3rd day on the trot I got up at 07.00 (something I rarely, if ever, manage in England), after ploughing my way through a massive plate of fried fried rice I went an hired a motorbike. The reason why I came to Phonsavan in the first place was for the Plain of Jars, Northern Laos best tourist attraction. Giant stone jars are scattered over hundreds of kilometres round Phonsavan and the 3 largest sites are open to the public (there will be more open in the future but they are yet to be cleared of bombs). Nobody knows who made them or why but archaeologists estimate that they are dated between 500BC and 200AD, so kinda pretty old. The first site is the largest with 334 jars with the biggest being 2,5m tall and tips the scales at 6 Tonnes. The next 2 site were along a shockingly bad dirt road, especially unbelievable for such a popular site. Although in fairness they weren't exactly that overwhelmed with tourists, I mean there was a good 8 people at site one and I was the only person at the next 2 sites. I am sure one day it will be much busier, maybe when they finally secure UNESCO World Heritage status. During the remainder of the afternoon I went to two exhibitions about the bombs. One was about the clearance of unexploded ordinance and the other was about people who have been injured/killed by bombs. Most accidents occur either because farmers are ploughing, children are playing or most commonly people are picking them up to sell for scrap metal, which can make a big difference to someone's income.
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| Great for hide and seek! |
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