Plain of Jars

Of course we had to look!
After festering in Vientiane for too long (we had some business to take care of, including getting our visa to Myanmar!), we headed off to Phonsavan and the infamous Plain of Jars. There are actually hundreds of different jar sites throughout Laos, but only the three sites around Phonsavan are currently open to tourists.

In addition to being the home of the Plain of Jars, Phonsavan and the surrounding Xieng Khuan province also has the dubious honour of receiving most of the more than 580,000 bombing missions during the US's secret war in Laos between 1964 and 1973. It was a secret war because the US bombed Laos in direct contravention to the Geneva Accords the country signed in 1954 agreeing to stay out of Laos. It was also a secret because it was kept from both the US Congress and the American people. Not only did the US drop millions of cluster bombs in Laos, but it's estimated that almost a third of these little bombs -- or 'bombies' as the locals call them -- malfunctioned and didn't detonate. Which means that Laos is literally littered with unexploded ordnance (UXO) just waiting for some unsuspecting farmer to hit it with his hoe while plowing his fields, or some child to pick it up out of curiosity (or thinking it's a piece of fruit which, in the muck, it looks remarkably similar to), or some desperate scrap metal worker to pick it up to sell. A British organization called the Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is working directly with the Laos people to clear the UXO (they also work in Cambodia, Vietnam, Kosovo, Angola, etc.) but, as you can imagine, it's going to take many, many years.

Note the Clearance Statistics
Okay, enough soap-boxing; back to the Plain of Jars ...

There were six of us (Ulrik and I, two Irish girls, an English guy, and a guy from the US) on the tour, not including our guide and driver. We met just after 9:00am and all piled into the minivan. The first stop was the local market to get some provisions for the road and, if necessary, our lunch. (As our guide said, "You like Laos noodle, you eat at Site 3; you no like Laos noodle, you buy something now." Since we like Laos noodles, we just bought a bit of fruit to munch on.)

After the market we headed off to Site 2. It was a bit strange being greeted by a sign telling you how much UXO had been cleared from the area, but, just in case, to stay between the markers. You don't have to tell us twice!

Site 2 and Site 3 have only a few jars each; the main draw is the view of the surrounding countryside. The landscape, which is dotted with vibrant green rice paddies, tiny grass huts, and the occasional water buffalo seems to stretch endlessly in all directions.

The magnificant view from Site 2
We walked from Site 2 to Site 3, a distance of about 5km. No great distance, but when you think of all the UXO still in the area, it wasn't the most relaxing of walks.

After a lunch of -- you guessed it -- Laos noodles at Site 3, we jumped back in the minivan and headed for Site 1. Along the way we stopped to see an old Russian tank and to learn how the locals make their moonshine (a type of rice wine called lao lao). The Russian tank was a rusted-out and stripped-down carcass, and no one in the village we stopped at was actually making any rice wine -- so both stops were a bit of a non-starter.

Site 1 was, however, rather impressive. There were many more jars, many were significantly bigger than any other we had seen thus far, and they were spread out over a much larger area (a "plain" if you will).

After touring the countryside, and seeing firsthand the result of MAG's efforts, we headed to their local office to make a donation. It wasn't much, but apparently it's enough to pay the cost of clearing 10m2 of land. Laos is a small country, but it still covers 236,800km2 ... so if you're interested in contributing to MAG's valuable work, please contact MAG.

For more photos, see our Plain of Jars photo album.