Around the World in 8000 days: Phonsavanh

Welcome to our travel blog. We are Tabitha and Nic. In 2011 we 'retired' in our early 40s and set off to travel the world. We spent our first year in South America and have been lucky enough to make two trips to Antarctica.

Our blog is a record of our travels, thoughts and experiences. It is not a guide book, but we do include some tips and information, so we hope that you may find it useful if you are planning to visit somewhere we have been. Or you may just find it interesting as a bit of armchair travel.

Thursday, November 3, 2016

Phonsavanh - Plain of Jars

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

Whilst Phonsavanh is certainly an interesting place, to find out about the terrible bombing that happened here and the great work of the QLA, it isn't really somewhere that you would visit just for itself.

However, in the surrounding countryside, alongside the bomb craters and UXOs, there is an archaeological site that is quite intriguing, and is the reason that most visitors come to this region.

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

The Plain of Jars covers a huge expanse and is littered with around 2,500 large old stone jars. No-one is entirely sure how old they are - estimates range from 1,500 to 2,500 years old. And no-one is sure what they were put here for.

One theory, is that they were used to store alcohol for a huge feast celebrate King Khun Chuang's victory over an unruly Chieftain, Chao Angka. Given that some of these jars are significantly taller than me, that would be a lot of alcohol!

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

A more widely held view, is that the jars were used to store dead bodies while they decomposed, before then cremating them. This theory is supported by the fact that human remains have been found in the areas, a man made cave on one site seems to have been used as a crematorium, and the white quartz stones are believed to be grave markers.

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

There are numerous jar sites around the region, but most are not open to the public, largely due to the likelihood of getting blown up. The amount if bombing in this region means that there is a very high risk of UXOs.

Those sites that are open have been cleared, which is indicated by the white and red markers. the white markers show that the pathway has been fully cleared, while the red markers indicate that the ground level has been cleared, but there is no guarantee that there isn't something deeper. These areas are safe, but it is strongly recommended that you do not stray from these cleared zones - Laos is not a country where you should decide to explore the countryside.

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

We took a driver/guide out to the see the jars. It is a bit more expensive than going on your own, or with a big group, but we liked the freedom of it just being us, and the information that the guide was able to give us. We decided to go to the three main jar sites nearby, and to fit in a couple of small extras.

After a stop off at the information centre, which does have some quite interesting background and explanations, we set off to see the jars. Writing this some time after going, I can't recall which of the three sites it was, but there was one where our driver had to negotiate a very muddy track, where people were in the process of using a digger and their vehicles to pull down trees to build a new temple.

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

The jar sites are intriguing. They are not as visually impressive as somewhere like Easter Island's moai, but it is the kind of place that makes you think about both the people of the past, and how, whilst we have come to learn so much about our history, there are some things that we just can't be sure of.

And not being sure of this, does also make me question some of the accepted wisdom about other aspects of our past. After all, where there are no first hand pictorial or written accounts, much of it is just educated guesswork.

Making spoons, Ban Napia, Phonsavanh

As well as the jar sites, we dropped in at the village on Ban Napia, where the local people used to melt down old bombs to make spoons and other items.

These days they tend to bring in aluminium, but the process of melting it down and casting the items in handmade moulds, is still the same. We watched a lady making them in her garden, while her child and dog played nearby. We bought a couple of the spoons.

Making spoons, Ban Napia, Phonsavanh

Our other stop off was at a garden distillery. We were able to have a look around the shed, to see where the rice was being fermented, and to taste the end product or rice whisky, or as it is know here, lao-lao.

It was certainly strong stuff, but actually not as rough as we had expected it to be. We bought a litre for around 95 pence; we still had a bit left when we visited my sister and her partner - they weren't impressed!

One thing we did find very interesting here, was the opportunity to speak with a few local people about their country. We had noticed a significant number of big fancy cars and very large houses in the area, and had wondered who could afford these things. The general consensus was that these would either be corrupt officials taking bribes, or people who were smuggling goods across the borders and profiteering that way.

Jar site 2, Plain of Jars, Phonsavanh

Certainly a consistent message that we heard, not just here, was that Laos is a very corrupt country, where individuals will often have to pay bribes to get permission to build, or run businesses. Another thing we heard often was a dislike of the amount of influence that the Vietnamese still had in the country. Of course, criticism of the ruling party or its policies is potentially a criminal offence in Laos, so anyone we spoke to would naturally be very careful to avoid doing so.