We had arranged a day tour with a very engaging guide - Souk - to go and explore some of the local Plain of Jars sites. There are over 100 scattered across the central mountain region of Laos, and sites 1, 2 and 3 were in the immediate vicinity. The days started with a drive to visit a local rice noodle making family, who supply restaurants all the way to Vientiane - the climate makes for particularly good sticky rice apparently, which then translates to in demand noodles. The whole process is still done by hand, with up to 100 kg a day of noodles being produced (per family). There was an obligatory taste test of some of the products, including giant (sweet) rice crackers. We also visited Muang Khoun, which was a capital of the Lao kingdom, right up to the French colonisation, and was also a centre for the resistance during the Indochina wars, against the French and then the Americans. As a result, there has been an enormous amount of damage from bombs (and more direct willful destruction), with just the remains of an old Buddha statue that miraculously avoided destruction in a bombing raid, as well as a stupa said to contain relics of Buddha. It was a sobering reminder/education about the long difficulties with Western hegemony in that part of the world. The damage is still being felt, in a very real way, to this day. Not least through the vast amount of unexploded ordinance that remains scattered throughout the landscape.
The main attraction, though, was the Plain of Jars sites. These are megalithic stone jars, that have been carved in one piece from remote quarries and moved to various different sites. They date from 2,500 to 1,500 years ago, and the purpose to this day remains uncertain. There are some other similar sites in the sub-continent and Indonesia, but Lao has by far the largest collection, scattered throughout the mountain region. The first site we went to had about 70 jars located on the top of a hill, which is the most common siting. The ranged up to 2.5m tall, and mostly were about 1 metre in diameter. Archeological study over the last 100 or so years has found associated skeletons, ceramics and some jewelry buried around and under the jars, which leads to speculation that they were part of some funerary practises. But no one knows for sure. Local legend says that the were for storing alcohol in celebration of a great victory of the local king 2000 years ago, and there are also legends of giants using them as cups. Regardless, the site was awe-inspiring and mesmerising as we wandered through the arrangement of jars on the hill.
The second site we visited included a walk through local rice fields and amongst grazing water buffalo up to the jars themselves. It was sobering to see signs warning people to keep on the designated path to avoid getting blown up by unexploded bombs (cluster bombs in particular have left a brutal legacy). Thankfully, at this and the other sites we visited, the signs are now outdated and the whole area has been cleared. Other parts of the country are not so lucky. The jars at the second site we visited were from the same quarry as the first, but differed somewhat in shape and size. There was a large bomb crater in the middle of the site, but mostly the jars have been undamaged, other than by the ravages of time. they were no less awe-inspiring than the previous location.
The final site we visited was close to Phonsavan itself, and contains the biggest single collection of Jars. They are mostly made from different material - the first two we visited were mostly sandstone, while the site near the town has jars mostly made of granite. It also contains the biggest diameter jar in the whole collection, of over 2 metres. Many of the jars at this site were broken apart by Chinese bandits in the 1800s, who had come raiding into the area, but it was no less amazing to wander through the site. There is also a cave, which is used as a local Buddhist shrine, and contains two man made holes in the roof. Speculation is that it was a cremation site for remains that were subsequently buried with the jars.
All in all, it was amazing to explore this lesser known attraction in Laos, and we gained an appreciation of the whole region. Once we had spent some time exploring, it was clear that you could come back for a week or more to spend some time looking through the area, visiting some of the other natural attractions, as well as more of the Plain of Jars sites. As we left, we already had ideas for a future visit...
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