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The Plain of Jars, the mystery waiting for you in Laos

Pic From: thaigoodview

          The Plain of Jars refers to an entire area where mysterious limestone jars are found, with three separate sites open to the public. Each site holds clusters of jars carved out of solid stone and seemingly dumped all around the surrounding landscape, making for some truly amazing scenery. Their size and shape vary vastly as do their positions, with some tipped over and some intertwined with surrounding shrubbery. Nobody is certain of their true purpose, but it is thought that they may have been used during funerals.

Pic From: wikipedia

• In years gone by, the sites were riddled with unexploded ordnance (UXO) and their use as tourist attractions was severely limited. But over the past decade, much effort has gone into cleaning up the UXO and now there are safe walking paths throughout the area — just don’t stray too far from the path.

Pic From: wikipedia

• Site one is the most popular, due to its proximity to the centre of town, but one could argue it’s the least interesting of the three despite having the largest single jar and the largest number of jars. There’s a cave and some bomb craters to look at here besides the jars and a small snack shop to grab a drink and bite to eat.

Pic From: wikipedia

         Site two is much further out of town and requires a ride along 11 kilometres of rough dirt roads. Although the roads around here are terrible, it gives you one of the better glimpses into rural Lao life in the area. The primary location of the jars at this site is on top of a small hill shaded by large trees. Many of the jars are broken and tipped over here, presumably due to tree roots sneaking their way into small fissures. Lovely views of the surrounding area can be enjoyed from a small lookout nearby.

Pic From: tour-asia.net

          Site three is located not too far from site two and is arguably the most picturesque of the lot. Rolling hills, bomb craters, rice fields and plenty of cattle are what greet visitors to site three. By the time most people arrive here, they’re not really interested in jars anymore and are quite happy to take photos of the scenery.

Pic From: voanews

          The small restaurant at the gate to site three serves up a mean noodle soup with great quality meat — you pay a bit more than the Lao average, but the quality makes up for it.

Pic From: wikipedia

Source: travelfish