The Plain of Jars

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Our terrific guide Lee gave us an overview of the horrific recent history of the area before letting us loose on the Plain

 

Map Of The Plain Of Jars

Locations of drops in relation to the jar field sites

Purple triangles mark the jar sites

Black dots the villages

Red dots fighter bomber strikes

Tiny red dots B52 bomber strikes

During the so called "Secret War" 1964 - 1973 the US dropped over 6 million conventional bombs and an estimated 100 million cluster bombs on Northern and Southern Laos

"Equivalent to a planeload of bombs unloaded every eight minutes, 24 hours a day for nine years - nearly seven bombs for every man woman and child living in Laos.  It's more than all the bombs dropped in Europe throughout WWII, leaving Laos, a country approximately the size of Utah with the unfortunate distinction of being the most heavily bombed country in history"  Legacies of War : Land of a Million Bombs

 
 

There can be no excuse for being unaware that there is unexploded ordinance in the vicinity.  Give these markers a wide berth, they indicate the Mines Advisory Group are currently actively clearing the UXO.  The New Zealanders with us were proud to see their tax $'s well spent

Lee explains the rules, only two really.  Stay on the path and don't pick anything up.  Tony broke both within minutes, fortunately it wasn't live.  To reinforce his message he took us to a spot where a week previously MAG had removed a live 'bombie.  Still lurking there after many many sweeps

 A study of the jars in the mid 1930's by Madelaine Colani concluded they were funerary objects but the traces of human bone and artefacts she gathered to prove this theory have disappeared.  The disks are not lids but were placed 'decorative side down over ritual objects'

                          Someone loves his job

Lee having given us a scientific explanation, warmed to his subject and shared another, this  handed down through generations of Lao  

It naturally involves a tyrannical ruler Chao Angkath, and the local boy made good Khun Jeuam a Lao-Thai superhero who swept in from China and liberated his down trodden masses.  Such heroism naturally needed rewarding, so jars were commissioned in which to ferment the very strong local rice wine  'Lao Lao'

The jars were made from a mixture of buffalo skin, sand. water and sugar cane then fired in a local cave which had a natural chimney

It must have been a rave up as they forgot to clear away the 'empties' leaving them scattered around the countryside

Jars as far as the eye can see over the 3 sites suitable for visitors.  The larger jars are on Plain 1 which we actually visited last

Although Lee's version has charm, further investigations by Japanese archaeologists and others from UNESCO are reaching similar conclusions to those of Ms Colani over 80 years ago.  They date the jars to the Iron Age, 500 BC to 400 AD, making them one of the most important prehistoric sites in SEA

Tham Piu Cave

Like so many sites in the area, the history of the cave controversial.  What is certain is that in 1969 the hundreds of inhabitants, whether local Lao or Vietnamese operating a hospital in the cave, suffered a direct  hit from a field rocket fired from and aircraft.  Whether it was a Royalist or American plane has never been confirmed.

The sign marks a bomb crater which is unequivocally attributed to an American bomber.  The red and white posts above the cave entrance mark possible UXO

There is still strong resentment here over what happened  during that war

When the war ended, tens of thousands of Lao villagers returned from caves, forests and refugee camps to find their homes completely destroyed.   They had to rebuild and cultivate crops with their bare hands on unmarked minefields.  They soon discovered the war had not ended for them.  Unexploded cluster bombs lay buried, hidden in vegetation, or in the branches of trees which were just saplings when the bombies fell

Many victims are farmers tending their fields but 45% of those killed are children often little boys, playing with bombies or just climbing trees

                         

                             Wat Si Phum

 

 

 

 

Xieng Khuang / Muang Khun

Over grown stupa of That Phuan

         

         A job well done deserves sugarcane

Muang Khun, formerly Xieng Khuang the royal capital of Phuan Kingdom was abandoned in 1977 following decades of bombardment by the Chinese, Vietnamese and Americans.  The capital was moved to Phonsavan at that time.  The once proud Kingdom is slowly coming back to life. 

Back at the hotel we sat in the lobby with Lee,  surrounded by an artistic arrangement of bomb casings and cluster bombs watching a very moving Canadian made documentary 'Bombies' about the ongoing effort to remove UXO

Laos Map | 2007/08 Asia Trip Itinerary | Home Page 6 of 11 | Page Up | Page Down