As we arrived in Pakse we expected lots of tuk tuks to be hassling us for expensive rides into town. Instead, we found ourselves in an empty busstation with only two people, a dirty man with a mohawk and a man with a Russian assult rifle on his back. They told us (in a non threatening way) the only place to sleep was the adjacent hotel and that no tuk-tuks ran at this hour. We were stuck, so we decided to listen to the man with the gun.

The next morning we were able to take a tuk-tuk into town, and we found a much cheaper hostel. We also found our new favorite restaurant, a place called Daolin. For a fair price, we were eating real bacon for the first time in 3 months.

The first day was spent wandering the city. We walked to monuments, temples, markets, book stores, museums and food stands. Wikitravel teased us with promises of cheap burgers and ice cream, but it was a sham. That night we met up with a few new friends, played games, and drank beer. No one told us all the hostels lock up at 11, so when we got back home at 12, we thought we were sleeping outside. Luckily we were “those people”, and a sleepy, grumpy, hotel owner opened the door for us. “Do you know what time we close?” he growled. “I do now?”

Pakse is apparently the second biggest city in Laos, although it doesn't feel like it. The city isn't crowded and the traffic is almost non-existent. There isn't much tourism there, and we found that this was part of the charm.

We made an effort to take more photos of the locals while we're we here.

The second day, we got on the road and visited Wat Phu, a gorgeous temple near the town of Champasak. This ancient temple was originally built before 1000CE as a Hindu temple, but over the years it blended with Buddhism, and about 500 years ago, it became a primarily Buddhist temple with Hindu influence. We found the temple, besides beautiful and impressive, interesting. The blend of Hinduism and Buddhism is very unique, especially from a westernern religious perspective.

That night we finished some blog posts and enjoyed more food as temporary regulars at Daolin.

Finally, off to Don Khong for our first volenteer opportunity. Wish us luck.

Thanks for reading,

Grant and Danielle

The post Pakse – A Long Ride, an Ancient Temple, and a Man With a Machine Gun appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.

Our first and only full day in Phonsavan took us to the first three field sites. I think there are well over fifty sites in total, but most sites are isolated by hundreds of meters of land that might have land mines and UXO's (“unexploded ordinances”).

Of the sites we saw, Site 1 was the biggest and most interesting, Site 2 was the most relaxing since it offered shade, and Site 3 was the prettiest. Site 1 was currently undergoing a new archeological project that was apparently going to last several years. While we were there, we were able to talk to the archeologists who we happy to explain their work, theories, and tech.

The land we explored in Phonsavan was strangly barren, possibly the aftermath of deforestation during the war, or the aftermath of the slash-and-burn agriculture so common in Laos. Either way, the haze was concerning.

The aftermath of the war left this region of Laos ravaged. As we rode our motor bikes, we could see caters in the hills and fields that marked were little “bombies” landed from the air raids. Although the bombies were about baseball sized, they were dropped in the thousands and each took a 10m radius hole out of the Earth. Exhibits told us that on average, a plane dropped a bomb load in Laos every 8 minutes, 24 hours a day, for 7 years. The communist resistance made strong holds around the jar sites so each site has a crater every 100 yards or so. Some of the jars were damaged as a result of the bombs.

Since the war, a large percentage of land is considered unsafe to trek since unexploded ordinances and land mines still scatter the landscape. No one in Phonsavan should walk off trail unless the ground has been cleared. Many groups are working to clear the land, but the work is slow moving, dangerous and tedious. Apperently they find and safely detonate about 200 explosives per year. Safe trail is mark with scattered, unobvious blocks (see below…the 'MAG' side is uncleared, while the white side is). This obvious danger does not keep the locals from wandering the hazardous fields however. A local archeologist told us some Lao are commonly found searching with metal detectors, taking home the bombs found, and fishing with them. We couldn't believe it, but it's true.

During the rest of the day, we tried to visit a waterfall that was recently diverted into an aqueduct adjacent to a new road, and we indulged in some awesome Indian food in town.

On to Paske! It's only one, little twenty hour bus ride away.

Grant and Danielle

The post Phonsavan – Jars, Jars, and more Jars appeared first on Quarter Life Excursion.