Left early in the morning for the SE7 train from Hanoi to Vinh. Unfortunately, I've left my iphone in the room. Time to double back to the hotel. Luckily the hotel manager is still at the front desk to let us in. I run upstairs grab the phone and hustle downstairs. Amazingly, there's a car outside (manager hailed a cab) and two waters free of charge. So great. Jumping in the cab, we head back to the train station. Arriving 20min before departure we are helped by a porter who won't take no for an answer. Reluctantly, we follow him to our train cabin and egg him away for 10000 dong. Originally, he requested 50000 (an outrageously high amount for what he did).
A pleasant 6hr train ride later with a nice nap helps to rebuild our fortitude after waking up early and rushing back to get my phone (and dealing with an uncooperative porter). Vinh is flat and wide. Very dusty and without character. Why? Well, unfortunately, Vinh was subject to non stop bombing during the American War, leaving it with officially two standing buildings and a population of ZERO. Thank you USA. Regardless, the people are friendly and we check into a hotel across the street from the bus station. After picking up bus tickets, we grab a dinner (least favorite, but all things considered, it could have been worse) and head to bed.
Early the next morning we head down to the bus station, grab a quick bowl of Pho Bo and hop on the bus. It's a very nice sleeper bus. Cushions, Aircon... Awesome for sleeping. Passing out occasionally on the ride up, while awake we see stunning karst mountains, Tai and H'Mong villages, and, quite frankly, some of the most beautiful cliff side/mountain valley scenes of all time as we moved vertically through the jungle. A smooth transition through customs eased our nerves and a lovely drive from the border to Phonsavan helped top the cake. Checking into our hotel, we pass out.
The next few days we, for the most part, chill out. As a one horse town, Phonsavan is not very exciting or large. Most or what you come to see here is the Plain of Jars and a number of Secret War sites and minority villages. We took a tour one of the days and visited a number of cool and humbling sites. First on the tour, the Plain of Jars, a place littered with stone jars, one of which weighing over three tons! Second, H'Mung village, to see their way of life. Third, a hot spring and craft village where the guide demonstrated how to fish with a throw net and the villagers showed us the weaving and garlic they harvested. Fourth, a quick stop at a rice wine maker; fermented rice in oil barrels and then distilled over an open fire. Finally, a field littered in craters. Again, thank you USA for your holes and UXO. UXO is perhaps the most prevalent and dangerous thing in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. In Laos, over 2million tons of unexploded ordinance sits in the soil of Laos. Why? Because around 30% of the bombs dropped by the Americans didn't explode. Sadly, much of where the UXO sits is in prime farming and building land. Our guide even pointed out a UXO recently discovered located not more than one meter from the road.
This stuff is everywhere. Imagine a world where you can only walk on the established path. No sitting in the field, no gardening new plots. This is the life of the Lao. This inhibits the locals from being able to farm the land and build safely. Thus, many are forced to buy what could be plentiful, i.e. rice, from Thailand and Vietnam, because the airable land is so limited by the UXO. Why is it still here? Because it's very expensive to remove and their's so much of it. Feel bad? Donate to MAG (an international NGO that removes UXO all over the world) or write your representative asking them to pay reparations or assist in the removal of UXO in Laos and the rest of SE Asia. Our time in Phonsavan has been humbling. In contrast, much of the UXO in farmland in Vietnam was removed by the Vietnamese with the help of the Russians. MAG continues to provide assistance in remote places being opened to the public, but it is still unsafe to travel on unestablished paths. Help is needed to remove this stuff.
We leave tomorrow for Luang Prabang. Hopefully, we will help teach English and other things along with visiting all the cool sites.
-Geoff
