Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Xieng Khuang and the Plain of Jars
XiengKhuangprovince
lies at the crossroads of important trade routes leading north to Ch-
ina, south to Thailand and east to Vietnam, and has been coveted throughout the centuries
by rival Southeast Asian empires. Xieng Khuang, hemmed in by a ring of dramatic moun-
tains, including the country's tallest peak, Phu Bia, is best known for the treeless flatlands and
crater-ridden landscape of the
Plain of Jars
. A plateau of grassy meadows and low rolling
hills situated at the centre of the province, the Plain takes its name from the clusters of chest-
high funerary urns found there. For people with a deep interest in archeology and Southeast
Asian history the jars are worth the journey to Xieng Khuang, but for some tourists they are
something of an anticlimax. However, their other-worldliness, against the flat barren land-
scape of the area, retains a certain mystique, and by choosing your guide wisely it's possible
to get a lot more out of a visit here.
As the flattest area in northern Laos, the Plain of Jars is also a natural gathering point for
armies
- a fact not lost on military commanders of the early kingdoms of Lane Xang, Vi-
etnam and Siam and later the Soviet Union, France and America, the Viet Minh, the Pathet
Lao and the Lao Royalists. Fought over dearly in the Second Indochina War, the region was
bombed extensively between 1964 and 1973, transforming the Plain into a wasteland, which
leaves a lasting impression on those who fly over it into
Phonsavan
, the province's capital
and main base for exploring the area.
SAFETY IN XIENG KHUANG
Although
bandits or insurgents
once gave Xieng Khuang province an uncertain reputa-
tion, today the more immediate danger comes from the
mines
,
bomblets
and
bombs
that
litter the province. The main Jar sites have been cleared of Unexploded Ordnance (UXO),
but it's important to stick to the paths, and not to pick up or kick any object if you don't
know what it is.
Brief history
Even the
legends
surrounding the jars reveal how thoroughly life in Xieng Khuang has been
overshadowed by
war
, with local lore telling of how the jars were created to hold rice wine
by an army of giants to celebrate a military victory. Although the identity of the civilization
that built the jars remains a mystery, local folk tales telling of the arrival of the
Phuan
people,
the lowland Lao group that still dominates the ethnic make-up of the area today, date back
as far as the seventh century, when the divine
Tai-Lao
first ancestor Khoun Borom sent his
seventh and youngest son, Chet Chuong, to rule over the Tai peoples of Xieng Khuang. Al-
though the time frame for this version of events may be a bit premature, Xieng Khuang was
nonetheless one of the earlier areas settled by Tai peoples in Laos, and by the fourteenth cen-
