Phonsovan

After our relaxing, lazy days in Luang Prabang, Danna and I again spent another day in a minivan to get to Phonsovan to see a few historical sights and learn some history. There will be another blog post coming about what I learnt about America's involvement in the Secret War with Laos.  For now, this blog post is going to focus on what we did, saw and the lovely, friendly people we met.

Phonsovan is home to the Plain of Jars, different areas containing huge stone jars that are thousands of years old. Archeologists aren't sure who built them or why but they have their theories as do the local Lao people. As we always do when we get to a new spot, Danna and I stumbled out of the minivan and into a pre-chosen guesthouse. We then went in search of a tour that would take us to the places we wanted to see and would be willing to negotiate a reasonable price for us. It's still low season here in Laos and we had wandered off the beaten path (not as far as we did in Muang Sing) so it wasn't until late evening at dinner that we started seeing other backpackers and tourists in the area. 

We ended up going with the first tour option we had originally heard about. I really liked the guide that had sold us with his sales pitch and he was willing to negotiate the price and let us customize our tour. At our guesthouse we met an older British man traveling and decided to have dinner with him. Through him we met an interesting Westerner who lives full time in Phonsovan and runs the Lone Buffalo Foundation. A place that teaches English and other academic skills to teens and emphasizes the importance of staying physically active. We didn't get to talk to him much because he was on his way to lead a tour. However, I found the idea of his foundation fascinating and it seemed like he was really helping the youth of the community.

Bull fight!

The day of our tour started with Ming arriving early to help us book tickets on a sleeper bus to Vang Vieng. Danna and I had decided that we had wasted enough full days in minivans and would rather arrive at a ridiculously early time than waste another full day in a car. On our way to the Hmong Village we wanted to visit, Ming started sharing a little bit of knowledge about the war with us. We also learnt that he went to University to be a teacher, decided he didn't like it, and became a UNESCO certified tour guide. He was extremely knowledgeable and and I enjoyed my day with him.

A fence made out of old bombs.

On our way to the village we passed a field with bull fighting. We pulled over to watch and learnt that the people there were Hmong and only had bull fighting for special occasions such as weddings. Fortunately, we got there at the tail end of the fighting and didn't see much of it. The Hmong Village we visited is different from the others in the area because they've recycled old bomb parts and use them to build houses, fences, herb containers, water troughs for animals and various other things.

A herb and onion container.

Kiddos playing and sitting on the bomb shells.

As I stated earlier, there will be another blog post regarding my thoughts and what I learnt about the Secret War. However, seeing bomb remains used in this village was fascinating. Ming shared that there were less bomb parts used in the village because a lot of it had been sold for extra money as scrap metal. A lot of houses had used the bomb shells as stilts for their houses. They've also recycled the metal to make farm tools, kitchen utensils, and various other objects around their house. There is another village not to far from the one we vistited known as Spoon Village because they make spoons using metal recycled from bomb parts. Unfortunately we didn't get to see or meet many villagers as it was a Sunday and most of them were out tending to their fields.

One of the many big craters.

Our next spot was a mountainside filled with bomb craters verging on 40 years old. The mountainside had recently been cleared by MAG (Mines Advisory Group) of bombies. (Explained in the next blog.) Standing on the mountainside looking at the beautiful mountains in the distance and the greenery covering them, it was hard to picture it as a bombed out place destroyed by years of unending bombing.   

For lunch, we convinced Ming to take us to a local noodle shop to try a more traditional Lao dish as we’ve been eating more Western influenced dishes during our time here. I was not disappointed in what we got and my noodles were delicious! Although, I did add some chili sauce halfway through and made it a bit spicy for my spice level tolerance but it was still good. 

Mulberry stalk

Silk worms

After lunch we headed to a Mulberry farm where they raise silk worms, make natural dyes, and produce silk thread, silk weavings, and make products from the Mulberry trees. I had no idea how silk was produced but I learnt a lot with Ming acting as our translator. The silk worms only eat mulberry leaves and are kept in a controlled room. It takes about a month for them to mature and cocoon themselves with the silk. Depending upon the type of worm, each casing can hold anywhere between 300 and 700 meters of silk. Upon reaching maturity, the worms are placed in a refrigerator for control to keep them from breaking open their shells until the next step can be completed. 

Helping to pull silk thread

Next, the worms are boiled and the tiny silk threads stick together, are pulled through a little opening and make one slightly larger piece of thread. The batches are boiled two or three times. Then, the worms are pulled from the remains of their cocoons and cooked again for selling to the general public. They are apparently delicious. I decided not to test that one out for myself but the ladies working there seemed to enjoy them. 

After the thread is pulled from the cocoon, there a couple of other stages to getting it ready for weaving but the process wasn't explained to us and it looked tedious. The mulberry farm also makes their own dye using products found around the farm. They can make up to 100 different colors using various flowers, roots, leaves, and other materials. 

The largest jar.

The last spot of the day was at the Plain of Jars site one. Ming explained that archeologists estimate the jars are between 2500 and 3000 years old based off of some tests they did on the stones. They believe the jars were used to bury families in as they've found small bone fragments inside of them. If memory serves correct, the archeologists believe that the Hmong and another ethnic group may have been the ones to create the jars because of modern day burial practices and where they choose to live.

It weighs 6 ton.

The Lao legend states that giants used to live in the area and they are the ones who built the jars. They used buffalo skin and another material to build the jars and over time, these two things turned to stone. The jars were built to hold whiskey for a celebration. The largest jar is the one that belonged to the King.

Plain of Jars

Which ever belief is right, the jars really are a mystery and it is hard to imagine mere humans moving those stones anywhere. Archeologists believe they found the stone quarry site at another mountain 18 km from the Plain of Jars because they've found unfinished jars there. If this is so, I do not understand how they moved any of those stones, even the small one, without modern technology.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time in Phonsovan and was pleased to discover that the people seemed even happier and friendlier here than what they seemed to be in Luang Prabang. They live very hard lives but know how to make the best of their situations.