January 31, 2011 Touring Phonsavahn

Today we toured Phonsavahn in central Laos.  It's not a DIY area so we set up a tour at the hotel.  We were escorted by a driver and a guide, who spoke wonderful English and was able to answer questions that had been building up for weeks.
Stop 1 Plain of Jars - exactly what it sounds like.  Open plains filled with jars of varrying sizes.  The biggest is 6 tons.  They are a bit of a mystery - archaeologists and legends don't agree.  They were likely used as storage for grains, which then fermented into whisky.  Then if someone in the family died, they'd burry them in it.  The area of the main tourst sites are mostly cleared of bombies (from cluster bombs) but they're very insistent that one stays within the markers.  There are also several large craters in the area where large bombs were dropped.

Me and the big one.  (It was quite cold and windy.)

Stop 2 Bombed temple from the Secret War
The building blew away, but Buddha remains.  Even before the bombing miracle, this was considered a magical Buddha.  People would travel long distances to visit it.  It's hard not to feel someone awed by how untouched it was.  There's a part of his left arm that was injured by a bullet.

Stop 3 Bombed French Hospital (no photo)
Stop 4 Lunch  This nice old man came over to practice his English.  He wasn't interested in listening, only talking.  He kept talking about various American presidents so I asked Xn to list them in order.  The man was so delighted he asked Xn to write out a list of all of them in order, which is what he's doing here.

Stop 4 Hmong Village  Our guide is Hmong but not from this village.  We did a very quick walk through - it felt weird to walk through someone's place like that.  We stopped to watch the kids play, said hello to a woman sewing.  They have a grind stone for making flour that's made out of an old bomb casing.
Little video of me trying it out:

Just trying to stay warm