100 Photographs from the whole trip are on Photobucket at: http://s935.photobucket.com/albums/ad200/jnelson1944/Laos%202011/
Before I continue a closing thought about Luang Prabang, if you will permit me. The monks make their morning journey collecting alms and they are constantly accosted by tourists, mostly Chinese and European. They crowd the monks and basically show no respect at all. It would be a simple thing for the city of Luang Prabong to cordon off the street and allow room. The monks and the people who pay respect by giving food would have room and could experience the morning as it was meant to be. The tourist would have better pictures because other tourists wouldn’t be in the way! It is a world heritage city, this shouldn’t be to hard to accomplish. We won’t even bitch about the Europeans smoking everywhere although the no smoking signs are abound.
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| They deserve respect! |
We hired a van to take us from Luang Prabang to Xien Khuang to see the Plain of Jars and then take us on to Vientiane. Not the cheapest way to go, but for my money it was an excellent choice. There are two descriptions of the road. From Luang Prabang to Xien Khuang and then to Van Vieng it could be described as 300 miles of road that twists and turns like the road to Rocky Mountain National Park, or up and down Doi Intanai. There are some slight differences however. As you imagine this, remove all the guard rails, never let the road get wider than two narrow lanes and add cattle every mile or so! The Road from Van Vieng to Vientiane has fewer sharp curves, but large portions are either under construction or really need repair.
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| Way too cute, he was at a rest stop on the way. |
Xien Khuang is the town nearest to the Plain of Jars. Phonsavan is actually the name of the town and Xieng Khuang the province. All the Lao, except just a few refer to the town by the name of Xien Khuang.
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| The Craters Cafe, You can't miss it! |
Most interesting, to me, are the NGO projects clearing the Unexploded Ordinance from the 60’s and 70’s. You do know about the secret was in Laos that America and North Vietnam waged. The North Vietnam used Laos to transport logistics into South Vietnam. They denied having any military in Laos. They lied! America responded by bombing Laos into oblivion. Of course, denial was the word of the decade! Everyone lied and the Lao people suffered. America dropped more ordinance in Laos than we did in Germany in WWII! There is a lot of information on line. Perhaps you may want to look at:
The jars are amazing!
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| One small area in Site 1 of 3, The Jars - Plain of Jars |
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