Today was one of the highlights of my trip. I finally visited the Plain of Jars and it was simply awesome.
I organized a group tour yesterday with three other people in my van from Luang Prabang, an Indian couple and an Ozzie. We organized with our driver from Luang Prabang to take us today to the Plain of Jars sites 1, 2, and 3, and then to the War Spoon village Naphia and then a Hmong whiskey village.
I’ll start out by saying that it was an amazing day, but also longer than I expected. I’ve read accounts where people say they can easily see all three jar sites in one afternoon but I don’t think that’s possible. The roads outside of Phonsavan are absolutely terrible dirt and gravel roads and our van had difficulty going faster than 30 km/hr most of the time. Even though these sites are between 10-35 kilometers away from Phonsavan (in the same direction), it takes a good 30-40 minutes to get to each one. Additionally, the parking lot and “ticket office” of these sites is usually a good 10-15 minute walk from the site itself, so you need to add in time to actually hike up to the different sites. But we’ll get to all that in a minute.
We started our tour at 9am. We first went to the Phonsavan Visitor Center, which had a display of informational posters on visiting the jars sites and information on other local sites, like local villages and tribes, as well as commentary on ordnances and bombs in the area. Behind the visitor center is a space that contains numerous deactivated bombs and artillery. These were among the many weapons/bombs found by locals after the Second Indochina War and Secret War (i.e. the wars that the U.S. waged in Vietnam/Indochina and Laos between 1964-1973).
Display behind the Visitor Center of bombs and military weaponry
Cluster Bombs
More bombs and artillery
Ever stare down the barrel of a tank?
The map below is particularly telling. The red shows the areas in Laos that were bombed and where UXOs (unexploded ordnances) are still located. Note that on this map it says that the Xieng Khouang province was the second most bombed province in Laos between 1964-1973, the years during the Secret War and Vietnam/Second Indochina War. Other accounts I’ve read said that Xieng Khouang was the most bombed province. Either way, there are still thousands if not millions of UXOs in the countryside of this province alone.
Map showing UXOs in Laos
After the visitor center, we made our way to Site 1. The entry fee was 15,000 kip (about $2 USD). We walked up a road for about 10 minutes to arrive at the proper entry of the site. Jar Site 1 is the largest of all the sites and the most visited. Most tourists will just go to Site 1 and not bother with the other sites. It is very impressive indeed. One of the most stunning (and possibly most well preserved) jars is located here.
The impressive 2 meter high jar on the left at Site 1
The site has various clusters in a few different places. We moved counterclockwise through Site 1. In the middle of the site is a cave with a small shrine, which we also visited. It should be mentioned that Lao PDR military operated within this Jar site between 1964-1973, and created trenches for protection. The photo below shows one of these trenches. There were several around the site. Because the U.S. knew there were operatives in this area, they dropped several bombs here and there are still many craters around the site.
Trench near the jars
Jar Site 1; there are over 300 jars in Site 1 alone
Though difficult to discern, this is a bomb crater
A bomb crater just beside this jar
After roaming the groups of jars, we visited the cave in the middle of the site. This is thought to have been the crematorium for the dead who were then placed in the jars 3,000 years ago. Today there is what looks like an altar or shrine inside.
Cave at Jar Site 1
Interior of cave
We did an entire loop of the site, walking up a hill to see another cluster of jars before taking a scenic route back to the van. The view was rather nice.
View from Jar Site 1
Next we made our way to Jar Site 2. This took a little longer to get to. We pulled into the parking lot and each paid our 10,000 kip ticket (about $1.25 USD). From there we had to walk uphill along a dirt road.
Dirt road leading to Jar Site 2
This road was first built out by French colonialists over a hundred years ago, and apparently it has had detrimental affects to the jars at site 2, exacerbating the erosion there. Because of how the road was built, there are two main clusters of jars at Site 2 separated by the road. We decided to visit the cluster on the right side first.
Cluster of jars at site 2
A stone lid or marker with a carving in the center with concentric circles
There was a path leading away from the jars heading east. We decided to follow this path for awhile to see if it led to another cluster of jars. We ended up amidst trees, and though the view was nice, we didn’t find any other jars. We turned back before getting to the end of the path, and apparently there is an abandoned and eroded stupa at the end.
View from the path to the stupa
Path through the trees
As I mentioned, we didn’t see the abandoned stupa since we decided to turn back and visit the other cluster of jars on the opposite side of the dirt road. These jars are hidden amidst beautiful trees. The whole place felt very mysterious.
Jar Site 2
This tree grew underneath a jar, and broke it in half. You can see the fragments of the jar embedded within the trunk.
I love this massive tree and the jars around it
Throughout all of the Jar sites, there are markers on the ground showing you the path you should take to get to the site or to walk around the site. Sometimes the markers show you the perimeter of the site so that visitors don’t go wandering off into the countryside and potentially encounter an UXO. The white markers are the ones indicating that the path is clear of UXOs. Red markers indicate the area isn’t cleared. We never encountered red markers at any of the three sites, but we also made sure to stay on the marked paths.
White marker on the path. MAG stands for Mines Advisory Group, which is a non-profit that clears mines and UXOs worldwide
Next we visited Jar Site 3. Upon arrival, we paid our 10,000 kip ($1.25 USD) entry ticket and crossed a bridge over to a rice paddy.
Bridge to Site 3
Then we had to traverse a series of rice paddies and walk up a gentle slope to Jar Site 3.
Rice paddies to Jar Site 3
More rice paddies near Site 3
Jar Site 3 was probably the smallest of the site we visited, and it also had the least number of tourists. There was only one cluster of jars, as opposed to two or three at the other sites. But there were a lot of jars crammed close to one another in this one site. It felt more claustrophobic than the other sites. Even so, it was very remote and peaceful.
Jar Site 3
Overturned jar in Site 3
Jar Site 3
After Site 3, we made our way to Ban Naphia, which is a War Spoon village. Since the 1980s villagers from Naphia and other villages started making spoons from the aluminum UXO scrap metal. In fact, several of the eateries and restaurants in town use these spoons. At a family home in Naphia, we saw the process of how these spoons are made. They break down the UXO aluminum metal and melt it, then pour it into a mould. In the photo below, you can see the “kiln” in the middle where they melt the metal. The box on the right wrapped with an orange rope is the mould used to create the spoon. There is a hole on the side where the liquid metal is poured into the mould.
At the War Spoon Village, Naphia
The family also had a series of deactivated/defunct artillery shells and ordnances in their backyard on display. These were all found near their home and village.
Scrap ordnances at the War Spoon villager home
We bought a few souvenirs from the War Spoon village, and then moved along to a Hmong village that makes Lao Lao whiskey. On the way, our driver pulled over on the side of the road to point out a tank from the war. This one is sitting half buried in someone’s backyard.
Tank across the road
We arrived at the Hmong village to taste our whiskey. I had already tasted the Lao Lao whiskey during the Mekong cruise at one of the villages we visited, so I knew what to expect. We each took a little taste and decided we were all set.
Our host: Hmong woman who let us taste her whiskey
After that we came back to Phonsavan. It was a little after 5pm. I decided to take a stroll around the local market thinking that I might buy some more souvenirs. This was, truly, a local market so there were absolutely no tourists around. So no souvenirs. Mostly it was a food market. There were all sorts of things going on there. Fruits and curries were on the simple end of the spectrum. I also saw live chickens and ducks getting suffocated and sold to customers, dead and live guinea pigs, and fried rats. It was rather a lot for one day so I decided to take it easy for the rest of the afternoon.
Tomorrow I head off to Vientiane. And yet I still can’t believe that my Phonsavan adventure is over and I’ve finally seen the Plain of Jars!
Jules Traveler 