Man-made jars being destroyed by nature (erosion), nature destroyed by man (bombs and defoliants).

Visiting Phonsavon has been a somber visual realization that what the US did in Laos was a terrible thing. The visual impact is so much more sobering than just reading about what happened here. The pain inflicted on the people is bad enough, yet on top of that, scars have been inflicted on the environment that have lasted and will continue to last for a long long time. When a war is over, it doesn’t mean that everything is all neatly wrapped up.

Nearly everywhere we’ve been in SEA so far has been tropical. Southern Thailand was jungles, northern Thailand was hills covered in forest and jungle, and Laos has been nothing but mountains of green. But on our bus ride yesterday, about an hour from Phonsavan, the landscape changed dramatically. After 6 hours of driving through misty mountains, we began driving through dusty ones. The air was dry and trees were sparse. There were fields of nothing- no trees, no farming, nothing. Nothing but dry grass and red dirt. Phonsavan is a dusty little town devoid of much vegetation, too. Yesterday, I assumed that our journey had brought us to a drier climatic region.

war scraps decorating our guesthouse

This morning, our guide informed us that Phonsavan and the entire province was once totally green with jungle. Well, he’s not old enough to remember the war, but he said all the older people talk sadly about how green and beautiful Phonsavan was before the war. But its been like this ever since the war; an entire province decimated by American bombs and defoliants. There’s not much to see in Phonsavan and its not a very scenic place either. Neither Joylani or I wanted to visit the main attraction, the Plain of Jars, which are some enormous stone bowls created around 2500 years ago. Even on one of the bus rides here, Joylani told me I didn’t even know what I wanted to see. That was true, I guess I just wanted to see the landscape, see how the place looked. Nobody had said the landscape would be so desolate, but I figured the most heavily bombed region of the most heavily bombed country in the world would look a little different. And it was beyond belief.

Joylani standing on rim of bomb crater

jars

story of our day- craters and jars and dead landscape

Our tour took us to three different excavation sites where jars have been found and UXO (unexploded ordinance) has been cleared. The jars were interesting, if for nothing else, because of their size. Most were at least a meter tall and some even taller. Nobody is really sure, but its theorized that some stored food stuffs, while others were used as urns. Lao folklore credits ancient giants for creating them. The tour guide didn’t have a problem with us wandering from the trail, as we stayed between markers indicating areas that had been swept for UXO. I wasn’t about to risk my leg to get a close-up shot of a jar. We also stopped by a village that produces lao-lao, a distilled spirit made from rice, as well as an old Vietnamese Russian-made tank that had been destroyed by an American air strike, its turret sitting a good 50 feet from the chassis. Besides the jars, there were huge craters, 20-30m in diameter, from the US bombing campaign. Climbing up a hill to get a view of the landscape, I could see many craters in the barren land and thought about how a bombing campaign could turn a jungle into a wasteland.

stay between the markers…or else….

After the tour, Joylani and I went to the local MAG (Mines Advisory Group) office to learn more about America’s “Secret War.” In case you’re not a history buff (like me) or visited your local MAG chapter today (like us), here’s a synopsis of what went down. In 1962, the US and Vietnam (among other nations) signed the Geneva Accords, which recognized Lao and Cambodia’s neutrality in the growing conflict. Bound by international law, neither country was allowed to conduct military operations within Lao or Cambodia. Well, both sides breached this agreement fairly quickly. The North Vietnamese were aiding the Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge (domestic communist parties), as well as utilizing the famous Ho Chi Minh Trail, which cut through southern Lao and Cambodia. The US military was fighting on behalf of the Lao and Cambodian monarchal governments (against the Pathet Lao and Khmer Rouge), while the CIA was training and arming hill-tribes (mainly Hmong) to fight a guerilla war.

In 1964, the US began bombing Lao. For the rest of the decade, the US denied having ever dropped a single bomb in Lao. Even in 1968, when Johnson was praised for ending the bombing campaign, the bombing continued in Lao. In fact, that marked a turning point in the secret war, as the US increased the number of bombing missions in Lao from 300/month to over 13,000/month. By the end of the bombing campaign in 1973, the US had dropped over 2 million tons of bombs on Laos. To give you a frame of reference, this is more than was dropped on Germany and Japan combined during WWII, making Lao the most bombed nation in history. Put another way, it was one ton of ordinance for every one person in Lao at the time. Or it could be said that it was two tons of ordinance for every person living in the bombed regions. This stepped up campaign backfired for the US military though, as the refugee crisis it created exposed the bombing campaign to the American public and Congress, who pressured the military to halt the bombing. A video clip I saw showed various Senators livid that the US was violating the Geneva Accords they had signed, as well as the fact that civilian targets were not differentiated from military ones, and perhaps most of all furious that the military could conduct the largest bombing campaign in history without the knowledge of the American populace or Congress.

What I learned the most about today though, was the civilian costs of the bombing. I should note that the exhibit was not anti-American in anyway (although it could of easily and justifiably been) and the focus was on the past and current costs that the Lao people must live with. First, I’ll give some details of the bombing campaign that provide the necessary background to understanding the current problems. The bombing campaign in Lao did not differentiate between military and civilian targets. It was a secret war and the US military felt no need to operate by the ROE that it established for Vietnam. Thus, villages and farms were bombed to stop food production. Hundreds of thousands of innocent villagers were killed. Another problem was that it was extremely dangerous to land with live ordinance, so if North Vietnamese targets were obscured by weather or heavy defenses, they’d be redirected to secondary targets in Lao or would just dump their bombs indiscriminately over Lao to avoid a landing safety hazard. The most commonly used type of ordinance were anti-personnel cluster bombs, which are designed to kill (rather than destroy or disable buildings, vehicles, infrastructure, etc. Over 90 million cluster bombs were dropped on Lao, killing anyone within several hundred square meters. I saw quite a few real cluster bombs today and although the size of an apple, each one contains 300 ball bearings as well as a metal casing- imagine one of those hitting the ground near you, much less dozens or hundreds at once. Today, and the whole point of all this, there are still 10-30 million unexplored cluster bombs in Lao, as its estimated 10-30% of the bombs failed to detonate on impact (for a variety of reasons, from not spinning enough times to arm to landing softly in mud or water). These millions of “bombies” as the locals call them still affect every facet of daily life. Most of Lao is agricultural and farmers risk their lives every time they work in their fields- using a hoe, buffalo and plow, shovel, anything. A third of UXO fatalities are children as they often pickup and play with the bombies. A lot of UXO is above ground, but much is below ground having sunk in mud or water when initially dropped. So UXO is continually found even in areas that have been swept a dozen or more times. This sounds stupid, but many people try to take apart the bombies if they find one. In such a poor country, the going rate of 15 cents for a kilo of scrap metal or 25 cents for a kilo of explosives is often too attractive an opportunity to pass up. Even if they’re great at it, you only have to make a mistake once and you’re a goner. Since the war, 12,000 people have died from UXO, although the actual number is probably considerably higher for a few obvious reasons. Looking to the future, with bombies all over the country, development is difficult. Although Lao is one of the poorest and neediest countries, farmers are not willing to expand their fields to grow more food. On a larger scale, infrastructure is expensive and slow to expand as UXO must be cleared several times before a road or building can be built. Its terrible what the US did to Lao, but the ugliness of war is still present here and Lao must face the horrors of a war that ended 35 years ago. Today was one of the most sobering on this trip thusfar.

A few more thoughts:

Most of the above facts were acquired at the MAG office. I was pretty impressed with their presentation of everything, from their posters and t-shirts to informational DVDs and books. And their message was not one blaming, finger-pointing, or victimizing. They were basically illustrating the problem and hopeful about the work that has and needs to be done, no matter how painstaking the process is. I bought a DVD and recommend checking out their website: www.magclearsmines.org

One thing that I just remembered and really caught me off-guard was when I was walking with a kid the other day to go fishing. He asked where I was from and I told him. He responded, “The US bombed Lao.” He didn’t seem to have any ill feelings as he kept up our amiable conversation, but was just saying matter-of-factly what he knew about where I had said I was from. And although he didn’t mean anything about it, I can’t stop thinking about it. And I guess I should think about it, because Lao is the first of several countries we’ll be visiting that the US has fought wars against within popular consciousness.

Related to that last point and to the credit of the Lao people, I haven’t felt any malice here. People ask where I’m from and I tell them. Even though there’s so much they could be upset about, they’re still incredibly warm and friendly people.

It has not taken long to figure out that traveling is a very slow process in Lao. We have been in Lao for nine full days and five of those have been travel days: three days on boats and two on buses. There seems to be two main reasons why travel is so slow. One, the roads are pretty bad and, two, transportation is incredibly infrequent. Lao infrastructure is minimal, although the roads we drove on the past two days were recently paved. But in Lao its often quicker to take boats than buses. But the infrequency of boats and buses increases travel time even more. I think this is caused by Lao being a rural country and people don’t have many reasons to travel great distances. Also, I think there’s something with the Communist government blocking free competition. For instance, I’ve heard that boat owners participate in a lottery to see who gets to do the highly traveled Huay Xai-LP route; supposedly a boat usually only gets picked once every three months, but makes a ton on money on that one day. But if it were a free market and that lucrative, lots of boatsmen would do the route independently, rather than be at the mercy of the government ticket office and its lottery. I’ll have to do another post on my thoughts of the commies here. The last thing that hinders transportation is that if you want to get to/from anywhere besides Vientiane and LP, you’ll likely have to string together several buses of sawngthaews. It’s just kind of frustrating. The pace of travel seems even slower after being in India where jeeps, buses, and trains leave at every minute from anywhere to everywhere and Thailand where there’s an extensive bus network and good roads.

It’s also frustrating when you can see so much more efficient ways of doing things; perhaps this is a curse of having just come from Thailand. From the border at Huay Xai to Luang Prabang, it was quickest to take a two-day “slow boat.” Yet, it could’ve taken one day if the boats left at 7 or 8am instead of 10am and they left on time. Yesterday, we were going to go east from Nong Khiaw to Phonsavan. While it looked shorter on a map to go directly there, transportation wise, it was faster and supposedly more comfortable to backtrack through Luang Prabang. Either way, it was going to take two days, due to the frequency of buses. It was somewhat frustrating because we arrived in LP yesterday at noon, but couldn’t leave until the once-daily bus departed at 8:30am this morning. We still have a lot to see in Lao, which means we have even more time on buses and boats, so I better start getting used to it. On the other hand, the travel has not been that hard yet, just long. And since Lao is not really developed, I am enjoying seeing a lot of the country.

On a more humorous (or is it disgusting) note and to balance out my kind words for kids in my last post, I’ll say that I hate traveling with kids. They always get carsick and throw up. Yesterday and today, there were toddlers barfing all over the place.

I’ve noticed that rural areas are kid areas. I think it has something to do with a lack of vehicular traffic and the atmosphere in a small community. Hampi was the first small place where we saw a ton of kids everywhere. Joylani theorized that since cars weren’t allowed in town, parents let their kids roam freely. This was also the case in the villages we trekked through in Nepal. There was no danger from vehicles, plus there’s a lot more trust in a small community. So toddlers would be walking around alone or in pairs, or sometimes, you’d see a whole pack of little ones. Nong Khiaw is also a kids village.

This morning after breakfast, Joylani and I took a walk to some nearby caves. It was about a 20 minute walk east of town, along the main highway (in Lao, that can be read as: a paved road with a motorcycle or bicycle every few minutes). It was a nice walk; scenic and quiet. As we walked, we overtook two little girls walking by themselves. The bigger one had her arm around the other and they sang a popular Thai pop song over and over, as well as giggled as they walked. As we turned off the road towards the caves, they turned too. Then a little boy started walking with us too, saying “Saaba di!” We climbed a few stories of stairs to get to the cave which was pretty high in the cliff side. Inside, there were a ton of kids, all around 10 or younger. The funny thing was that there weren’t any adults, just dozens of kids. We explored the massive cavern a little bit, but not too much as we didn’t have a light. It was actually a hiding place for the Pathot Lao (Lao Communists), before they came to power in 1975. Then we came down from the cave and walked with the horde to another nearby cave. This one was a super narrow tunnel winding deep into the cliff. Joylani started to go in and then turned around, which left me at the mercy of these little kids and their lights. They screamed and laughed all the way down until the end of the tunnel cave. It was really fun, but kind of scary because it was pitch black around every turn. A couple of them asked for money afterwards, but most of them just kept running through the jungle after we turned to go back to town.

girls on the highway

cave

This afternoon, I went fishing with the son of our guesthouse owners. Last night, he had us sign in, asked our names, said nice to meet you, and then, “Hey you want to come fishing with me tomorrow?” So today, he and I walked a few minutes down the road, then through some fields to a tributary of the Nam Ou river. We were fishing with throw nets, just circular ones with chain links attached all around the border. He gave me a quick tutorial on how to hold it and throw it, before we waded in the cold water and started throwing. We would throw, then walk over to it, pull it in, then walk upriver and repeat. We were fishing for little fish, just 3-5cm, as that’s all that was in these waters. We fished for about an hour and a half. He caught about 10 or 12 and I caught zilch. This and my Maldivian fishing trip has really discouraged me from fishing- I’m no good. This time, I blame it on my casting. Even with his perfect casting, he only caught a fish every 3-4 throws. Needless to say, my net did not hit the water in a perfect circle everytime; more like once every 5 times. Eventually we went back to the village and he cooked up the dozen small fish, which we ate whole with rice and papaya salad. It was a fun day with the kids.

this is a really rustic massage place (see sign)

Our plan to leave Luang Prabang today was foiled by my own stupidity. As we packed our bags last night, Joylani asked if I had my passport. No, I didn’t. After searching everywhere, we deduced that I had either forgotten it at the bank (where we exchanged money earlier that day) or I had lost it (anywhere). So I woke up really early this morning, in hopes that if I could retrieve my passport then we could still catch the boat to Nong Khiaw. I checked the bank which was closed. I waited around until its opening time and even ate a bowl of soup and checked again in case it was opening late. Still, it was closed and I assumed it was closed for New Years, like the other bank in town. Then I stopped by the Tourism Police Office, where a police officer who probably partied too hard on New Years Eve and was still kind of slow kindly told me nothing had been turned in. Figuring nothing could be done until tomorrow, I trudged back to the room. Joylani had everything packed and ready to go, in case I found my passport. But no luck. I showered and then we went out for the day.

View of LP from Wat Phu Si

As we walked through town, we passed the bank I had just come from, but now it was open! Even better, they had my passport! But it was now too late to catch the boat, so we still had a day to kill. I say kill because I don’t find Luang Prabang all that exciting. I will say its nice and I will say that I’m a bit hypocritical as I’m currently sitting in café, drinking an expresso, and writing. But I recognized Luang Prabang the instant we arrived, even in the late-evening darkness: a tourist town. Not so much a backpacker hub, but a little motif town carefully manicured for tourists, like Carmel or something. Its ultra clean and litter free, the roads are nice, all the architecture matches, and there’s just as many middle age Europeans milling around as Lao. Its one of those places that’s nice to see for a day, but not much longer.

town

some off shoot of the Mekong

One of my favorite parts of our time here was exploring on bicycles yesterday. Its amazing how different things are even just 5 minutes outside of the town center. The roads deteriorated quickly as we rode out and soon we were on the only paved (and heavily potholed) road; only the main highway was paved and all the other streets were rock and dirt. Motorcycles, scooters, and pollution were everywhere too. What happened to the peaceful little town? The buildings changed from French colonial cubes with shutters to crooked bamboo or wooden structures. I say it was my favorite part of our time in LP, because I feel like we saw real LP that day. Its not like I enjoy seeing poverty and underdevelopment, but I am interested in seeing the realities of a place rather than have it tailored to my tastes. Passport in hand, we’ll head north tomorrow, where hopefully we’ll be able to see even more of real Lao.

Lao is not very developed. Paved roads are not very extensive, nor are the transportation networks. Getting from the far-flung border town of Huay Xai to Luang Prabang involves several days of riding buses along unpaved roads. Thus, it wasn’t a difficult decision to buy tickets for the two-day boat ride to LP. We got to the pier (if you can call a bunch of boats lined up on a muddy shoreline a pier) early and were actually the first ones on the boat. We did have to wait two and a half hours, but it was worth having “good” seats for the next eight-plus hours. I put good in quotes, because all the seats were closely-spaced hard wooden benches with upright backs- we just picked a bench closer to the front and moved the bench a bit to give us plenty of leg room. I really enjoyed the boat ride. The river is brown and green gentle slopes rise away on either side. The banks alternate between rocky banks and outcrops and sandy flood banks that would be beaches. I say would be because the sand is cultivated with vegetables- sweet peas, corn, etc. I didn’t know you could grow much in sand, but I guess the Mekong nourishes the crops. Besides these little plantations there were other signs of life. Men check their fishing lines and cast nets from their small boats, women wash clothes, and kids swim in the water or jump and flip off the rocks. In the mornings and evening, the banks are filled with groups of men and women bathing in the river. There wasn’t really any wildlife, unless you count one watersnake we saw slithering across the rivers surface. The boat stopped every few hours to let some Lao off at their village.

our boat

sandy banks with crops planted

rocky banks showing high-water lines
Last night we stopped and spent the night in Pak Beng. It’s a one-street village and owes its economy to the fact that its halfway between Huay Xai and Luang Prabang. The small place was only guesthouses, restaurants, and dry-good stores- without the daily boatload of travelers, it’d be no better off than any other village. We ate dinner with a couple of Americans on holiday from teaching in Shanghai and then returned to our guesthouse for an early night. We woke up early again today; Joylani to secure some good seats and I to buy provisions for the day’s journey. We left a bit late, but the motor stopped only a few minutes after departing. We just drifted with the current for a few minutes, while the crew was shouting amongst themselves in Lao. The rudder was useless in the strong current and it became apparent that we were going to slam into a rocky outcrop on the right-hand bank. While they all yelled at one another, two of the crew ran up to the bow and began stripping all their clothes. The first one down to his briefs grabbed a rope and dove into the river. He swam perpendicular to the boat, although the current was moving him downstream at the same speed as us. When he reached the rocky bank 20 or 30 meters away, he climbed up on the rocks and pulled the rope tight against a pillar of stone. Just in time too, as we watched the slack rope rise out of the water and snap tight. It stopped the front of the boat and the back swung around until we had done a 180. Stopped against the current, the crew pulled us in to the riverbank and worked on the engine for an hour or two. I passed the time reading, before I decided to hop out and take a few pics of our stranded vessels. When I saw another boat like ours coming down the river, I scrambled down from the rocks and onto our boat in anticipation of the chaos I could see about to erupt. After two mornings of claiming and defending seats, people went crazy when this new boat pulled up parallel to ours. Everyone on our boat migrated to the side next to the new boat and began throwing their bags in. No need for planks or ropes to get across, people were climbing out of the windows to step or jump across; old ladies, kids, even Joylani Scarcity of anything can make people selfish or territorial, but I’d never seen it like this before. The other thing was that our new boat didn’t have any benches, so people were jumping in, sitting down to claim their floor-space, and then strategically arranging their bags or stretching their legs to defend it. Once all in, we looked like a boat people.

crew member that jumped, swam, and roped us to a rock

our new boat
Except for the occasional rapids, the portion of the Mekong we’ve been on yesterday and today has been extremely flat. Although debris in the water indicates that the water is moving quite fast, the surface is glassy and smooth. But the glassy top layer hides the turbulence beneath. Circular ripples and swirls appear from nowhere, giving the water the appearance that sometimes follows a waterfall or a boat’s wake on a calm day. But one of the coolest things are the many whirlpools we pass. Besides the thin vortexes that peel of my kayak or canoe paddles, I’ve never seen anything like them and certainly never naturally occurring like these. Joylani says the ride is kind of boring, but I’m content to stare out at the famous Mekong or admire the green hillscape of Lao. And that’s exactly what I’m going to do now, until we get to Luang Prabang.