The Plain of Jars

  Phonsavan, Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Wednesday, December 13, 2006

After escaping from Vang Vieng, I headed east to the small town of Phonsavan.  It was a rough trip.  Because the bus was so packed (with Lao people, there were only three other tourists) I spent the entire seven hour bus ride sitting on a plastic stool in the aisle.  In addition, for the first six hours, we wound up and down and around countless mountains, which caused me to have to grip the seats on either side of me with all my miniscule might just to keep upright.  For those of you that have been to Highlands NC, imagine the Horse Cove Road, but fifty times as long, and with steep drops on one side instead of trees.  Made for some amazing views, though I couldn't let go of my grip long enough to hold my camera.

06 UXO Warning

Anyway, I finally arrived in Phonsavan, checked into a guesthouse, and had a great meal at an Indian restaurant that happened to be showing a Canadian documentary called Bombies.  The movie was about the ten to thirty million pieces of unexploded ordinance still laying on the group all over eastern Laos.  It's all left over from America's bombing campaigns during the Vietnam war, which included a lot of illegal bombing of Laos (we hadn't declared war on them, but thought the bombing would help to stop the spread of communism there for some reason).  Obviously it didn't work too well as Laos is till communist today, and not too much of a threat to us, last I checked.  One of the more shameful revelations from former pilots was that if they were unable to drop their cluster bombs over their targets in North Vietnam, they would often drop them over Laos on their way back to base in Thailand since it was dangerous to land with them still in the plane.  Seeing as how men, women and children continue to be killed and injured by these things every week, its a wonder they are still as friendly to an American tourist as they are.  Anyway, at the current rate, they expect to have most of them cleared up by around 2100.

01 Jars at Site 1

So there's the history lesson.  My main reason for comnig here though, was to visit the Plain of Jars.  This consists of several sites containing large (average: 4 to 5 ft tall) stone jars made a few thousand years ago.  The exact age and purpose of the jars is still unknown, but the best guess is that they were used as part of a funeral process where the body would be put in ajar and "distilled"to its essence, then what was left would be cremated and buried nearby.  As a result, there aren't any human remains or artefacts found inside the jars.  They do make for quite a sight, and the surrounding landscape is very different from anything I've seen in Southeast Asia.  Some of the jars have been broken by tree roots, some by bombs.  There are bomb craters noticeable all around the sites.

We also stopped to see an abandoned Russian tank, left over from the mid-sixties.  Any of the easily removable parts have been taken away to be sold as scrap, but the main body is still there.  All in all a really good trip, and well worth the detour on my way south through Laos.  Met a lot of other travelers on the tour, includnig a Canadian who's been traveling for five years.  Met some Swiss guys in town that night who were celebratnig their friend's birthday, and we played some pool (badly on my part) and had dinner together.  Early the next morning, I was on my way south to the capitol, Vientiane.