Laos The Tham Phu Hospital Cave Nr Phonsavan

20.11.15

Tham Pua cave

Another area which is easy day loop ride from Phonsavan is the Tham Pha Hospital caves, the site is located N19.50103 E102.87241 only 50km or so from town. You will need a headlamp to explore although the staff on site will loan you one if you forget.

Once used by the Pathet Laos as a medical field hospital and was heavily bombed.

The site is divided in two cave complexes, the first housing a large Buddha.

If you crawl behind the Buddha you will many murals on the rocks.

Some pretty impressive rock formations inside the first cave.

As you descend into the cave an old hospital gurney on display.

If you look carefully you will see many medical vials around the edges of the floor.

Old army shoe.

Lot's of small Buddha's hidden away in crevices, most with heads removed.

To reach the other cave you have to double back and walk around the mountain to the opening, this cave must have been storage for medical equipment of some kind.

Once inside the floor is littered with hundreds of vaccination bottles, its hard to walk without standing on them.

Various food cans littered about, not sure if these are from the war period or just litter.

An enjoyable couple of hours poking around the caves, i was lucky i was the only person visiting.

Not far away on the way back is a lovely old Wat and stupa located at N19.51427 E102.90299 well worth a look at.

Dragon boat in storage.

I noticed this suspension bridge on the way back worth exploring next time.

War scrap parked inside an army camp on the edge of town.

Laos Phonsavan to LIma 36

6.12.15

phonsavan to lima 36 

Earlier in the year i had two aborted attempts at trying to reach LS36 due to some unexpected bad weather, determined to reach the place this time myself and Steve headed out, this is the journey.

Quick stop at the Russian tank for a picture.

Most people are familiar with the concrete control tower on LS109, nearby is a small jar site and some interesting war trenches.

Lot's of war time trenches still clearly visible.

The control tower.

Further in the distance are several similar type buildings we tried to get close but after an gave up and just snapped these zoomed pictures.

Some bunker placements for runway protection.

Old stupa nearby.

After the small detour it was back on the trail which is nicely graded so far, we come across this old Wat which looks bomb damaged.

Adjacent building, partly rebuilt in timber.

Just a way up the road a nice new Wat, just completed.

Monks accommodation. 

End of the line as far as a graded trail is concerned, from here things get a bit more technical, if i had continued earlier this year i would have a problem for sure in the wet.

Steve almost lost it...

Trail narrowing up nicely.

Some rutted bits made it difficult to keep a line without ending up in the bamboo.

Some great views.

We finally made it to the turn up to LS36, the trail is pretty rutted and slow going, conscious of the time we quickly blasted around trying to find any remnants as neither of us fancied riding back in the dark.

Fuel drums on the old strip.

After some nosing around we come across the old grading equipment for the runway.

There is a large Howitzer somewhere in the jungle nearby, but that will have to wait for another time.

Shot down the old runway.

Shadows getting longer it was time to head back and get a few shots of the drum village.

The odd bomb casing laid around.

Village sign.

The setting sun in our faces all the way back this one going to be fun.

We arrived in Vieng Thong as darkness fell, a good day's riding but wished we had a little more time to poke around the Lima site, oh well next time.

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Last meal with Steve as we both went our separate ways as he had to return back to the UK. For me the morning was a trip to reach Lima 85

Actually it would be a perfect place for camping after the end of the ride giving you time to explore around for other stuff, i did not see any shops in the village but there must be something.

Here is a shot of the layout.

There was a small stream which i way pointed and all around is rice fields so water is available.

The new Wat in the background would be another option.

But the actual runway is the perfect place.

Map giving the overall location.