Hello everybody out there!
Hope you are fine and you are happy with your life at that moment! A Few days I finally left Luang Prabang and headed to the Plains of Jar near to Phonsavan.
Luang Prabang was just so amazing. One of the nicest places I have ever seen and by far the relaxed town I was ever allowed to stay in!
What made it that special? It was used to be and it is still the most spiritual area in whole Laos. Buddhism is here absolutely alive. The people are unbelievable friendly, the town is surrounded by two rivers, the mighty Mekong, what is still a very important transport way especially for the Locals.
On the over side is another smaller river, planted with wonderful gardens, what make the old part of the City to a peninsula. There is a Stupa at the highest Point of Luang Prabang, situated at the middle of the Peninsula, from there you have an amazing view, especially while sunset. The night Market is very relaxed and there are a lot of nice things on other: Paintings, Buddhas, Walking Sticks, a lot of scarfs and a lot of other stuff. So I got also to a little shopaholic for a few days and got some very nice stuff I am mostly wearing all the time. I might look really exotic at the moment with my red hat and scarf, mostly a blue or the unavoidable Mr. Coconutyoga shirt, a wooden chain, a chain with the Om and a red sun… And Pete looks special too with another head and his totally own style.
But that`s all good as I am in a very nice mood…
But back to Luang Prabang: We still spend time with Rosie and Nat and all was good instead of Pete`s and my own health. We both had serious problems, mine still continuing…
I had real thoughts about settling down there, that much I liked it and I would have stayed some more days just to wander through the lovely town, visiting some more Wats or just enjoy the friendliness of most of the people.
And there are still a lot of rich tourists around, a lot of them French, as it just to be part of a French colony – I would even say more than Backpackers. And there are running the prices for other tourists and for the tourists, as the prices for the Locals will rise also after a while and the people who benefit of the high prices directly create a gap to the traditional people, like it is happening same time in so many places all over Asia.
But Pete wanted to leave, as he stayed already much longer in Luang Prabang than estimated. And as we had and still have a lot in common about our next targets and about judging the life I wanted to share with him more time. Maybe he is leaving tomorrow and I have to stay, what is okay, as he want so spend as much as time as possible at the 4 thousands lakes in the South. So do I. But now the lungs and the bronchitis is much better, I am again attacked by an stomach virus and a ear infection. Unbelievable! This has to stop very very soon! But what to do?
That can`t change totally my good mood as I still believe I am very lucky to be here at the moment, wonderful places behind and in front of me. Sometimes it is just getting too much and then my body has to stop me as my mind is ready to continue even if the mind is tired. But this is hard to explain any more after such a long time away.
Very inspiring was the book I just finished: Carlos Castaneda: Journey to Ixtlan; one of the most amazing books I was ever able to find. I recommend it! More about it maybe at another place…
The way to Phonsavan was just wonderful: lushly green hills, valleys everywhere, small villages.
We went over some small mountains at an amazing speed of something between 20 and 30 kilometers an hour…
Finally the landscape changed completely in to more plain areas…the plain of jars
We found a nice place to stay and I got tempted to try some Lao-Lao, the traditional whisky and had finally a lot to much after avoiding to drink for at least three weeks. But everything was still in a right order with me but I felt very shitty the next morning, when we started on a tour to visit a bombed village, an unbelievable beautiful waterfall and one of the sites of the Plain of Jars.
I felt horrible, especially when we went to the market at first and I had to smell and see all this meat… But as it was a wonderful trip, with another two people and the uncle of the owner of our guesthouse.
About the silent War in Laos there is almost nothing known. What a shame!
The US military bombed Laos without ever declaring war. Parts of the Ho Chi Minh-Path are in Laos and they Vietnamese tried to hide in Laos. They bombed Laos for 10 years. 2 tons of Bombs per living person in Laos… Bastards!
And the local people had no idea what was going on. They still lived like hundreds or even thousands of years ago and then they got bombed all the time. More bombs than they dropped on Germany… They Locals had to hide in caves and couldn’t get the harvest from their fields, on which they only could work in the night. Just horrible! And when they ended the War against Vietnam finally, they dropped all the Bombs on Laos. The number increased to an unbelievable amount.
And the US politics never apologized or took responsibility for what they did…
So Laos remain to be a third-world country, simply because there are still millions of Cluster-Bombs (what a horrible weapon!!! It has to be banned immediately and forever. There are still in use. Even the NATO used them while fighting in Kosovo… Or ask the Iraqis, Somalis and Afghanis and so on.
When will mankind finally realize that remaining on this path will destroy everybody’s live?
But what to do? It’s on us to spread another consciousness about leading our lives!!!
Anyhow, get informed, even if the facts are horrible and depressing.
After visiting one of these bombed villages we went to a much nicer place.
We trekked to an amazing waterfall, enjoyed lunch and took a bath in the river.
In the end we visited one of the Jars. Nobody knows exact for what they used these big stone monoliths, but most probably it was used as an graveyard. I had this feeling without reading about it before. A wonderful place, from where you have an amazing view over the surrounding hills. I could imagine to get buried there, when it will be time for me to leave this earth.
But back to now!
As I was writing the first part of this blog entry, Pete came back from Lunch and told me, he wouldn’t leave without me. He thanked me for my friendship and so did I. I am happy that I met him and that we already shared more than six weeks together. A really nice person and a good friend I like to keep. For sure it isn’t only always easy between us, as we are both strong characters (to say it in a nice way ;-) ) and we are sharing a lot of time together and then we are sick just too often.
So we will head to the south, starting tomorrow and spend some more time together. Maybe we even head together to South-Vietnam and the Philippines. But let’s see what’s gonna happen…
The second part of the Slide Show will be online also online in a few minutes. Just follow the link for the first one…
All the best for you, take care and I am always happy about Feedback, Comments, Critics or whatever, also possible to send an email to:
OleanderA@gmx.de
Much Love,
Mr. Coconutyoga
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