Luang Prabang - Phonsavan

I woke up a bit to early and not entirely rested at 5:30 this morning. I always wake up too early when I have to be somewhere early. I had a pleasant breakfast on the terrace of my hotel and was then picked up by a tuk-tuk to take me to the bus station at 7:40. While I had not met anyone in Laos who wanted to go to Phonsavan, the bus was more than half foreigner. The bus was another rattletrap, and while I was hopeful that the music system was broken after two hours of no music, it was eventually turned on. The Lonely Planet said the trip would take ten hours, but arrived in eight! I was pleasantly surprised. At the bus station, I agreed to share accommodation with an Australian I met on the bus. A legion of touts met us at the bus station and took us into town for free. We are staying at a place called the 'Nice Gueshouse' and it is nice enough. After checking in we were pulled over by a guy who wanted to book us on a tour of the Plain of Jars. We paid him $20 for a tour tomorrow, but then we walked outside we were offered the same tour for $12! I feel bad for being ripped off, but will take precautions to be more careful in the future. We stopped at the office of the group responsible for disposing of the live bombs still in the area from the Vietnam War. It was very interesting, but it was depressing to read about all the people who were killed or maimed from the ordinance that remains. For dinner we ate at a Chinese restaurant, where I was able to order in Chinese. It almost felt like I was back in China. The internet here is painfully slow.