the Plain of Jars

For some reason I can’t explain, the UNESCO-listed Plain of Jars is somewhere I’ve long wanted to visit.  Several thousand stone jars of varying sizes are spread over a large area in north-eastern Laos, their original purpose not really known although generally believed to be coffins, grave markers, or temporary storage for decomposing bodies.  The province where they are located (Xieng Khouang) was one of the worst hit by the second Indochina war, and unexploded ordnance still poses a threat, but many of the 90+ jar sites are now open to the public.

Now I had my opportunity and so I set off on a supposedly ten-hour journey by minivan from Luang Prabang, through twisting partly unsurfaced roads winding up and down through the mountains.  Scenic but not so comfortable (many Laos take travel-sickness medication before the trip).  The route is heavily used by big trucks, even though the condition of the road makes it difficult for them, and several times at some of the sharper, steeper bends we were asked to get out of the van and walk up/down the road whilst the driver negotiated the turn and the trucks.  On one such occasion he stopped the van and opened our door, telling us to meet him further down, whilst he went to check out the road; but it seemed that he had not fully activated the brakes, as the van started to roll forward, picking up speed as the panicking passengers scrambled over the seats, pushing and shoving to try to get out before the van plunged over the edge.  Thankfully the lady who had been sitting next to the driver somehow kept her cool, moved sideways into his seat, and put on the brake – by which time one wheel was right on the edge.  Most Lao are Buddhists and so believe in karma … I hope she is one of them as her actions saved the van, all our luggage, and possibly the lives of the three passengers from the back row who had not yet made it out.

None of us was seriously hurt, thank goodness, although we all had scrapes and some had ripped their shoes or clothes.  We stopped off at a health clinic so that a couple of people (who were bleeding more profusely) could get patched up, and eventually made it to our Phonsavanh, the town nearest to the Plain of Jars.  I spent the next day quietly resting in my hotel room, my right knee too sore for me to walk too far, but I was able to meet an English guy who lives there (my guide on last year’s Papua New Guinea holiday) – who recommended a local guide to me with whom I booked a day tour out to the three nearest sites.

We started at Site 1, which is located on a bit of a ‘plain’ – and here my guide informed me that the name results from a mistranslation … the archaeologist who did most of the early work on the jars was a French lady, and when she spoke of the place being ”plein de jarres” (full of jars), this was misunderstood by English speakers as plain of jars … and the name stuck!!

We moved on to sites 2 and 3, which I preferred, where the jars are more closely clustered together, and in woodland locations. The jars are of varying size, and whilst most are round, there are some rectangular ones amongst them.  There are also grave markers (flat stone), and a small number of carved discs – and one pot and one disc with figures carved on them.  Some of the jars are broken, in part from nineteenth century Chinese raids into Xieng Khouang which included intentional breakage of jars by bandits looking for hidden treasure.  More jars were damaged, however, during the Second Indochina War.  To halt the advance of the Pathet Lao, the US bombed the plateau relentlessly, with more than 580,000 bombing missions (throughout Laos) from 1963 to 1974, with over 2 million tons of bombs and missiles falling on the country - on average a bombing mission every eight minutes over a period of nine years. Laos is, per capita, the most heavily bombed country in the world.

Bomb craters and trenches still scar the jars sites – and 30% of these bombs failed to explode on impact and continue to pose a threat to the population.  The Mines Advisory Group work to locate and diffuse or safely blow up the UXO.  During my day out at the jars sites I heard three warnings from distant tannoys and one controlled explosion.