More War Remnants

Trenches encircle the hilltop near the MiVAC farm at Ban Xai

Cluster Bomb Unit being used as a brazier

Barrels - mortars, machine guns and a tank gun barrel

I don't know what these are for - white phosphorus? Anybody know?

Bomb craters across a hillside - not sure why the plants grow better in them - maybe they collect water

Bomb crater near the Vietnam War Memorial in Phonsavan

40 year old Russian-made truck - now delivering rice at Hinmou Peung - still popular for logging and rice delivery as they are the only 6-wheel-drive trucks available

Russian-made tank near Phoukood

Let's make a 360 and get out of here!!

Two of my loves - golf and aviation. Derelict CIA runway at Phonsavan now a derelict golf driving range.

Cluster Bomb Units and other weapons as door decoration

Cluster Bomb Unit casings as planters

Door decoration at the Runway Restaurant - old CIA runway in Phonsavan

Runway Restaurant on the old CIA runway at Phonsavan

Another CIA runway now part of the Animal Husbandry Centre about 7 km west of Phonsavan on Route 7

Artillery shell welded to wheel to make an anvil at the garage where we get our car fixed

Spoons and trinkets made from aircraft scrap at a local village. Buying these items gives the villagers income but, unfortunately, encourages the kids to go hunting for unexploded ordnance. They often use trucks parts now.

Trenches among the trees and Iron-age, stone jars

The last item may not be a remnant from the American Secret War but it was so weird I had to put it in. I was doing a water survey at a reasonably remote village. Near the village I noticed what looked like a Control Tower. Xang said there was a CIA runway there and that it was now used for army training. That evening I mentioned it to Mark the owner of Bamboozle. The company he works for during the day has a farm out that way. "Oh, Yes. It's on our farm!" Well that was easy. The next day I had to go out again so I visited the tower. Mark had forewarned the chap who lives there and he let me climb the 2 floors to the top. Great view. No sign of a runway although it is clear on Google Earth (N 19deg 38' 44.5"    E 103deg 06' 35.35"). Very weird building in the middle of nowhere with windows on 3 sides only. I couldn’t work out what it was for. Why would you build this tower in the middle of nowhere? No hangars, no accommodation buildings. No decent road. The runway is not all that long - about 360m / 1,200 feet and it’s not surfaced so neither it nor the road would be usable during the rainy season. Mark said it was built by the Soviets - as part of what? Did they want to use it? Did they build it for the Lao PDR? Maybe it was part of a project to develop an aerodrome but minds changed after the tower had been built. Is it part of some other military installation? A viewing tower for artillery spotting? Army manoeuvres? I have no idea that fits. (PS see below for the answer)

??  Control Tower ??

Runway started well to the left of the road, went through where the houses are and out towards the low hill at the right.

Post script

On another day, on the way back from searching for a water source I had some of the local vollagers in the car so I asked Xang to ask them about the strange ‘Control Tower’ was. It seems that after the American Secret War the Soviets set up an army training base here and flew their troops in from the Soviet Union to Phonsavan, put them in helicopters and ferried them to this area. Here they went on training manoeuvres. The tower was to enable the senior soldiers to watch the ‘battle’. What? They didn't have enough room in the Soviet union?