We wated to go to vietnam and were told it would mean going back the way we had come fromall the way back to vientiane. We would then have to get a bus, which ment a 35 hour bus journey from hell. We really didnt fancy 35 hours on a bus knowing that the journey always seems to take much longer We looked at a map and it showed a border crossing much closer but we were told tht it wasnt open to foreigners " how can a border crossing not be open to foreigners" so we searched and discovered if we took a local bus to ponsavan we could cross at a new border in the middle of the country and cut down the time to 8 hours to the border and then 12 hours in to vietnam....perfect
We were expecting chikens and rice sacks on the bus, well we had rice sacks and motorbikes but the driver wouldn't let the chickens or dead pig on .
We got to ponsavan to discover the bus to vietnam only goes 3 times a week so we would have to stay a bit longer than we first thought. W found a guest house which had a BBQ made from bomb shells, we found lots of things including fences and house stilts made out of bomb shells as it is the most bombed place in the world, there are still many unexploded bombs about which will take around 75 years to clear.
We went to visit the plain of jars the only thing worth seeing in the place, which are big stone jars used as coffins thousands of years ago, we had to stick to the path to avoid land mines, we went to a village and tried the lao lao ( rice whiskey) which is really strong.
We got up early to get our bus to vietnam to find that the bus had broke down and there was no more that day so the ten off us, forriengers decided to make our own way together. Little did we know what we were letting ourselves into ..............