The Plain Of Jars

I finally received my Vietnamese visa on Tuesday afternoon, and so on Wednesday I caught a flight from Ventiane up to Phonsavanh. Hooray! Escape from boring Ventiane! ;-)

The weather's really cleared up in the last couple of days and it's SO GREAT to see some sunshine after an eternity of torrential rains. I got to the sleepy airport and was happy to see a white chick waiting for the same flight. Woohoo! Someone to talk to! Her name was Jessica and she was an American PhD student travelling up to Phonsavanh cause she might be doing her research project on the Plain of Jars. How cool is that!

We ended up sitting together on the plane and chatting all the way to Phonsavanh. She was a really nice girl and it was great to have a really intellectual conversation about an archaeological site that really interests us both. And, unlike my last flight with Lao Airlines, this one was calm and smooth, with nothing but spectcular views of the Laos countryside far below us. My stomach was thankful for that!

Arriving in Phonsavanh in late afternoon, it was a relief to have the change of scene. The city was small, quiet, and had a very 'Wild West' feel to it. There's only one main road through town, huge clouds of dust blow up every time a truck drives through, and the atmosphere is so calm you can almost hear the wind blowing across the plains. And the scenery around the town is really amazing. Big skies, huge green open plains with rolling wind-swept hills in the distance, and only a few small clusters of lonely trees dot the horizon. It feels very much like the foothills of Alberta or Colorado, and the mere fact that we're 1200 metres above sea level means even the air feels much cooler. I like it a lot already!

Jessica and I checked into a really great guesthouse just off the main drag before going to grab some dinner. We then booked our tour to go and see the Jars for the next day and had an early night. Before going to bed we spent a good two hours chatting with other travellers and some of the teenage staff working there who were really friendly and anxious to practice their English. The sky above us was very, very dark and full of a billion bright stars. In the distance, over the hills, flashes of lightning lit up the midnight sky every so often and you could hear the thunder pounding. Very atmospheric.

I was SO EXCITED the next morning to go and see the Plain of Jars. Ever since I first heard about this mysterious place a few years ago, I have developed a fascination with it, and coming here, I knew, was going to be one of my biggest highlights on my trip. Jessica and I, plus four other really nice tourists, spent all day exploring the site with our extremely knowledgeable and friendly Lao guide, Pet.

The Plain of Jars is located in Northeastern Laos and remains one of the most enigmatic archaeological sites in the world today. Because of its remote location the Plain of Jars lay for nearly two millennia unknown to the outside world before being 'discovered' by French explorers/colonial imperialists in the 1930's. A few decades after that, the region was devestated during the Vietnam/American War as this part of Laos was carpet bombed by the American military on their way to fight Vietnamese forces. Those events, combined with the fact that the only highway to this region, until recently, was controlled by hostile rebel forces who occasionally attacked buses travelling to this area, and it's no wonder that few people have even heard about this place, much less travelled here. The Plain of Jars today is finally safe (relatively) and open to the outside world.

The Plain of Jars consists of many wide open fields that are full of large, stone jars scattered throughout the plains. They range in size from less than one to three metres in height, and each of them weigh several tonnes. The great mystery that surrounds this place is that archaeologists - and locals - have no idea when they were made, what they were used for, or how they go to their present location. They don't even know what civilization these jars are from! They estimate that the jars are least two thousand years old, and the latest theory is that they were used for the cremation of family members by ancient Lao tribes (some charcoal human remains have been discovered buried *beneath* the jars at one of the locations.) The jars can be found at 59 different sites scattered throughout the region, but the vast majority of them are found in three clusters, labelled Site 1, 2, and 3. Our tour today took us to all three main sites, where the number of jars at each place range from 90 to nearly 300.

The jars lie in a beautiful but dangerous location. Carpet bombing and land-mine-laying has left huge craters in the landscape, and thousands upon thousands of unexploded ordinances (UXO's) lie hidden across the plains. This has meant that excavation of the site has been extremely slow, as these mines still lie active and can explode when stepped on or picked up by locals, archaeologists - or tourists. This fact has meant that in the last few decades hundreds of local farmers have lost limbs - or their lives - to these landmines. Sites 1-3 have fortunately been cleared of landmines, but even then the 'safe area' is very small and limited. Markers in the ground tell you where it's safe to step and you have to stick to worn paths immediately around the jars. It will probably take many more decades before this area of Laos is free of this deadly danger, and it really is a tragic thing for the locals to be plagued with every day of their lives.

The Plain of Jars exceeded my expectations in terms of sheer beauty and mystery. All three sites are on these incredibly green hillsides, and the jars themselves are fascinating. The giant stone treasures at first seem to be placed randomly, but further examination reveals that many jars lie in topsy-turvy clusters, or in huge sweeping arcs across the field. Archaeologists think they have discovered the rock quarry where these jars were cut (using what tools?) and it remains completely unknown today as to how the jar-makers were able to transport these jars up to 40 km. away from the rock quarry when they weigh several tonnes. It's incredible! We spent all afternoon just wandering through the jars at our leisure, listening to Pet tell us the latest theories about them, and we even had time to just lie in the grass on the hillslopes to gaze out at the jars and the surrounding beautiful countryside. Man, I felt like I coulda just sat there forever trying to take it all in. It truly was an incredible experience, and a day that I'll never forget for as long as I live.

That night Jessica and I had a delicious Indian dinner with two new Aussie friends that we met on our tour, and then sat around our guesthouse with other travellers until late sharing travel stories and enjoying delicious BeerLao. It just may have been the best day yet of my trip, and I feel so lucky to have been able to experience something like this! Once again, I'm the luckiest - and happiest - boy on the planet. :-)