Villabouri to Xepon (Exploring southern Laos) - Dirt trail and road options

[KTMphil]

Headed south, you're now getting into the nucleus of the Ho Chi Minh Trail activity in Laos. You could spend literally months poking around this area, with it's tiny villages scattered all over the place, bomb craters and artillery scrap littering the region.



There's a dirt option from Villabouri south to Xepon, the entrance to the trail south is pretty nasty and rutted, the road option south is an easy ride with some broken sections.



villabouri to xepon txt by Triangle Golden 007, on Flickr



A quick poke around west of Villabouri on the trails


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We come across the "HALO" NGO doing some UXO detonation


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Bomb vests and goggles are always worn near the UXO



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Everyone is cleared 400 meters, including us to detonate the UXO



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Iron buffalo will have to wait


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They showed us all the things they clear


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Nearly ready


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"Fire in the hold" - Bang!!


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We're seeing lots of war scrap on this trip - Bob seems to spot more than I do



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.... More to come

 

[KTMphil]

South a Villabouri, we're starting to see a higher concentration of bomb shell casings now. They are mostly used for window boxes, pig feeding troughs and stilt legs for houses


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Poking around SW of Villabouri, there's some nice trails


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South of Villabouri, we've never seen one of these signs before? Very formal?


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It turned out to be the MMG gold and copper mine, the biggest in Laos, 90% owned by MMG Lane & 10% owned by the Laos Govt.


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In 2014, hundreds were laid off as it become un-economic to produce gold here anymore and basically became a copper mine



Hundreds of Local Workers Laid Off at Laos Gold Mine





About 400 of 4,000 workers at the MMG Lane Xang Minerals Limited Sepon mine in Savannakhet province were let go last week and paid compensation, a company officer told RFA's Lao Service last week.




'Uneconomic'

The continued production of gold at Sepon would have proved "uneconomic" due to falling gold prices and rising costs of production, the company said in its statement.

"[But] we appreciate the significance of the Sepon gold and copper operation to our people, their families and the broader community."

"Copper production, which generates about 92 percent of total revenue at Sepon, will continue," the company said.

Copper is now the most commonly mined commodity in Laos, "making it probable that copper will remain as the top export commodity in Laos over the years to come," Laos's Vientiane Times said on Monday.

The country's second-largest mining investment is in iron ore, with gold coming in third, the paper said.

 

[KTMphil]

South we go and into the Xepon/ Sepon region


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Lots of bomb casings litter the sides of the road


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They make strong fence posts



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One behind the market in Xepon


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This is the only bunker (left) we've seen on the whole trip so far



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[KTMphil]

Riding with the Vietnamese nik-nak motorbike vendors ... totally loaded down and selling everything on the Ho Chi Minh Trail



[video]https://youtu.be/yE5IwWnRymk[/video]



[video]https://youtu.be/yE5IwWnRymk?list=UUmBSxdepGuF4mgVIASBU78A[/video]

 

[KTMphil]

There's some unusual war memorials down there you wont see anywhere else



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The old bridge near Xepon that had been bombarded with artillery shells, fun to look close at the bridge leg and imagine what it was like at the time



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One of the coolest things about this area is the shot-up-Wat!



You dont see this every day, riddled with combat fire, they've managed to keep the battered wall in tact, maybe the aggressors get hit by lightning ?

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Its quite spectacular'



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Bomb craters in the Wat grounds



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..... more to come

 

[KTMphil]

Lots of daylight left, plenty of time to visit the crashed U.S Helicopter thats riddled with bullets




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Some big shell casings lying around there too




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[KTMphil]

On the way back, some war scrap at the HALO HQ


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Then to the war museum


This is a must stop, we'll put all the pictures in a different thread but here's a few to wet your appetite


Looks like it came down pretty hard


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Guns



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Helicopters


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[KTMphil]

Back to Xepon and some war era fuel tanks along the side of the road



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Treated ourselves to a fancy hotel, which also does the best food in town. When the U.S Army bone-diggers come looking for remains, they are hired to do all their catering



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Nice rooms



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[bsacbob]

Some of my shots from the day's ride.

Well fed and suitably watered was to be a fairly short day to Xepon, we scouted a few options around VIllabouri and came across the Halo people dealing with UXO's

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Hardly state of the art protection, these guy's get paid $3 a day.

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worksheets showing type of ordnance to be found.

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Turns out it was a mortar shell to be disposed of.

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All the villages in this area boast some form of war scrap, they make nice flower troughs !

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Creative display outside the Poverty Reduction Office in Xepon.

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The new bridge in Xepon partly funded by Russia.

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Just off the bridge the slipway littered with boats made from aircraft parts.

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No idea what this was just judging by the bullet holes its war related.

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The old bank safe in old Xepon.





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Preserved frontage of damaged Wat in the same location.

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Bomb craters litter this site.

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We headed back to Phin and the memorial buildings and war wreckage on display.

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We stopped by the Halo offices to try and gather some information, some of the munitions on display.

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An enjoyable visit to the war museum.

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An easy day and time to check into the Viengxay hotel, great value in the annexe buildings.

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[bsacbob]

Found some interesting info on the downed helicopter on display at the Phin junction.


http://www.rotorheadsrus.us/documents/330.html




More info can be found here : http://peteralanlloyd.com/back-part...ter-shot-down-in-laos-during-the-vietnam-war/

And here http://www.rotorheadsrus.us