Day 10 Phonsavan

This area was heavily bombed in the late 60’s by USA and there are, according to the signs, still UXO (unexploded ordinances) in some fields. It has become an administrative centre for the area and most of the buildings in the town are new. Vietnam is about 80km to the east and there are many Vietnamese here. Tourists come her to see the Plain of Jars. There are several sites around Phonsavan where the ground is littered with large stone jars. No one knows what they were used for. The smaller ones were about 1m high but a few were almost 2m. We went to 2 sites today – one we reached by a walk up a hill from where the bus dropped us ( we stayed on the marked path!) and the other site we reached by a very pleasant 15min walk through rice paddies, over styles and past buffalo grazing.

After lunch in a pleasant local noodle soup shop, we went to Muang Khoun, an old capital, with a few remains. We went to an old Buddhist stupa built in the 15th century and to the remains of a Buddhist temple b built in the 16th century. Some of the pillars are there along with a large seated Buddha. I quite liked him. He had a damaged face, blown away arm, but still seemed very peaceful.

I am now back in my room and my fire has been lit. I donot know how long the wood will last, it seems quite light ( red box it is not) but it will be nice to watch. This place is like what I imagine a hunting lodge to be – timber, stone, eiderdown-like bedcovers. These are needed because there are gaps in the floorboards and around the windows through which the wind whistled last night. The shower has an instant gas hot water thing. It was a bit tricky turning the 2 dials on the heater and the hot and cold tap in the right sequence to get hot water without too much gas. I have a lovely view of the valley below from a window and would have from the balcony but that is missing a railing or 4 and is not to be used ( according to a large sign on the inside door)