UXO

23/11/10  The North East of Laos was heavily bombed by the US throught the Secret War, as it was the HQ for the Pathet Lao Communist Party, as was much of the rest of the East of the country due to the Ho Chi Minh Trail.  For 9 years the US dropped $2 million of ordinance per day on this area (that's 2 tonnes per person and more bombs than the whole of Europe saw in WWII).  In Phonsavan we visited an NGO, MAG and took a tour to learn that Laos is still heavily affected due to Unexploded Ordinance (UXO).  30% of ordinance dropped never detonated, so bombs and bombies (from cluster bombs) still lie undiscovered in rice paddies, forests, villages and even school playgrounds :(  It is keeping many people in poverty due to fear of farming and developing land. http://www.maginternational.org/

Bomb craters.

Bombie: about the size of a tennis ball, full of steel ball bearings and a fuse ready to be triggered.