6. Nov 3rd. Phonsavan: Plain of Jars
We had a lazy morning because we didn’t need be anywhere until noon. Maybe the lazy morning was due to all that activity the day before. In any event, it was pleasant to sit in the restaurant sipping a latte looking the street activity and writing my blog.
I’m always amazed at the haphazard overhead electrical wires system in cities in countries like India, Malaysia and now Laos. How does a new build tap into a system like this? If a wire comes down, where did it come from?
Today our guide and driver arrived at 12:15 pm to take us to the airport for a short plane ride to Phonsavan. The location is known for the Plain of Jars, a UNESCO world heritage site. Lai helped us navigate check in which was helpful because the counter clerk didn’t speak English and we don’t speak Lao. I was pleasantly pleased to see that my bag weighed in at 19.2 kg, under the 20 kg limit. We said good-bye to our guide and proceeded up the ramp to the gates. The waiting area was very plain and functional. There was a tuck shop and Judith purchased some Vietnamese(?) made potato chips to satisfy her salt craving. The chips were like fake Pringles with ridges.
We passed through boarding check and proceeded down a flight of stairs onto the tarmac to board. Judith mentioned that she couldn’t remember the last time she had boarded a plane from the tarmac. This plane is an ATR 72, a twin engine turboprop. I’ve never been on one so I listen to the flight safety instructions. The seating arrangement provides Judith with more room than the Singapore-Vientiane flight, but its only a 30 minute or so flight.
The airport at Phonsavan (Xieng Khouang Airport) is as basic as it comes. The plane pulls up about 75 metres from the terminal and we all de-plane and make our way to the terminal. At the terminal, I can see our baggage being unloaded from the plane onto open carts. The baggage pick up area is overflowing with people, so I go back outside to check out some green rocks I saw on the way in (Yes I kept them). Many others are waiting outside too. When the baggage cart pulls into the terminal, people just start yanking their bags directly from the cart without waiting for the handlers to place them on the pick up area. My back is absolutely the last one taken off the cart. Oh well, someone’s bag has to be last. By this time Judith has already met our guide, Phonsy, (pronounced foncee) who came in to the baggage area (what would be a secure area in other airports) to help us with our bags.
Baggage area. The carts have just rolled in.
We leave the terminal building and meet our driver Noy. We decide that we don’t need to go directly to the hotel, so we head off to see the “Plain of Jars”, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The Plain of Jars has over 2100 large stone jars scattered in clusters across the central plain of the Xiangkhoang Plateau. Some of the jars have been there for over 2500 years.
We arrive at Site 1. There are over 90 different sites of these stone jars spread across the plateau. The jars vary in size from about 3 feet to 6 feet in diameter. We saw some that were about 5 feet in height. The current theory is that the jars are associated with burial practices with human remains, burial goods and ceramics around (but not in) the jars. The jars from this site were carved from a site over 8 km away and transported to their present location.
A square-ish thinner walled stone jar
Bomb crater among the stone jars. There were lots of craters at this site. The Mines Action Group (MAG) has been clearing the Jar sites. Yes, this site is fully cleared.
Many of the jars have lip rings suggesting that the jars had lids. There are very few stone lids among the many jars, so archeologists have concluded that most of the lids were made of perishable material. The 300 or so site 1 jars are made of sandstone and are heavily weathered. Many have been damaged from the US bombing raids between 1964 and 1973. There were distinctive bomb craters on Site 1. Exploration of many of the other sites cannot be undertaken until the sites are cleared of UXOs. Only 7 jar sites have been cleared.
We walk around the site. It’s situated on a hill with a view of the surrounding area. There is a natural cave on the site that we couldn’t enter because of 5 massive bee colonies located above the opening. The roof of the cave has two man made openings, and was used as a crematorium. (Sorry wanted to add an amazing picture of one of the bee colonies and another of the cave opening but its on my zoom camera and I lost my card reader so I can’t download it.)
We finish exploring the site and head to a lookout for a view of Phonsavan and the sunset. It’s accessed by a long concrete staircase and it feels like a nice 60 second workout.
As we got up to the top, you couldn’t help notice the huge amount of trash. Judith couldn’t help herself. She found a bag among the litter and started filling it. I think Phonsy was pretty impressed with Judith picking up that litter. He joined in and, well, I couldn’t just stand there as I had finished with the sunset pictures. Phonsy called up the driver to find and bring up more bags from the parking lot and all four of us made that area pretty tidy. Phonsy was diving into the bushes to bring out the litter there. We ended up bringing down several bags and placing them in the garbage bins at the parking lot. Somehow I knicked my pinky on something sharp. I washed it out with water and bandaged it up. Judith said that if I start getting red streaks running up my arm from the wound I should seek more help. Noy found a tap where we washed our hands and then gave us a squirt of hand sanitizer.
Then off to the Vansana Plain of Jars Hotel. It’s an older hotel with sweeping views of the valleys below. But it hasn’t been upgraded since it was built (1990s?) and at this point is OK, but just doesn’t compare to the others we’ve been to on this trip. It’s clean if you don’t count the few ants that I’ve since squished. The hotel desk clerk doesn’t speak a word of English and because I can’t speak much Lao (just hello, thank you, thank you very much and toilet) he sort of looks frightened all the time.
Thank goodness for the guide. He makes arrangement for our dinner. Normally we would eat at the hotel restaurant but the restaurant is not currently open. Judith and I think there are only 3 other rooms being used as pre covid occupancy numbers just haven’t returned. Because it’s too far to walk anywhere, Judith and I will instead get a ride in the hotel van to “Craters”, a restaurant on the Main Street at 6:30 and be picked up around 8:00. It’s a good enough plan for us.
Our driver is the hotel desk clerk. We’re driven down the hill to the Craters. The rear passenger side door does not work so we both have to exit on the driver side. The restaurant has several sizes of bomb casings for decoration out front and a wall of war memorabilia inside. Judith orders a vegetarian pizza and I opt for Pho noodle soup. At a Canadian equivalent of $4.50 and $2.25 our meals are a bargain. And they were very adequate. And of course, Judith has an ice cream chaser.
Front of Craters from our table. The two large canisters are 1000 lb bombs.
War souvenirs wall.
We get picked up on time by the hotel desk clerk and we’re back to the hotel for the night. We need to meet our driver and guide tomorrow at 8:30 am.
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