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Jars, Jars and more Jars at the Plain of Jars

Phonsavanh Travel Blog › entry 39 of 77 › view all entries

My Backpacking Journey through Southeast Asia at the end of 2006 and into 2007. The ups and downs of my trip and the many beautiful places I visited. Trully an Experience of a lifetime!

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Jars, Jars and more Jars at the Plain of Jars

December 7, 2006

Morning Chickens for sale

The following morning we set out on our day trip, all ten of us, who arrived on the same bus from Luang Prabang. We first stopped off at the local market to stock up on some food for a picnic lunch by the waterfall we were going to dropped by later that day. The walk around the local markets was an interesting sight, as we witnessed a variety of different meats and animals that we couldn't imagine consuming. Some included, Squirrels, a variety of birds, hawks, hedgehog/porchipine or however you want to spell it.

Our next stop was the Bomb crater field, were we saw many bomb craters dotting the nearby mountains and so fourth. Once again damn the American Government. We were surprised to see a LIVE Bombie on the field, one kick would of set it off and dozens of small metal bullets would of came spitting out as us and pearcing our body like bullets.

Little Hmong Girl singing to her self... so innocent

No wonder why the guys at the Guesthouse said it wasn't advisable to visit anywhere without a tour guide. Phonsavanh was the most heavily bombed province in Laos!!!!

We continued our tour to a Hmong village, where the local villagers have started to use the left over metal scraps from the variety of bombs as part of their households. We were even welcomed into our tour guides home, as he was also a Hmong from this village. There was an absolutely beautiful Hmong child, who was at first afraid of me when I approached her to show her, her picture. But soon after she sat by her house and started singing and never stopping, she was about 4 maybe 5, but nothing older and she was absolutely adorable! Her singing was amazing and so tranquil, I could of sat there listening and watching her for ever.

Hmong Village

Most of us took a whole bunch of picture of her and quickly said goodbye.

Nearby the Hmong village, was a huge untouched waterfall. we hiked down the mountain, to find a quiet spot (well everywhere was quiet, as we were the only ones there) and had our picnic at the foot of the waterfall. The hike back up was a totally unexpected ordeal. Instead of hiking back the way we came, we followed a different path through huge tree roots, along the waterfall, past the waterfall, through the waterfall and even up the waterfall.

Upon our return we faced the problem of trying to unlock the steering wheel of the minivan! It just wouldn't unlock! arghhhh... so after about 30 minutes of trying, the group of us decided to hike back towards the Hmong village and wait for another vehicle to pick us up.

The Plain of Jars

As we were walking up the hill, we heard a distant shout from the bus driver and to our amazement he managed to unlock the vehicle and he hurriedly picked us up, so we could go watch the sunset at the Plain of Jars.

The Plane of Jars, site 1 was the biggest of all three sites. It also had some great views and a not too shabby sunset. Site 1 housed the largest jar ever made. It is still questionable on who built the jars and what purpose the jars had, no one knows.... The plain of jars was still inundated with landmines and bombies and other unexploded ordinances, so we were thoroughly advised to STAY on the beaten path!!!