Awoke around 4 AM coughing, and stayed up. Enjoyed another real, pressurized hot shower and packed everything up. Walked across the street at 7:30 and had a 50,000 Kip breakfast and then sat on the Guest House steps with my backpack and day sack and waited for my pickup for the van ride to Phonsavan.
About 30 minutes late...remember, when traveling nothing happens on time.....loaded into a tuktuk with about 6 others. All younger than me - a wild girl from Alaska, some Aussies, a Dutchie, and a South Korean couple from Las Vegas. The husband could read, write and speak 5 languages. What a mind.
Eventually, after more stops for backpackers, we crammed about 12 of us in the tuktuk, with all the backpacks on top. The tuktuk needed air shocks.
To the van departure site and again ran into Gertie, the German lass on her way to Vang Vieng. Was able make good on my request for the front passenger seat vs. sitting on the bench seats in the back of the van.
Departed finally at 10 AM. My hand written notes are as follows:
Twisty road. Van packed. Have front seat. Off to Phonsavan and POJ. Roger Waters - Radio K.A.O.S. Smoggy from wood smoke fires. Good road. Lots of motorcycles. Passing busses, big trucks. Driver wearing particulate respirator, no seat belt, yakking on cell phone, dialing, talking. 10:20 AM stopped for air in tires for 10,000 Kip. Small towns. More $ here than in Myanmar. Some nice stucco houses, pretty colors. Jungle. Twisty, hilly. Road better than Oaxaca to Puerto Escondito - much better. 8 bicyclists with panniers. Rolling Stones - Exile on Main Street. Very hazy - vis 3-4 miles. Front seat thankfully. Rugged. Steep mountains. Busses. Vans. Trucks. 1:20 PM road Ts south to Vang Vieng/Vientiane. Took T east to Phonsavn. 1:30 PM at 19.27.15 N/102.29.2 E. Smokey, rugged, steep. Poor people. Eastbound. Wood stacked everywhere for cooking fires. Ducks, dogs, pigs, children at risk all the time.
Oh Shit...
On much of the ride I was able to get lat/long on iPhone and look at my location on of my father's maps, dated 11/1964 and watch my travel progress.
Arrived in Phonsavan, and before I even opened the door I was immediately approached by a dozen touts...... I acted calm and uninterested then picked one to ask a few questions. After a few minutes of discussion accepted a 20,000 Kip offer for a van ride to the Auberge de la Plaine des Jars, the highest rated lodging in town according to my two Lonely Planet books and Trip Advisor online.
The tout, a Mr. Yang, 32, spoke good English and is a licensed guide. He kept steering me to the Guest Houses most backpackers seek, but at 60, retired, and with the ability to make choices in how I travel, I insisted on the Auberge just to see his reaction. He took me in a van up hill overlooking town - to the Auberge de la POJ, with quaint, large, swiss chalet style private bungalos with a fireplace and decent bathroom. Looked at several, acted uninterested and finally chose the most removed cabin that had the most sweeping views of Phonsavan.
Expensive for SE Asia...my most expensive so far...but the POJ is a major destination for me. Booked 2 nights, unloaded then headed to the dining room, hooked to the inet, had 3 Jack Daniels then had a French potato soup and steak dinner. Ate alone with 6 Frenchies at 2 other tables in the dining room that totally ignored me.
According to this map that my father used daily as he flew over Laos:
I am currently on the Plain of Jars, 25 miles NE from the former radio beacon 79 (79 was between Long Tieng, Lima 98, (The Most Secret Place On Earth), and Lima 20) on the 050 degree radian.
A nice fire, some old Bob Dylan on the Jambox...and I am finally at my destination, halfway around the world. Have arrived after a year of research and planning, traveling by airplane, taxi, bus, tuktuk, long boat and van rides. Hundreds of miles east from where I put my feet down in Chiang Rai on about 12/20/13.
Will stay 3 or 4 nights here in Phonsavan and with a guide will explore Jar Sites 1,2 and 3, visit some UXO information centers then head to Vang Vieng. Will buy some of the aluminum spoons and other items that the locals make from the recycled aluminum phosperous canisters the Ravens and Butterflys used to mark bomb run targets or from downed aircraft.
Has been cold every night since landing in Chaing Rai and staying at the Bamboo Nest. Usually down to at least 50 or so at night, warming in the afternoons. Chilly. Other than when I had the pneumonia sweats, have wished I had brought a fleece vest.
I made it. I am walking on the ground my father secretly flew over, 48 years ago.....
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