Helping to clear bombs in Laos
My friend Mark Ratter and his lovely wife Sudjai Xaiyasoud are currently on the Shetland Islands in the far north of Scotland. They've ended up all the way there because that's where Mark was born about 31 years ago and they are visiting family and friends now. They've met in Laos many years ago and married here as well. They decided to move to Phonsavan in northern Laos and they've opened a small restaurant-bar (Bamboozle Restaurant-Bar, worth a visit) a few years ago. It's a place popular with tourists but also with locals and expats. Phonsavan has one big attraction and that is the 'Plain of Jars'. Actually there are several 'jar sites'... Many people visit this corner of Laos to see these ancient old jars built a very long time ago by people who are now probably nothing more than dust anymore... Phonsavan also has a very dark recent history... A history that left deep scars in the landscape and into the souls and sometimes even bodies of the peo