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| Phonsali - early morning |
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| North Laos |
Travelling alone for the first time in five weeks meant we had no itinerary and had to navigate our own routes, but did mean we could go where we liked, and stay in wherever convenient for one vehicle rather than having to look for somewhere which could accommodate 6 vehicles, so it is completely different. We headed first to the north of Laos to Phonsali. Laos has main roads - usually surfaced, but with many areas of potholes, and stretches of dirt - and side roads / tracks. The side roads are compacted dirt, sometimes with aggregate to give some reinforcement, and usually with culverts / bridges over streams / rivers. We took a side road to Phonsali which was generally good, but areas had been damaged during the rainy season, which has just finished, with a few areas of deep mud, a half washed away culvert and three rivers to ford. Great fun. In the north the main roads run along the ridges of the mountains which is where the villages are located, and which have stunning views over the surrounding countryside, but it does mean the roads are incredibly twisty and are constantly either climbing or descending. So for a week or more our average speed was around 35kph, and we hardly got out of 3rd gear.
From Phonsali we headed to the east of northern Laos where the Communist resistance based themselves in caves near Sam Nuea during the Vietnam war of the late 60's and early 70's to avoid the American bombing.
For 9 years the Americans secretly bombed north and western Laos (without the knowledge of Congress and against their own agreement signed in the 1950's), as part of trying to suppress the Vietcong and to support the Cambodian government against the communist independence movement. Over 2 million tons of bombs were dropped, many of them cluster bombs and the legacy of unexploded ordnance is still blighting the country. The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) based in Phonsovan has spent the last 20 years working to remove Unexploded Ordnance UXO from the fields as there are daily casualties amongst the villagers working the fields, and the fear of injury is preventing the locals from developing new fields, so despite very fertile land and a suitable climate food shortages are very common.
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| American bombing missions |
We visited a couple of remarkable prehistoric sites (probably both burial sites) one at Hintang where the burial places are marked by clusters of upright slabs of stone, and the more famous Plain of Jars where thousands of stone burial jars up to 3 m in height are scattered in clusters across this large arable area. The jars are each carved from a single piece of rock with primitive tools so took an incredible amount of effort to produce. Nearby we visited a village where they are still using war scrap to make spoons and other items from the melted down aluminium of aircraft, and casings from the cluster bombs are creatively used for fence and gate posts, flower troughs etc. Laos is still very poor, though developing at 8% per year, and many organisations are looking to help. One set up by a local Laotian is teaching villagers how to manage silk worms and how to harvest and process the silk through to completed goods. It was fascinating to see the very manual processes involved in this small scale industry including dyeing using natural dyes. Many of their workers however hd returned to their villages for a couple of weeks to help with the rice harvest - another very manual process we saw where everything is performed without any machinery - scythes to cut the rice, hand threshing and winnowing. All very time consuming - no wonder over 70% or people are classified as agricultural workers.
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| Hintang prehistoric burial site |
Our sojurn in the peaceful north came to a close when we reached the tourist haven of Luang Prabang and encountered more western tourists than we had seen for three months. This ancient town on the banks of the Mekong River, with 17 temples, is a world heritage site and attracts tourists not only for the temples, but also for the fantastic limestone scenery, waterfalls and river activities. Lots of boutique hotels have been developed and there is a daily night market.
After a lovely day camped by a river north of Vang Vien, we had to head to Vientiane to extend the permit for the vehicle to stay in Laos and book the car in for a service.
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| Plain of Jars |
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| Luang Prabang Temple |
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| Riverside Campsite |
From Phonsali we headed to the east of northern Laos where the Communist resistance based themselves in caves near Sam Nuea during the Vietnam war of the late 60's and early 70's to avoid the American bombing. 
For 9 years the Americans secretly bombed north and western Laos (without the knowledge of Congress and against their own agreement signed in the 1950's), as part of trying to suppress the Vietcong and to support the Cambodian government against the communist independence movement. Over 2 million tons of bombs were dropped, many of them cluster bombs and the legacy of unexploded ordnance is still blighting the country. The Mines Advisory Group (MAG) based in Phonsovan has spent the last 20 years working to remove Unexploded Ordnance UXO from the fields as there are daily casualties amongst the villagers working the fields, and the fear of injury is preventing the locals from developing new fields, so despite very fertile land and a suitable climate food shortages are very common.
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