Exploring Vientiane, City of the Moon

February 16, 2013  - Vientiane

From our Daily Itinerary:

Day 8: Vientiane

Meals included: 1 breakfast

Activities:

​A city tour acquaints us with the major sights of the capital. We visit the imposing Patuxai monument (also known as the Anousavari, which translates as 'Victory' in Lao - hence the name Victory monument), which is Vientiane's version of the Arc de Triomphe and dominates the city's main thoroughfare. It has also been nicknamed the 'Vertical Runway', which refers to the fact that it was built in the 1960s from funds the US Government had given to the Lao Government for the expressed purpose of extending the runway at the airport! Wat Si Saket is the oldest temple in the city, while the former royal temple of Wat Prakeo previously housed the famous Emerald Buddha image before it was taken by the Siamese in the late 18th Century. We visit both temples and the most famous structure in Laos, the That Luang stupa. A drink in a riverside bar watching the glorious sunset over the Mekong River is the perfect way to finish our day.

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This morning we started our explorations of Vientiane.  The Loa name is Viang Jan, pronounced  as Wiang Jan.  The French could not pronounce it correctly and changed it to a similar name that they could spell and say.  The Lao name means city of the moon.  It is the most developed and international city that we have been in Laos.

By means of walking and taxi, we explored temples, statues, and the Patuxai monument or the vertical runway.  Americans gave the governmamt dollars to extend the runway and the Lao government used the dollars instead to build this monumemt to their communist victory.  We found a geocache here.

At the Wat Prakeo, we learned about the various poses of the Buddah and the symbolism now associated with these poses.   

Dennis, Aaron, and Guide Tui

Photos from Wat Si Saket:

Stop Fighting

We also visited the That Luang Stupa.

Today is our last day with our guides Moh and Tui.  When we returned to the hotel at noon, we bade a fond farewell toTui as he will be returning to his home in Liang Probang later this adternoon.   We will say goodbye to  Moh later, as we will be seeing jer tonight, and she will see us off tomorrow morning to Cambodia where we will meet up with a Cambodian guide.

After our lunch, Russ and I, along with Marek and Eva, and Jan headed out to the Buddha park about 29 km out of Vientiane.  The park is filled with statuary that reflect both Hinduism and Buddhism.  It was interesting and we had a lot of fun taking photos there.

Could not find the geocache here.

Monklings

Interesting fact..Direct access to Facebook is blocked here.  We can only go through a backdoor using our personal app or a link from an email.

Tonight, we are going to the night market and dinner,then we are off to Cambodia in the morning.

Allos Well With the Worrall Travel Rs

American Shame in Phonsavan, Laos

Friday, February 15, 2013

Day 7: Phonsavan - Vientiane

Meals included: 1 breakfast

Activities:

​In the morning we transfer out to visit the Plain of Jars, an archaeological site where hundreds of large stone jars are littered all over the plateau. It is said that these jars are over 2000 years old, but there is no reliable way of dating them and archaeologists are still mystified as to their original purpose (opinions vary from burial urns to rice whisky vats). We are then transferred to the airport to catch our flight to Vientiane - the capital of Laos.

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We arrived about 5:00 pm in the provincial capitol of Phonsavan,  As we were checking in some other travelers were coming through the doors.  Oh my gosh, our sailing friend Maggie Loaney from Sydney, Australia and her American sailing friend, Robert Van Pelt from San Juan Capistrano in California walked through the door.  I knew Maggie was in Southeast Asia traveling around and thought it would be fun to meet up, but we had not made any formal arrangements to do so.  So this was an unexpected surprise.  We were able to get together later in the evening for dinner.  Really fun to see them!

One of the reasons we are in Phonsavan is to learn about American involvement here during the Viet Nam war.  Before we met up with Maggie and Robert for dinner, we went to the MAG (mines Advisory Group) center,  a non-profit organization that is still cleaning up the unexploded ordinance UXO's dropped by Americans during the Vietnam war to disrupt movement of communists and supplies through Lao on the Ho Chi Min trail to Vietnam.  Unfortunately for the people of Laos, the Ho Chi Min Trail runs the length of their country and took the brunt of collateral damage.

The American military under the command of Presidents Johnson and Nixon, 1964-1973 secretly and breaking the terms of the Geneva Convention, conducted airstrikes in a neutral country.  For 9 years the USA dropped 2 MILLION TONS of cluster bombs on the Ho Chi Min Trail and in the countryside of Laos around the trail, destroying villages, people, and vegetation.  The American people and even our Congress were not aware of or to the extent of the devastation we were unleashing in Laos.  This is often why this was referred to as the secret war.  

Just driving through the jungly mountains of this area should have been a clue that this would have been a futile endeavor, and that this scatter bomb approach was a hit - miss destruction and the bombs and bombies would be an inhumane atrocity.

The 2 MILLION Tons of  cluster bombs look like a very large traditional bullet shaped bomb as it is dropped out of plane.  As it approaches the ground it is supposed to detonate and violently open spinning the contents of thousands of smaller bombies.  The spinning action on the wings of these bombies is supposed to set the fuse to detonate when they strike the ground and explode like grenades sending shrapnel in all directions.  

Only 70 percent of the large bombs and smaller bombies actually detonated leaving 30 percent of all that fell not yet detonated.  The little bombies look like a grapefruit sized yellow balls.  Children are particularly attracted to these objects that have been laying around, caught up in tree branches, buried in muddy fields, lakes, rivers, and rice paddies for some movement to activate them.  Peasants (almost everyone) who works. the land are in daily jeopardy.

As an analogy, imagine the Pacific Crest Trail  and surrounding cities running the length of California being bombed once every eight minutes for 9 years with 2 million tons of bombs with no defense and we are not at war with the enemy marching through or the country that is fighting them.  Fifty years later Californians are still being blown up by unexploded ordinance.  This is a very ugly scenario.

Since 1974 over 20,000 Lao men, women, and children have accidentally found these bombs and bombies and have been killed, many more have suffered terrible burn injuries and loss of limbs, eyes, and ears.  Farms lands were so damaged and dangerous, sustenance farms have failed and the people often hungry and in poverty.  The United States apparently has never fully apologized or helped to clear all of the UXOs from Laos.  Worse, knowing both the short and long term damage these cluster bombs cause, we continue to use them whenever we are engaged in air warfare. 

Given the injury and continued devastation the bombs and UXO's caused and continue to cause, one would think the Laotians would harbor ill will towards the Americans.  Outwardly they are friendly to everyone.  Our guide Tui told us that living the Buddhist way is to forgive and forget.  The Laotians use and recycle all of the metal they find to make machetes, shovels, hoes, eating utensils and hardware.  Craters left by the bombs are used as fishing ponds.  They are a kind sweet people that we took terrible advantage of.  I am ashamed and saddened here.

Carefully digging avoiding bombies

Foreground of Stupa Blown To Bits as Demolition Team  Finds Bombies

Family collecting berries outside the safe area

We visited some temples, one contained a Buddha built in 1442.  Since the time it was built, it had been pillaged by the Chinese, damaged when the French were fighting Laos and bombed by the Americans.  It still stands.

Russ and I explored a local market, not for tourists.  Merchandise here is primarily from China.

Juicing Sugar Cane

Our group went to the Plain of Jars.  These are large hollowed out carved jars presumed to be over 2000 years old, although the rock is much older of course.  There are some theories about these jars, but none have been conclusively proven.  Some of the jars had bone fragments, but before the bones could be carbon dated, they disappeared.  How did he jars get here and what did they hold.  This area is still dangerous to walk outside the MAG markers.  

Excavation might unearth some other evidence, but it is dangerous.  The UNESCO World Heritage Site is considering the Plain of Jars as a site, but the UXO have to be cleared.  My personal theory is that these stones were here naturally and carved out and used for cremated remains of the indigenous people. Perhaps this will always be  mystery.

We boarded a plane and left Phonsavan for Vientiane, the Capitol of Laos late in  the afternoon.  We will be here for two days before heading to Cambodia.

All is Well with The Worrall Travel R's

Over the Mountaims to Phonsavan

Thursday, February 14, 2013

Day 6: Phonsavan

Meals included: 1 breakfast

Activities:

​After breakfast we take with us our spirit of adventure and travel on our private bus to remote Xieng Khuang Province, an area that was devastated by American bombing between 1964 and 1973. The high altitude means that the weather will be relatively cool. We visit the province's old capital of Muang Khun that was largely destroyed in the bombing raids, as well as the nearby villages, home to the Hmong hill tribe who have an interesting local culture and a colourful history. The Hmong people wear distinctive costumes and live at high altitudes. We spend the night in a basic hotel in the small town of Phonsavan, which is the province's current capital.

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Our small group of travelers boarded our bus this morning At 8:00 am and got under way.  We will be driving most of the day up and over the high mountains in Northern Laos.  We were advised last night to keep our motion sickness medication handy as the roads would be quite twisty, and they are.  There are scant guard rails and narrow shoulders.  We have snaked through thatched hut villages that cling to the narrow shoulders hanging over the deep valleys like barnacles on the side of a great winding serpent.  

Children and pedestrians play and walk precariously on the only flat surface...the highway where tour buses, farm trucks, motor bikes and bicycles zip along at crazy speeds.

 Earlier in the morning, we rose up through the clouds until the mist was beneath us forming icitua sea of clouds between the mountains.  By 11:00 the clouds has mostly  burnt off leaving a haze off residual moisture and smoke from morning wood fires and cooking.  Farming and logging sustain the locals, although the mountains are so steep, one wonders how they hang on to the earth as they garden.

Unlike home, the vegetation seems static as our elevation changes.  There are no oak then pine forests to mark our climb.  We estimate that we are at 4-5,000 feet as we look out from high vistas.

Power poles line the road so the cliff hanger villages have access to power.  Few homes have any appliances that might need electricity.  Others may use it for a light bulb.  Televisions are more prevalent than refrigerators.  Our Guide Tui, says he pays about $7.00 a month for power because he has only a few appliances.  Petrol runs about $1.20 a litre, about $4.00 a gallon.  A new small motorcycle costs about $700 which we thought was pretty inexpensive, but Tui said they are cheaply made and breakdown.  This is his main mode of transportation.  

Yesterday, when we rode on the tour bus out to the water fall for a hike and a swim, I asked him if he brought his family out here.  "No," he said because only his wife and two of his children fit on his motorcycle.  He said when the children can walk or ride bikes, then they might come as a family.  Most marriages in Laos are arranged.  Unlike some of the Pacific Island countries when a man and woman marry and the woman goes to love with her husband and husbands family, the man moves to his wife's family.  Then if both sets of parents are living and there are many siblings to help the elders, every three years the couple and their young children will alternate between families.

Education in Laos is "compulsory" until a child is eleven years old.  No one however enforces this and many children younger than eleven do not go to school, particularly in the mountains.  Forty percent of the people are illiterate, most semi-literate.  The country lacks educated workers and teachers to properly educate the students.

Teachers are often recruited to teach in remote areas if they have a high school diploma. Tui explained that in Laos teachers make about $35.00 a month, policemen about $100, bankers and pilots are probably the best paid $200-300 a month, with the exception of the tax collectors who are very well paid.  I'm not altogether sure whether the tax collectors are well paid by the government or whether they might be pocketing some of the tax collections for themselves.  Salaries are so low, families require many members to work multiple jobs to make ends meet.

Young men and women in one province are employed digging a trench by hand shovels so that fiber optic cables can be laid.  Hard work!

Laos would be a difficult place to live.  The people are very enterprising and work hard to get ahead.  Some middle class merchants are emerging and in towns like Luang Prabang there were a noticeable number of shiney big SUVs. 

We stopped in a few places to use the toilet facilities as we climbed through the mountains.  Squat toilets are the norm here.

Before we left Australia, I thought this might be the case, so I bought myself a a little rubber silicone apparatus called a Go Girl, also known as a SheWee.  It's a wonderful innovation to allow women to discreetly stand and urinate.  Ladies, don't leave home for under developed countries without one.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel R's.