Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Tuesday, April 28, 2009
Waterfall
On the same day trip that took a few of us out to Plain of Jars Site 2 we drove even farther out across the horrible dirt roads that are rural Laos and visited a waterfall. No, I don't know the name and even if I did I would probably spell it wrong anyway.
The waterfall is a series of cascading chutes, drop-offs, and pools. At least during the dry season. Through our linguist we were assured by some local farmers that during the rainy season the waterfall is a raging torrent. But we were fortunate. We got to climb amongst the multiple channels and find nice precipices upon which to enjoy the view.
Sunday, April 26, 2009
Plain of Jars, Site 2
Two years ago on my first trip to northern Laos I visited the Plain of Jars, Site 1. Site one has the most jars as well as the largest one ever made. As you would expect it is the most heavily touristed. This last trip to Laos I was in the same part of the country, but had the good fortune to get to go to Site 2.
Located much farther (down very bad dirt roads) from Phonsavan, Site 2 receives far fewer visitors. There are only about two dozen jars split between two hilltops. The first is a small cluster of jars beneath a giant tree. It is a very picturesque spot. The second hill is much more open and has numerous smaller jars.
The jars being on the hilltops is a marked difference from Site 1 where the vast majority of the jars are on a large flat area. At site 2 the very large and heavy stone jars had to have been dragged, pushed, pulled to the top of the hill.
The shape of the jars is very consistent at Site 2. They all tend to be tall a narrow with small opening. Like Site 1 it is thought that these jars were used in some form of burial practice. Recent work by Australian archaeologists has concluded that remains were not actually put into the jars, but rather buried around the jar and that the jar would have held offerings.
Located much farther (down very bad dirt roads) from Phonsavan, Site 2 receives far fewer visitors. There are only about two dozen jars split between two hilltops. The first is a small cluster of jars beneath a giant tree. It is a very picturesque spot. The second hill is much more open and has numerous smaller jars.
The jars being on the hilltops is a marked difference from Site 1 where the vast majority of the jars are on a large flat area. At site 2 the very large and heavy stone jars had to have been dragged, pushed, pulled to the top of the hill.
The shape of the jars is very consistent at Site 2. They all tend to be tall a narrow with small opening. Like Site 1 it is thought that these jars were used in some form of burial practice. Recent work by Australian archaeologists has concluded that remains were not actually put into the jars, but rather buried around the jar and that the jar would have held offerings.
Friday, April 10, 2009
A 41 Hour Birthday
A 41 hour birthday is a neat concept...
The reality of it was not as nice as you might think...
Let me start at the beginning. I woke up on April 7th at about 7 in the morning in Phonsavan, Laos. I took a shower, got dressed, and had breakfast at the hotel dining room just like every other morning for the previous month. We were scheduled to fly from Phonsavan to Vietntaine at 9. Unfortuunately the weather was bad, so we waited around until about noon when we boarded the helicopters and made the 1 hour flight. Shortly after we arrived in Vientiane the C-130 cargo plane left for Utapao, Thailand with all of our gear. It was supposed to make a quick turn around and return to pick up all of us (The plane is not beg enough for the gear and 50 people at the same time. The plane should have been back by 4:30 or 5:00 at the latest. This of course did not occur. The plane broke down in Utapao.
The detachment staff in Laos immediately got to work. Eventually they arranged for us to board buses and drive to Utapao. We ended up boarding a 45 seat bus (there were 50 total personnel on our trip) in Vientiane at about 7 pm for the one hour drive to the border with Thailand. Crossing the border took about an hour. On the Thailand side we acquired another bus, split the people between the two buses and headed out into the night at 9:00 pm. My birthday started at midnight. I had already been up for 17 hours. After a 10 hour ride we arrived in Utapao at about 7 in the morning. While I can sleep on a bus, it is not good sleep. I think I got about 4 hours total. Please note that at this point we have been traveling for 24 hours.
When we arrived in Utapao, the terminal was open but none of the shops were, which meant that we were unable to get any water. We waited in the airport in Utapao for about 3 hours until we could board the C-17 cargo aircraft. This plane is big enough to accommodate the gear and the people at the same time. Unfortunately, the C-17 was extremely loaded down with gear so there was very little room to lay down on the floor like usual. It was a six hour flight to Guam where we got off of the plain and waited in the Anderson AFB terminal for two hours while the plane was refueled. More gear was put on the plane so there was even less room on the next leg of the journey which was an 8 hour flight to Honolulu. Due to all of the time/day change of going from west to east across the international date line our plane landed at about 9 am Hawaii time. Yes, after fourteen hours of flying a a two hour layover between legs we had gone backwards in time.
Upon return to Hickam AFB, my first stop was work. I had to turn in my evidence. Then I was finally free! I drove home and discovered that my kitchen and downstairs bathroom are half way through a massive remodeling project that is expected to take another three weeks. This is of course exactly how long I have until I go out on my next mission...
The reality of it was not as nice as you might think...
Let me start at the beginning. I woke up on April 7th at about 7 in the morning in Phonsavan, Laos. I took a shower, got dressed, and had breakfast at the hotel dining room just like every other morning for the previous month. We were scheduled to fly from Phonsavan to Vietntaine at 9. Unfortuunately the weather was bad, so we waited around until about noon when we boarded the helicopters and made the 1 hour flight. Shortly after we arrived in Vientiane the C-130 cargo plane left for Utapao, Thailand with all of our gear. It was supposed to make a quick turn around and return to pick up all of us (The plane is not beg enough for the gear and 50 people at the same time. The plane should have been back by 4:30 or 5:00 at the latest. This of course did not occur. The plane broke down in Utapao.
The detachment staff in Laos immediately got to work. Eventually they arranged for us to board buses and drive to Utapao. We ended up boarding a 45 seat bus (there were 50 total personnel on our trip) in Vientiane at about 7 pm for the one hour drive to the border with Thailand. Crossing the border took about an hour. On the Thailand side we acquired another bus, split the people between the two buses and headed out into the night at 9:00 pm. My birthday started at midnight. I had already been up for 17 hours. After a 10 hour ride we arrived in Utapao at about 7 in the morning. While I can sleep on a bus, it is not good sleep. I think I got about 4 hours total. Please note that at this point we have been traveling for 24 hours.
When we arrived in Utapao, the terminal was open but none of the shops were, which meant that we were unable to get any water. We waited in the airport in Utapao for about 3 hours until we could board the C-17 cargo aircraft. This plane is big enough to accommodate the gear and the people at the same time. Unfortunately, the C-17 was extremely loaded down with gear so there was very little room to lay down on the floor like usual. It was a six hour flight to Guam where we got off of the plain and waited in the Anderson AFB terminal for two hours while the plane was refueled. More gear was put on the plane so there was even less room on the next leg of the journey which was an 8 hour flight to Honolulu. Due to all of the time/day change of going from west to east across the international date line our plane landed at about 9 am Hawaii time. Yes, after fourteen hours of flying a a two hour layover between legs we had gone backwards in time.
Upon return to Hickam AFB, my first stop was work. I had to turn in my evidence. Then I was finally free! I drove home and discovered that my kitchen and downstairs bathroom are half way through a massive remodeling project that is expected to take another three weeks. This is of course exactly how long I have until I go out on my next mission...
If you have been paying close attention you will notice that no where in the narrative is there anything about sleeping in a bed or taking a shower until getting back to Hawaii. It ended up being about two days (48 continuous hours) of straight travel without decent sleep or a chance to clean ourselves... Eeeww...
Ok, so I am sure that you are saying: "But it must have been about noon, you still had 12 hours of your birthday left". If you are saying that you have clearly never pulled a two day non-stop travel haul. I was barely able to put coherent sentences together, much less go out and party it up. Fortunately there were presents waiting from my family and a special someone here in Hawaii who took that day off of work so that she could spend my birthday with me.
Ok, so I am sure that you are saying: "But it must have been about noon, you still had 12 hours of your birthday left". If you are saying that you have clearly never pulled a two day non-stop travel haul. I was barely able to put coherent sentences together, much less go out and party it up. Fortunately there were presents waiting from my family and a special someone here in Hawaii who took that day off of work so that she could spend my birthday with me.
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