Its been a dream of ours to wander among the massive stone jars in northern Laos. The enigmatic Plain of Jars is the main reason we came to this country. The greatest mystery in South East Asia. Who made these 2,000 megalithic jars scattered across the valleys and the foothills of the Xiangkhoang Plateau? Why were they created? Were they burial urns ? Used for food and water storage? or as local legend has it, whiskey cups for giants! The mystery deepens as recently human remains were discovered next to one of the jars at Site 1. Interestingly, the adult skeleton was only one meter high! Tiny people? Stranger and stranger. Archaeologists think the jars were carved with iron tools and date them back to the Iron Age, around 2500 years ago. Nothing is known about the culture that painstakingly carved the stone jars. A true Mystery.
We had to endure probably the worst bus ride of our lives to get here. Eight long hours from Luang Prabang on an ancient stuffy bus. Us and one other tourist, along with a large “aromatic” group of workmen and a poor old rooster in a box who let out loud cocka-doodle-doos as we swerved around hairpin bends at break neck speed. The mountainous road is infamous for it’s twists and turns and sheer drops. I couldn’t have done it without large doses of dramamine and constant lungfuls of my de-stress essential oil from Sage 🙂 Lance is immune to any kind of travel discomfort it seems, and just slept the whole way!
The reward for this for this somewhat intrepid journey, was we had the jars to ourselves. Only a trickle of tourists make it out this far. Perfect. Soon to change we thought as the sites have just been awarded UNESCO heritage status. They are going to have to do something about that road tho!!!
It was so exciting to walk up the hill and gaze down on the plain. the stone jars have stood here for 2,500 years. There is a somber feeling here a hushed reverence it did feel like some kind of last resting place to us.
Before coming to Laos we had arranged our guide through the homestay we were staying in. Tey assisted in the UNESCO excavations of Site 1. He was fantastic, with huge knowledge and answered our never ending questions fully. We really learned so much with him.
Only one jar in the 3 sites we visited had a carving – this is known as the frogman carving Tey said similar carvings and jars have been found in Borneo on the border of Indonesia and Malaysia – leading archeologists to theorize a thriving trade route, not previously realised, operated in asia in the iron age.
50 or so kilometers away is Site 3 which was our favorite. A beautiful walk through verdant green rice paddies. Up the hill to the wooded site where the jars stood, shaded by trees. We had to be very careful walking between the MAG signs no straying off the path as unexploded bombs are still very much a problem in this province.
It was strange for me as there was a kind of welsh feeling about Site 3!! (I know weird) The colour of stone… welsh grey. Maybe the lichen which decorated the rough surfaces. Could it be the stunted, twisty trees, or maybe the clipped grass, similar to a welsh hillside. Connections, energy, atmosphere, colours, feelings, all felt familiar, (but definitely not the weather)
And why are there so many unexploded bombs littering the countryside in Laos?
As we travel we sadly learn of the horrors that humans do to humans. It seems no country is exempt, no governments innocent. But Laos seems to have been the most abused in our learning to date. Ransacked by the Chinese, invaded and colonized by the French and mercilessly bombed by the Americans. These people have suffered unimaginably it is truly hard to fathom.
Between 1964 and 1973, Laos was secretly bombed by the U.S. Air Force who were feverishly trying to annihilate the North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao forces. For nine years The U.S. Air Force dropped bombs on Laos. This province, the one we are in now, was the most bombed of all.
262 million cluster bombs were dropped here. How do you even imagine that number? An estimated 80 million of these did not explode and remain a deadly threat to the population to this day.
There are a large quantity of UXO or unexploded ordinances (bombs) in this area. We had to be extremely careful not to venture off the path even a few steps. Sightseeing on the Plain of Jars can only be done safely on cleared and marked pathways. I found it really horrifying that every season due to the monsoon rains the ground shifts and moves and buried bombs work their way to the surface. So people here never feel truly safe.
The Mines Advisory Group, or MAG in collaboration with UNESCO and funded by the New Zealand government, cleared unexploded bombs from the three most visited sites. The ones we went to. As we were driving to Site 3 we saw the signs on the road indicting MAG was working in the area. We could see alert flags on the hillside showing metal had been found by detectors. Next to the jeep in the pic, Tey told us the blue material on the ground showed a bomb had been found and was ready to be blown up. These people work everyday of the week and in their office we saw the monthly stat poster saying over 2,000 found this month. Shocking.
Bombs are made of valuable metal. To earn money poor Laotians risked their lives to retrieve the bombs attempting to diffuse them and sell the metal. The government put a stop to this a few years ago and now MAG does that dangerous job. The metal is sold very cheaply to villagers to make all sorts of thing to sell in particular spoons! We watched this lady making her spoons she also made bracelets I bought one. In her workshop diffused bombs and mines everywhere.
Xieng Khouang has a long and rich history and is home to numerous ethnic groups, including Thai Phuan, Hmong, Khmu and Tai Dam. This is one of the villages the government moved from the deep forest 5 years ago – now the children have basic school and health care and are learning Lao. Tey told us the people are very happy and the government really has helped them. Good news. Sadly we saw the growing piles of plastic garbage, choking the streams and land around the new village. There is always a cost to the environment.
Site 2 two sites really under the trees and up on the hillside where the cows roam this site has many stone disks believed to be burial markers. Along the path too you can see the MAG markers not a foot off the path as no one knows if that land is safe or not.
Our lovely homestay. We really know how to pick them! boy we meet some fabulous people and we did it again – David and Sakhone. Sakhone took me to the morning market, we had to get there early about 7am. It was a joyful affair, and so colorful. The market ladies laughed when Sakhone tore a few leaves from the herb bunches and told me to try them. One completely anathematized my tongue. Another so sweet but bitter another no word to describe it – my face must have been a picture! no wonder they laughed. There are 7 Loas “tastes” I was taught.
Bush meat is pretty much the main source of protein here – everything and anything that moves is on the table ….literally. There are no supermarkets as we know them here. Porcupines, civet cats, strange moles, rats, squirrels many insects and lavae, all here at the market, all hunted from the forest. Bats and birds in particular are a great favorite. Swallows by the bucketful. As a consequence the forests are strangely silent.
We were really honored to be invited to a family party. Sakhone had made a beautiful hot pot spicy chicken’s feet on one side and a milder meat ball and fish stew on the other. Along with herbs and noodles we enjoyed a delicious meal. We felt so welcomed at Pukyo. David and Sakone really took care of us. Driving us to town, finding meds for Lance’s poor tum and helping me find my phone when I left it in a shop in town!! (HORRORS) yes I got it back such lovely kind people here. I didn’t get a pic of you David oh nooo!!! If you plan to come to see the jars you should stay here 🙂
Climbing ancient stupas in the evening at the old capital.
Now that is a sunset 🙂
5 thoughts on “Xieng Khouang Plateau”
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I always love reading your posts
So nice of you to say – thanks 🙂
yes – very unusual meat for us !!
Good place to be vegetarian!