Laos - Phonsovan & Plain of Jars

A hair-raising 8hr bus trip: the driver was determined to race the clapped out old Korean bus over the mountain roads; we bounced around on the back seat too much to see the scenery. The Plain of Jars: lots of giant stone jars scattered around the hills here, nobody knows who put them there or why. The scenery was a bit like Derbyshire, except that the hills were pock-marked with what looked like golf bunkers. They're all bomb craters: this was one of the most heavily bombed areas in history, by the Americans against the Laos communists in the 60s & 70s. Our guest house had a large stash of old bombs, rockets, grenades etc lying around at the reception.