Artefacts from Xieng Khuang, Laos

I flew from Vientiane to Xieng Khuang in late December 2005. It had always been my dream to visit Xieng Khuang ever since I got to know Laos. The weather was chilly, for it is uphill in Northern Laos, yet I still enjoyed my vacation there.
Xieng Khuang is very famous for its Plains of Jars. The jars are so huge that it can contain up to 2-3 persons inside. Until now, it remains mistery on how Xieng Khuang has these wonderful jars. There are 2 main hypotheses now on why these jars existed : it was used either for containing human body (burial) or for making wines. The jars dated as far as 4000 BC. It happened that some 6000 years ago Xieng Khuang area was a cross-road amidst wealthy trade routes (the silk road?) in Asia. The civilization in this area was so advanced that they created these huge jars for the unknown reason.


There are 3 sites containing jars. I went to 2 out of the 3 sites in Xieng Khuang, i.e. site 1 and site 2. I started with site 2 first, it was not as what I expected. There was no feeling of being in a plain, because the location was full of trees and it was uphill. I found only a few jars (less than 100 for sure). Then I went to see the site 1 which is located near the airport. This one is truly a plain with hundreds if not thousands of jars, from small, medium to big and huge ones.
The city of Xieng Khuang itself was a dormant city for many decades. It just opened up recently due to tourism to the plains of jars. What caused the death of this city was the heavy bombardment and mines during the Vietnam war in the 1970s. Laos and particularly Xieng Khuang was used as part of the route of Vietcong guerrilas to march towards South Vietnam. As a result, the US bombarded Laos and Xieng Khuang heavily, so heavy that Xieng Khuang became the world's most bombarded city. Presently, war artefacts being used as furnitures is common sight in Xieng Khuang.
I also visited the market in Xieng Khuang which happened to be open until late afternoon. Just after checking in to the hotel, I had some market visit and witnessed the traditional market way of life in Xieng Khuang which does not differ from other places in Northern Laos. People sell many kind of things, and apart from normal items found in markets in South East Asian cities, shockingly I found somebody selling some - I havent seen before - animal, which to me looked more like a pig gene-mixed with a deer.
Besides the plain of jars, I also visited a famous stupa (amongst Laotians) which is the only one survived the war with the French and the US. The stupa is hollow and one can pass thru it. It looks to me more like a rumbled stupa, however, it is most admired as it managed to survive so many centuries of turbulences in troubled Xieng Khuang. Another survivor of the wars is an old temple with a sitting Buddha statue. This temple as with the Stupa, is now source of admiration amongst Laotians for the same reason : being war survivor.

In Xieng Khuang's "traditional" (yet still much better than Cambodian Rattanakiri airport) airport, I met this 2 cute little girls with their mother on their way to Vientiane. Both seemed to be curious so much about my and another foreigner's laptop. Both of us were uploading our beautiful pictures taken in Xieng Khuang. The people of Xieng Khuang look just as good looking as most Northern Laotian : small eyes, high cheekbones, with fair reddish skin. Northern Laotian is always refered as gold standard of beauty in Laos by Laotians.