The Secret War in Laos: During the Vietnam war the US dropped more bombs on Laos then on Germany and Japan combined during WWII, making it the most bombed country in the world. 2-3 tons of them were cluster bombs. The US denied dropping bombs at all until it became no longer deniable. Today scattered throughout Northern Laos an estimated 2-3 million bombies (small capsule bombs from cluster bombs) lye unexploded. Every year 200 people die in Laos when they stumble across an unexploded bomb. The US is not offering much aid to help the current situation (we have more important things to do, like drop more bombs on other countries) . We were told that during the Vietnam, US troops were brought to Laos and told they were in Vietnam. Some of the bombing is attributed to bad weather in Vietnam, meaning the bombs had to be dropped in Laos. Some to a US attack on the communist strong holds in the North of Laos and yet others to an attack on the Ho Chi Min trail. Whatever the reasons may be, the scars can still be seen in the area. Students learn songs in school about how not to play with bombs when they find them. Huge craters bruise the land, and one must always be careful where they step...or plant the crops they need for subsistence.

Myself, Rach, our new British friends (Des, Ben and Ali) jumped a bus from Luang Prabang to Ponsevah to check ot the Plain of Jars, a 2500 year old anthroplogical site. When we arrived in Ponsevah tons of guesthouse owners we at the bus station to greet us. We picked where we wanted to stay and much to our suprise an old school Jeep (which we later found out was an ex CIA Jeep) pulled in to pick us up and take us to our accomidation. This is when we met Mr. Kong, known by everyone in town, the only Laotion I've heard use the word "bollocks" (the Brits loved that). Back at the guesthouse we sat around the fire (a fire pit made out of a cluster bomb casing) and Mr Kong taught us a few things about the history of Laos. We decided that we wanted to spend the next day seeing the sights with Mr. Kong in the jeep. It took a bit of convincing, but in the end he agreed and we ended up with the best day one could ask for in Ponsevah. That night we watched an eye opening film about the Secret War in Laos, which made me a little uncomfortable to be an American in that area.
The next day we got up early and headed off in the Jeep to a small village that has used a lot of the bombs and other scrap metal in their buildings. They have also started making tools to sell in the capital out of the metal. They spoke a different dialect there, so the few Lao phrases we knew were worthless. It was a really beautiful place though and surely off the beaten path. After walking around a bit we were herded into a house and told to sit down and participate in a families celebration. Apparently one of the men in the family had been sick and was now better, and that calls for a celebration. So at 10 am we drank wine whisky, ate lots of grub, and were included in the good luck ceremonies. Every person recieved a plate with a piece of chicken (Rach got a foot, which she passed off to Des, who almost threw up before swallowing) , a 1,000 kip note (about 10 cents) and a white string. The $ was now lucky that you need to keep and not spend. The white string was to tie on someone's wrist to bring them good luck. So we each got lots of strings tied on our wrists, and the person tying muttered stuff in Loatian, which I am assuming/hoping was wishing us luck. Then we got to dig in, everyone eats out of the same bowl as a symbol of family. I certainly found the irony in the fact that we were eating off of spoons made out of the aluminum of shot down US fighter planes.
I think Mr Kong must have drank too much rice whiskey because he gave us the keys and trusted us behind the wheel. From the village we drove a couple kilometers and checked out some bomb craters and Mr. Kong directed our driver, Des, through a field where we got a close up view of a couple unexploed bombies...a little bit sketchy to say the least. We carried on and after a few weird sounds from the Jeep and a quick trip to the mechanic we made our way to the jars, which were cool, but not much is known about them. Mr. Kong must have been bored there, because he resorted to starting grass fires to entertain himself. Yes, that is for real, he would just periodically bend down and start a fire. Other than the pyromania and the jars I climbed a cool tree and thats about all there was to the Plain of Jars. What a fantastic day!!!!