Pick a Jar, any Jar
Trip Start
Jan 22, 2007
1
65
75
Trip End
Ongoing
Phonsavan,
Lao Peoples Dem Rep
Sunday, January 27, 2008
The jars are large carved rocks in the middle of fields, there are something like 40 sites scattered around the province (3 open to the public) and nobody knows where they came from or their purpose. They are more mysterious than Stonehenge but less enigmatic than the heads on Easter Island. Our guide had a theory that they are made with sandstone, animal skin and sugar cane but this is ridiculous. A geologist who we met later confirmed they are all made from rock and he has been studying the quarries. The other theory our guide proposed is that the jars were used for burial but the fact that they have all different shapes (some with very tiny openings) and there are no bodily remains doesn't make this likely. The only other point of note was the really terrible road that we took to get there 35km in 1.5hrs.
This is one of the regions that was most heavily bombed by the Americans during the dark days of communism vs capitalism, so there are loads of bombs and shrapnel around. Many of the restaurants, guest houses and tourist office use these as objets de decor. We didn't realise how much the country was destroyed during the war with Vietnam, but it's actually quite obvious that the Vietcong would use Laos and their caves to hide in and transport supplies. Not the only reason for the destruction though since it started before Vietnam and ended afterwards.
