Monday, February 13, 2012

The tour started at 11 AM. All four of us rode a private minibus to the three Plain of Jars sites. “Plain” is an exaggeration; “fields” is perhaps more fitting. The first site (called Site 3) was a five minute hike from a parking lot through some dry rice fields and rolling hills. Fortunately, the area had been cleared of land mines. I’d seen all I wanted to see after about five minutes. They’re just large stone jars, some sunk in the dirt, some tipped over, some chipped, some with holes, some full of dirt, some full of water. Aside from the mysteries of their origin and how they were transported, there wasn’t much else to them. I could have lived with just seeing some pictures in a guidebook or online. Oh well. The second site (Site 2) involved a moderate hike with a beautiful view of the surrounding valley and hills, but it had fewer jars. The third site (Site 1) was the biggest, sporting around 300 jars and a neat cave with a hole in the ceiling that you could hike to from outside. Seeing just Site 1 would have been enough. The weather was very pleasant all day. Actually, come to think of it, the weather was very pleasant all throughout Laos everyday. Returned to the guesthouse and ate some dinner, then all four of us rode a tuk tuk to the bus terminal and rode a “VIP” sleeper bus toward Vang Vieng. Arrived there at 4 AM, and Vincent and I got off and rode a tuk tuk into town. We walked around and found a guesthouse to get a few hours’ sleep in. We shared a room, as before. Vincent had to leave around 9 AM to ride a minibus out of town, so we said goodbye as he left the room. I let myself sleep in until I had to check out around noon.