The Plain of Jars

Located on the Xiangkhoang Plateau in the North of Laos lies a megalithic archaeological landscape consisting of thousands of carved stone jars from the Iron Age (500 BCE to 500 CE), perhaps unsurprisingly known as the Plain of Jars. Their origin and purpose was shrouded in mystery and local legend until excavation by French researcher Madeleine Colani and subsequent investigations by Lao and Japanese archaeologists found evidence to suggest they were used for burial purposes. They are the main tourist attraction in the province and after leaving Tom we decided to head out over the hills to see them. The main Jar Site (site 1) is the biggest and best example of the features and offers a small but detailed museum which explains the theories of how the jars were used (spoiler alert: the best guess is that whole bodies were placed in the jars which were then sealed, leaving the body to rot until just the bones remained, after which they were removed and cremated). The jars, however, are not the only reason this area is steeped in history.

The region was one of the most heavily bombed by the U.S. Air Force during the ‘Secret War’ against North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao communist forces between 1964 and 1973. It is estimated that around 262 million anti-personnel cluster bombs were dropped in the region, with around 80 million of the colloquially named ‘bombies’ going unexploded. The landscape is therefore littered with deadly unexploded devices that remain a significant threat to the population to this day, and which have caused approximately 20,000 deaths since the official end of the Vietnam War. The impact of this turbulent period of modern history can be seen all over Jar Site 1, which with help from the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) and funding from UNESCO and the New Zealand government, was made safe in 2005. Bomb craters, MAG markers and cracked and damaged jars show the extent of the bombing and offer a sobering reminder of the long ranging impact of war.

Despite its interesting history, the site is a little way out of the main town of Phonsavan (about 10km) and the ways to get there are surprisingly limited. Vendors offer day tours to the jar sites as well as some other lesser attractions (including an old Russian tank and bomb craters) but these are horrendously overpriced (about £60 for two people!) and unfortunately the local tuk tuks are not allowed to offer cheaper rides. The options for a more budget approach are either motorbikes or pedal bikes, and for our sins, we chose the latter.

There were a couple of problems with this choice: the bikes were in terrible condition and were significantly too small for us, the area is surprisingly hilly and Joe (in his wisdom) chose to take a bike route on the map meaning we ended up on the equivalent of mountain biking trail. It took us an hour to ride 11km and by the time we arrived we were red faced and sweating profusely in the heat of the Laotian sun. After I mentioned that there was no way the tour mini buses were travelling that route, Joe rechecked the map, only to realise that we could have gone on the fully paved road directly to the site and that in fact this option was 2km shorter! Livid is an understatement.

The site and the attached museum were actually very informative and well worth a visit, and as the burning thighs and heat exhaustion subsided, it was easier to look back on the bike trip as an adventure in itself.