’t anything special. Mind you, it’s not been around for that long! I was dropped off at a big market. A lot of people came towards us, hoping to rent out a room to the few tourists. One smart man, Kong, had converted a big room to a dorm and therefore became the backpacker’s go-to place. It wasn’t anything special, far from it actually, but it’s great to have a place where all travellers come together to share stories at night. This way it was also easier to arrange any day trips, like to the mysterious plain of jars.
Phonsavan also has a small museum: the UXO information center. The organization behind this center helps the victims of UXOs, unexploded ordnance. They have a short video about the organization and you can read stories of people who’ve survived an accident. A part of the project is that survivors make souvenirs to sell, so I buy a key chain in the small shop before heading out. Next door is the MAG center, the mine advisory group. This organization is trying to clear the UXOs and make the land safe for the people again. Many farmers are scared to use new land. At some point they have to, but preparing the land can cost you your life if there are any hidden bombs lying around. There are also many accidents with children, who think the bomb is a toy. Victims lose limbs, their eyesight, or even their life! My short visit opened my eyes to a whole new part of Laos history.
The next day I joined a trip to the famous plain of jars. It is pretty much what you’d think it is: a big field with jars scattered around it, lying between bomb craters. Ok, maybe you wouldn’t expect the craters… It’s the biggest tourist attraction of the area and therefore this area has been cleared of unexploded ordnance, so that you can safely visit it, as long as you stay on the marked trails. I head to the jar site with Kong and three other people from the guesthouse. On the way we stop at an information center. Kong gets serious and mysterious and tells us he can’t talk much inside the building. We look around for a while and then come back to him to hear his story.
In the garden next to the building a series of bombs is on display. Kong gives us some background about the secret war. During the Vietnam war, for about 9 years, a bomb dropped on Laos every 8 minutes. Most of them were cluster bombs, designed to kill and wound as many people as possible. A cluster bomb, or bombies as they are called in Laos, has dozens of smaller bombs insides. They explode after a certain amount of revolutions. Around 270 million bombies landed in Laos, but about 30% never exploded. The airplanes carrying those bombs were probably flying too low, and the bombs never got the necessary amount of revolutions. The bombs are all American, even though for a long time they claimed never to have been in Laos. Kong says he knows the truth. He pulls us in closer, his eyes intense, and tells us there used to be a secret American base in Laos. It is completely closed off and nobody talks about it.
Jar site 1 was hit by bombs as well. They’ve been trying to get this historical site on the UNESCO World Heritage list. They’ve cleared 127 UXOs just to make it safe to visit. Walking routes are marked, because this is where they dug deep to clear any UXO. Outside of those routes a shallower search had been conducted, so there could still be bombs under the surface. Kong says we don’t have to be afraid though. From a hill we see the first jars. In between some bomb craters lie the 2500 year old jars, in what now looks like a peaceful landscape.
It’s a bizarre place. The biggest jars are bigger than I am! They look incredibly heavy. Nobody really knows the truth about these mysterious jars, but they think the stone came from a mountain we can see in the distance. Even the use of the jars is uncertain. Perhaps it was a burial jar. One theory says a body was put inside with water and later the bones were collected to be buried. Kong however prefer to say the jars stored whiskey, although water is more likely. We also pass a small cave. Inside I see small towers of little rocks. Some locals think it’s a place where spirits wander and therefore they’ve build mini stupa’s from small rocks and pebbles, to house the spirits.
But there are multiple jar sites, all within driving distance. From the dry plain we drove towards the forest. Jar site 2 is very different, hidden in between the trees. One tree has grown right through a jar and rock and wood have become one. In the end all the jars sort of look the same, so Kong showed us some other interesting things as well. He found some jars that have a whole family of spiders. When you look inside, you see a black bush, like a beard. When Kong stuck a stick inside, the beard was disturbed and the small spiders started exiting the jar from all directions. As soon as he stopped, they all regrouped and returned to the beard. Fascinatingly creepy.
By the time we hit jar site 3 I think most of us had seen enough jars for one day. I just enjoyed the walk through the rice fields and then the shade of the trees and the breeze that hit us in this particular site. We made some fun jar photos and then prepared to leave. The jar sites are full of mystery, like Stone Henge or the Pyramids. But you don’t visit Phonsavan just for the jars. I learned so much more about this country and the sad history. I got to see what life is like outside of the main tourist sites, and I got to meet a crazy Laotian tour guide when I met Kong. I’m glad I took the trip out here.
