Big Jars and Actual Cold

The entrance to the Plain of jars
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We left the laziness, pork steaks, mayo, cheap aircon, tubes, simpsons, infinity pool and strange noises under our hut at night behind and stumbled bleary eyed onto the public bus for a 6 hour journey to Phonsovan, a small town in the middle of nowhere near the vietnam border home to the Plain of Jars - one of those fabulous sites of interest that archaeologists can't explain!

The bus journey wasn't particularly comfortable - the bus lacked a complete set of panes in the windows and the aisle was entirely filled with an assortment of coloured sacks containing god knows what - but the scenery was beautiful as we had to cross a small mountain range and the road went through lots of little villages, Laos is such an unspoilt place with very picturesque countryside

They are though to have been used for burials or perhaps food storage - hopefully not both!

Ben with the Jars in the distance
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There was a rather nasty moment as we were driving along a narrow mountain path with the side of the mountain on the left and a sheer drop on the right - Ben decided to take the time to point out to me all the holes in the mountain covered with webbing and explained that he'd read they harvest tarantulas like that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for that info! Luckily the bus didn't stop so i wasn't forced to cause a scene

We arrived in Phonsavan at about 2pm, took the first guesthouse we found and decided to organise going to the Plain of Jars asap so that we could leave first thing the next morning on the 9 hour bus to Vientiane

The biggest one
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I think my pictures speak for themselves as to what the Plain of Jars is - a lot of stone jars, all different sizes scattered around over 60 sites in a strip starting in northeast thailand going all along the side of Laos all the way to India thought to date as far back as 500BC - the main sites with the most Jars are in this area of Laos

They are though to have been used for burials or perhaps food storage - -hopefully not both!

We were there just before sunset and there were very few other people around which gave the place a slightly eerie feel - not helped by the fact that the area was used as a hideout for the Vietnamese who fled to Laos in the war and the Laos communist army so it is surrounded by trenches and huge holes where the bombs hit

Ben the Flowerpot Man
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At the entrance to the Plain there is a big sign warning you to stay between the white markers as they show where the land has been checked for mines above and below the surface - outside the markers, on the red side, the land has only been swept for mines above the ground and there could be hidden ones anywhere! I'm sure you can imagine our nervousness when it appeared that not only were these markers very close together leaving only a very narrow path but every now and again you would suddenly find yourself on the red side as the path had veered wildly!

A little pond
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Then we saw the guy mowing the grass well into the red area, i guess thats a cheaper way to organise a mine sweep!

This area of Laos was the site of the Secret War that america denies (because they lost) and yet has left Laos littered with unexploded bombs and makes most the areas of Jars unsafe to visit

All these bombs have created there own furniture and decoration craze in Phonsovan and its hard to find a place without a bomb casing bbq, chair, table and even candle holder! It's all a bit weird but i guess its a good way to recycle

The unknown booze and assorted animals
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In the evening we went out for dinner and it was actually cold, total proper coldness with wind! It took us a while to find somewhere to eat as everywhere is open at one side which is fine when its warm but not when its only 25 degrees! Eventually we found a nice little restaurant that had a big jar of unknown alcohol fermenting amongst lizards, snakes, scorpions and other ugly buglys - Ben decided it would be a good idea to try a shot, i declined as gareth once bought me some snake wine the taste of which still lives with me today - I think the pictures give a good idea of how it tasted! Needless to say he had to have a good few beers afterwards!

Down in one
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And thats all for our whistlestop tour of Phonsavan - we're booked on the VIP bus to Vientiane which is a whole dollar more than the public bus so we shall see our dollar buys us tomorrow!