The plain, Plain of Jars

From Luang Prabang, we traveled onwards to Phonsavan. This was a last minute choice for ease of connectivity.

We had wanted to try Pakse and Bolaven Plateau but it was too much of a hassle with the journey being too long and tiring. We walked around town and booked tickets to Phonsavan by minivan, which came up to around 75,000 to 80,000 kip per person. It was around an 8 hour journey by minivan. We left in the morning around 9 and reached Phonsavan in the evening. Along the way, the driver stopped a few times for restroom breaks and lunch. The minivan had an all girl group, a coincidence I guess, and everybody was discussing their various travels so far.

We reached Phonsavan at around 5.30 and made our way to Kong Keo Guesthouse. The town was extremely small, just a small strip of highway populated with a few guesthouses and shops. It was a 10 minute walk across the road from the minivan bus stand. Kong Keo had received good reviews from many travelers but when we reached there we were met with a rundown place with shabby rooms. Still for $8 I shouldn’t complain, I thought.

The evening was spent in scouting for tours to the Plain of Jars for the next day and of course looking for vegetarian options. Since there were not too many options we settled for the travel agency suggested by Lonely Planet, situated next to the YMCA. There are a variety of tours, each giving different options to see. The most popular is the one which includes a traditional whiskey making session and a Russian tank. The tour, priced at about 110,000 kip per person, included a guide as well as our lunch. We even bumped into a fellow Indian there, a rarity in Laos, who kept telling us that safety should be a priority here. Dinner was in a small eatery where we had noodle soup, which the man had tailored according to our vegetarian preferences.

The night became extremely chilly, which was quite unexpected, a bit later and we had to retreat to our room. I was in deep sleep when I was woken up at around 5 am with a loud crowing. Once he stopped I turned over and went back to sleep. Just as I was drifting back, he began again. This pattern was repeated a frustrating number of times and I realized that the fellow was as punctual as the snooze alarm on my cellphone. Every 15 minutes he would crow, reminding me not to oversleep. Finally, after managing a few more winks I woke up by 7.30.

The minivan taking us to the Plain of Jars was supposed to arrive at 8.45. Showered and dressed, we went for breakfast at the guesthouses’ sparse restaurant. There we saw two other girls who had come with us in our van, who had also checked in to Kong Keo. Apparently they had had a nightmarish experience with rats nibbling their food the entire night and they were waiting to check out. After hearing their tale we contemplated moving out, but thought that we would rough it out just the one more night left.

After breakfast we walked to the travel agency and in a few minutes we were on our way. We picked up a few more guests en route. It was not a far drive to Site I. Below is the board explaining the relevance of the site.

Frankly speaking I didn’t feel anything ‘mysterious’ about the Plain of Jars nor did I find myself being overawed. It was definitely a different landscape though, wide open with these lonely jars scattered all around. Our guide was nice man who explained the stories behind the jars quite well. We left for the second site, which was about a half an hour ride away. This was a smaller site and we finished touring it quickly.

By now it was pretty hot and I was getting hungry. Site III was thankfully not too far and we had delicious noodle soups here first before we moved on to see the jars. This site was the most beautiful of all, as every travel account promised, and we had to walk through a paddy field to reach it. We spent some time there taking pictures, looking at the green landscape around and then returned. On the way we stopped to see whiskey making and had a shot of it as well. After a brief stop to see a broken Russian tank we reached back and immediately set about booking tickets for our next destination.

Vang Vieng. Now this had not been an option previously since neither of us were interested in running into hordes of gawky youngsters high on dope after their tubing adventures. But we didn’t have a choice; Vang Vieng was the only place that was a convenient stopover on our way back to Vientiane in order to catch our flight home. We chose a minivan again, and the price was about 140,000 kip. Next we had dinner at a lovely Chinese restaurant. They understood our bits of Mandarin and gave us delicious vegetarian items, which we gorged on! We stopped to have natural icecream from the shop across. I chose taro while K/G chose durian. Thankfully it wasn’t chilly today and after a hot day we went to sleep quite exhausted.

Below: Taro and Durian icecream cubes mixed in the box on the right.