The Plain of Jars! and Other Not-So-Plain Stuff!

We got off the bus in Phonsavan and were thrown into the Laos equivalent to a New England March day. Raining and bitter cold (46F and dropping) we were entirely unprepared in our shorts and t shirts. To make matters worse, there are no taxis here...only open-air tuk-tuks. Believe me, tuk-tuks are the opposite of fun on a bitter cold rainy day. Fortunately, the driver crammed 7 people and their luggage to the ceiling of the tiny truck, so the huddle kept us warm.
We dropped our bags at the hotel, ate a hot breakfast, hired a guide and mustered up the will to head out and back into the weather.

Our first stop was Site 1 of the Plain of Jars (there are 58 sites, but only 3 have been cleared of unexploded bombs and only #1 was accessible in todays weather.) It was as amazing as I'd hoped. More than 330 huge stone jars strewn all over the hills. The biggest one (photo with Jim and Addi) is 6 tons and stands 2.5 meters high!! Although I still deem the giants-making-wine theory to be the most credible, our guide also mentioned that some archaeologist believe the jars to have served as family burial containers. We visited the near by cave that may have served as the crematorium. No one knows for sure, and no one knows how or when the jars got there. The mystery is intriguing.

From there we went to a Hmong Tribal Village and wandered around. Our guide was Hmong and knew a bunch of residents so we were invited into one of the kitchen huts to warm up by the fire. This family had 5 children and Addi was giggling with the younger ones within minutes. We learned that each family has several freestanding wood or bamboo huts- a kitchen, a bedroom or two, a storage unit, etc. They are dirt floor and on a day like today- cold. We watched the metalsmith turn leftover bomb shrapnel into knives and watched some women use ex-bomb parts to grind beans. We saw bomb shells turned into fences, hut stilts, jewelry and various other things. This was not the "Bomb Village" Lonely Planet writes about, but I gathered that any village around here could fit the description.

After a hot noodle soup lunch, we went to the Tham Piu cave (second to last photo). As the Laos Museum tells it, the US intentionally fired 3 missiles into the cave knowingly killing the 342 civilian farmers living there while seeking refuge from the bombing. I don't know this part of history and know there must be more to it from the US perspective, but I am compelled to research as soon as I have real internet again. Regardless, our guide was visibly moved when recounting the story and the museum paints a morbid picture of US Military. I left the site with my mind spinning a little bit.

We attempted to visit a hot spring but were deterred by the deep mud on the road (I can not say we were heartbroken for skipping it) so we moved on to visit the Than Dam village. These folks lived similarly to the Hmong but specialize in weaving...clothes, beds, baskets...you name it, they weave it. It was fun to watch but we could not wander around due to the puddles (lakes?) and slippery red mud.

We returned to the hotel frozen and soaked. We did not let the weather stop us (we are on a tight schedule!) and I am so glad we didn't. We probably would have gotten more out of today's activities on a warmer or drier day, but we got as much as we'd hoped for on this rainy blustery one!

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