7. Nov 4th. More Plain of Jars

Breakfast was in the main dining hall.  It looked as if it could seat 150 people.  When I entered there were only three diners, one of which was Judith, who went ahead as I was running late.  

The menu was in verbal form:  eggs.  Scrambled, fried or an omelette.  Judith goes for the scrambled and I go for the omelette.  My plate arrives with sausage and ham—the “sausage” is more like a hot dog and the ham is more like cold cuts because the two thin slices are cold and not ham.  But the eggs are good as well as the coffee (tea in Judith’s case), plate of fresh fruit (papaya, dragonfruit, and some local fruit that I haven’t seen in my grocery stores) and fresh warm baguette style bread. 

We’re on the road to another Plain of Jars site which takes about an hour.  This one is imaginatively named Site 3.  Access to the site is through a farmer’s property.  It’s good for the farmer because he gets paid for selling tickets to the site and the whole community also benefits from the revenue through improved local services.  We cross over a foot bridge to enter the site.  It doesn’t give me a lot of confidence.  Some of the wooden floor planks looked sketchy but in the end it was pretty solid.  

Sketchy looking foot bridge.   I decide to hang back and to take a picture.  

Wc walk between rice paddies that are now mostly dry with the remains of rice stalks poking through the hard ground.  The rice would have been harvested within the past month.  There were cows and water buffalo in other fields.  

We crossed over two stiles to cross over a fences in the farmer’s field.  The first one was pretty rickety made from wood board and the other was all metal but the angle of the steps wasn’t flat.  I could have used a hand rail.  The path led us through an area that had recently been washed out.  Our guide Phonsy pointed out some concrete markers stencilled with “MAG”.  We learn these are put in place by the Mine Advisory Group, a UK based non governmental organization that assists people in areas that are affected by land mines, unexploded ordinances (UXO), etc.  In Laos, MAG has trained teams of local people how to clear the UXOs.  When paths are cleared by MAG, these markers are placed to show the safe location of the path.

The two markers show the pathway between the two markets.  We’re able to stand outside the safe path because the entire Plains of Jars Site #2 that we’re visiting has since been cleared of UXOs.  MAG also cleared the community including the farmer’s site we passed through.   

 

The jars site is also impressive with many found on site.  At this site there were a few large round disks which some believe were lids for the megalithic jars.  

Judith and Phonsy near one of the jars.  

Stone disk thought to be a lid for the jars. There are very few of these “lids” compared to the number of jars.

A crater hole at the site.  One of nearby jars had a diagonal crack, most than likely from the force of the bomb.  

Vegetation has grown in the 50 years or so since bombs have fallen on Laos.  

Some of the stone jars at Site 3

As we walk back to the car there’s a woman in one of the rice paddy fields.  She is digging in the dirt near the berm surrounding the paddy field.  Phonsy tells us she’s looking for crabs and I concluded that they must live in the mud.  I’m curious to learn more, but everyone else is marching on, so I’ll need to find out more later.  

At the parking lot there was a building information describing the research into the jars.  The first scientific study was in the early 1930’s by French geologist and amateur archaeologist Madeleine Colani.  She studied the jar’s contents and excavated around the jars, uncovering glass beads and human bones.  She also surveyed the cave at Site 1 that we couldn’t enter because of the bees and found enough evidence to conclude it was used as a crematorium.

There are many other hypothesis as to what the jars have been used for.  Colani proposed that the jars’ location was linked to ancient trade routes for salt.  Traders brought this prized commodity to the Xieng Khouang Plateau in exchange for other goods from the area.  Others believe the jars were used to make and store alcohol, but that’s a lot of alcohol storage.  Personally, I think they were the first physical evidence of storage units because even then, people had too much stuff.

Onto Site 2.  On the way we pass by a truck carrying logs.  I’m guessing that they’re hardwood because I can’t think of any softwood species outside of North America.  They’re big sticks.  I hope they’re being cut in a sustainable manner, however this is a poor nation with poor families and unfortunately I think the likelihood of sustainable logging is pretty slim.  

It turns out we visited the main three sites.  The World Heritage Designation for the Jars in 2019 only covers 15 jar sites (1, 2, 3, 8, 12, 21, 25, 28, 42 and 52 and range from a single jar on a hilltop to clusters with several hundred jars.  It includes 1,325 stone jars, quarry areas as well as other artifacts such as the lids.  The jars were date back to the Iron Age which occurred in Southeast Asia around 500 BCE to 500 CE.  Since iron was abundant on the Xieng Khouang Plateau, the civilization prospered and archeologists believe this lead to the creation of the stone jars.  

Site 2 is on a hilltop with a total of 93 jars, 14 discs and some stone grave markers.   There were several stone jars at this site and many of them were larger than the typical jar.  

Trying to look cool in front of a fallen jar.  This one is over 6 feet tall. 

Here is a jar that has been split apart by a tree growing up through the middle.

There was a giant green insect at the lip of one of the jars.  It was around 3-4 inches long.  It looks like it has a fake eye dot.  

We get back into the car and head back to Phonsavan.  On the way we stop for lunch.  Phonsy goes to the first restaurant and asks about the menu.  He’s not satisfied and we end up next door at Vanhpheng Restaurant.  He’s asking for Judith who happens to be pescatarian.  We all have noodle soup—kind of like the Pho soup at home with vermicelli noodles only much cheaper.  My bowl worked out to 20,000 kip, about $1.60 Cdn.  

We also stop in at Muang Khoun, the former capital of Xieng Khouang province before it was moved to Phonsavan.  We visited the 16th century Buddha stature still standing in the Wat Phia Wat complex.  The capital was heavily bombed by the US destroying much of it.  Wat Phia Wat collapsed in the bombing raids but the Buddha survived largely intact.  The building foundation and some of the roof pillars remained intact.  The Buddha suffered some scars on the right side of his face and his left hand.  It’s still being used by worshippers.  

Not far away from Vat Phia Vat, a short drive got us to That Foun, or Foun Stupa.  Built in 1576, the stupa was built to hold ashes of Lord Buddha that were brought over from India.  This would make it a most sacred stupa.   

The That Foun which managed to survive the bombing.  Prior to this, the stupa had been looted by Chinese marauders looking for treasures.  Phonsy said that you were able to enter the stupa via a hole created by the marauders, but the hole has recently been sealed.  

On the grounds was a giant poinsettia tree.  

  

Proof that poinsettias can live more than a few months.

As we walk back to the car, we came across a shop where a woman was modeling a traditional H’mong outfit on her YouTube channel.  She had a ring light and cell phone set up and it was so out of context for the area, I went to investigate.  She had made the jacket and wanted to show it before it went to a buyer in the US.  Phonsy said there were many H’mong people in the US.  

The guy showed up (her spouse?) and wanted to be in the picture.  I’m not sure how traditional his outfit is since he’s wearing a tie.  

There was a store where some of the locals sell their textiles.  I am a sucker for textiles so I bought a table cloth from the maker.  It’s a beautiful tablecloth that I don’t need, but I wanted to support her.  I had to have a picture with her.  

Our next stop is to the MAG (Mines Advisory Group) presentation office.  We spent a long time there reading all their presentations material about the UXO problem:  why it came about, how extensive the bombing was, the impact to lives and families from UXOs, how they go about clearing areas, results to date, and of course why and how to help.  We watch a few videos and its sobering.  I have to conclude a war crime occurred.  It’s raised my consciousness immensely.   

After the visit to the MAG we had a few minutes before out next excursion.  It’s about 3:30 pm and we thought we’d find a snack place.  We ended up at Cranky T and Judith has some ice cream and I opt for a mango fruit smoothie.  It’s very tasty so we decide to come back for dinner.

 

We walk a few door down to Lone Buffalo.  This is a community project that provides free English language lessons to children from rural communities.  Learning English will greatly improve opportunities to these young people.  We introduce ourselves to the classroom and then watch them run though a couple of language oriented games.  Having taught in classrooms through Junior Achievement it was interesting to see how much more engaged and thirsty for learning these kids were compared to their western counterparts.  

 The classroom.   

It’s time for dinner and we go back to Cranky T.  The owner (who clearly is a real character) said she is Cranky T because that’s how she is.  I have Korean Chicken Wings that come with mashed potatoes.  Judith opts for a salad with smoked salmon.  Beside us is a large table of people and everyone is wearing a World Health Organization vest.  It was cool to see this organization in this community.  

We get driven back to the hotel because it’s an early morning start.  We need to be packed and ready to leave by 7:00 and the restaurant only opens at 6:30.