{"id":1076,"date":"2008-08-24T12:54:01","date_gmt":"2008-08-24T17:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/?p=1076"},"modified":"2011-08-22T12:13:54","modified_gmt":"2011-08-22T16:13:54","slug":"tham-pui-cave","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/tham-pui-cave\/","title":{"rendered":"Tham Pui Cave"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Xieng Khouang area is so pretty, with rolling hills and cool weather.\u00a0 Even in August, the mornings are cool and so vastly different from the swamp like weather in Vientiane.\u00a0 It was a slight struggle though, climbing up the steps on the small mountain that housed Tham Pui cave, a home to many poor Lao villagers, until a missile was fired into it, igniting the air, liquefying the cave rock, and killing 374 people.<\/p>\n

It seemed right, just so cosmically right, that the mountain area was lush with flowers, butterflies, and green papaya you could just pluck off the branches.\u00a0 Even the plum sized spiders were beautiful in their creepiness.\u00a0 I asked the tour guide, Mr. Lae, if in pre history, if the mountain cave had been a spiritual place.\u00a0 He said yes, saying that in the past it was a holy place with a Buddha statue inside.\u00a0 He too lived in the caves for a short time, being one of the lucky that survived, yet still remained to tell the story again and again.<\/p>\n

\"bvong_pix_laos_tum_pui.jpg\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Xieng Khouang area is so pretty, with rolling hills and cool weather.\u00a0 Even in August, the mornings are cool and so vastly different from the swamp like weather in Vientiane.\u00a0 It was a slight struggle though, climbing up the steps on the small mountain that housed Tham Pui cave, a home to many poor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":11346,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,59,7],"tags":[58,287,62],"class_list":{"0":"post-1076","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","6":"hentry","7":"category-lao-culture","8":"category-laos-trip","9":"category-photos","10":"tag-laos","11":"tag-photos","12":"tag-xieng-khouang","14":"post-with-thumbnail","15":"post-with-thumbnail-large"},"aioseo_notices":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/00015.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pelE0-hm","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1061,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/lathsene-village-preschool-xieng-khouang\/","url_meta":{"origin":1076,"position":0},"title":"Lathsene Village Preschool, Xieng Khouang","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"August 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This was the site for a new preschool in Lathsene Village in Xieng Khouang province, part of a \u201cSchools Not Bombs\u201d campaign.\u00a0 The village is somewhat remote, past the plains of jars site one, and nestled in farmland and cornfields.\u00a0 The village has no electricity and the earthy pastureland smell\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/00021.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1093,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/uxo-lao\/","url_meta":{"origin":1076,"position":1},"title":"UXO Lao","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"August 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/0008.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1078,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/375-of-374\/","url_meta":{"origin":1076,"position":2},"title":"375 of 374","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"August 24, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"She was 12 years old when the missile was launched into the cave that killed 374 of her fellow villagers.\u00a0 She had been living there for two years, and could remember how the airplanes made the landscape barren and treeless.\u00a0 On the night before the missile struck inside the cave,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/00014.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1070,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/blu-26\/","url_meta":{"origin":1076,"position":3},"title":"BLU 26","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"August 23, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/00018.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1096,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/ban-pahn-bomb-crater-village\/","url_meta":{"origin":1076,"position":4},"title":"Ban Pahn, Bomb Crater Village","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"August 27, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"This was another village in Xieng Khouang that the group visited, in hopes of finding another place needing a preschool.\u00a0 The \"road\" from Phonsavanh to Ban Panh made the road to Samneau seem like a pleasure cruise, and I had to\u00a0walk around to clear my head.\u00a0 It was crazy how\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao Culture","link":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/category\/lao-culture\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/wp-content\/uploads\/2008\/08\/0007.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1054,"url":"https:\/\/www.b-vong.com\/journal\/the-plain-of-jars\/","url_meta":{"origin":1076,"position":5},"title":"The Plain of Jars: Xieng Khouang, Laos","author":"Boon.Vong","date":"August 22, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Looking back at the photos, I realized that the best images were the ones that didn't focus solely on the jars, they were the ones of us.\u00a0 Most had never been to the plain of jars, only read about it.\u00a0 To this day archaeologists have no clue as to who\u00a0made\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Lao Culture"","block_context":{"text":"Lao 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