Day 19 - A day at the Plain of Jars - Trial by fire: new bike, first tour, first time in Asia

November 13, 2024

Day 19 - A day at the Plain of Jars

It was reasonably late last night when I realised that we should try to book a tour to the Plain of Jars for today. I crossed the road from Nice Guesthouse, where Cora and I stayed in 2011, found an agency and organized a full day trip to Sites 1, 2 and 3.

We started the day with coffee which, in Laos, comes with tea. We then got breakfast- expensive chips, to counter yesterday's pile of eggs.

Love the cup with its message and a toxic fly agaric

Parked nearby was the bicycle of the day.

Good to see one of these motorized taxis

The tour with guide, Liang, started with a visit to a small museum. There was excellent information about the various jar sites that are scattered over a huge area.

A comic strop about tourists behaving badly.

There was also chilling information about the effect of the American (Vietnam) War on the country and population of Laos. The Ho Chi Minh trail, a conduit for transporting arms south, mainly by bicycle, ran through Laos. Thus, the American Government thought it reasonable to bomb Laos and later spray it with defoliants to expose the trail.

Thus, Laos, per capita, is the most bombed country on Earth. There were more bombs and a greater tonnage dropped on Laos than were dropped in WWII. But there's a far greater problem: 30 % of the bombs did not explode so live munitions cover Laos. Many are cluster bombs attractive to children. It becomes dangerous to cultivate land but what choice do farmers have?

The area of Laos affected by 585,000 bombing raids that dropped 270 million cluster submunitions (not to mention all of the other bombs).

A British NGO, MAG, has been clearing explosives since 1994. They have cleared about 1 % of the affected area. Why haven't those responsible developed highly sensitive detection and removal methods? Imagine being a cog in this wheel of destruction! Imagine spending your life designing this stuff! Imagine a government or any individual thinking that it's reasonable! Apart from the effect on humans and the landscape, bombs destroyed many of the ancient stone jars.

We visited Sites 1, 2 and 3 in reverse order, passing MAG working sites on the way.

The first site (3), was our favourite. A path leads through fields, with buffalo grazing the remains of rice, and past vegetable plots to a remarkable gate. Enter and you're on a shaded hilltop scattered with jars.

An ingenious gate and another use for bamboo.

It's rather restrictive what one can do at the sites.

Site 2 is a small site but special in its own way. There are many stone discs that, interestingly, are not lids.

A disc lies in front of a toppled jar. The sculpted side once faced down towards the human remains.

We visited Site 1 that's closest to Phonsavan and, arguably the main site, with its visitor centre, in the mid-afternoon.

A French geologist, Madeleine Colani, rediscovered the jars in the 1930's and proposed that they contained cremated human remains. Around them she found buried bones. She argued that the sites aligned with an ancient trade route for salt.

The view from Site 1 to the new temple overlooking Phonsavan.

The cave at Site 1. It was probably used for cremation in ancient times and as a place of refuge during the bombing.

Our guide, Liang, was brilliant and also helped us plan the next stage of our ride.

We finished the day by walking the short distance from Nice to MAG to look at their display and to chat with one of the workers.

As we left, the sun was setting. We walked to the bustling markets for supplies for tomorrow and for a few spoons made from war remains.

Having had such good food at a restaurant near Nice, we returned for more. It was another good meal.

Why not finish the day with a saying from Liang, our wonderful guide? "Laos Peoples' Democratic Republic - Please Don't Rush!"

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