First off, I just learned that it's pronounced as Lao - no 's'.
The French added the 's' and it just confused people.
It still does. Mainly because the locals will say LaoS because they know us falang - foreigners - will call it that.
Moving on.
JARS!
There are 3 main sites for the Plain of Jars and since most tourist only have a limited time, they only go to Sites 1-3 or in some cases only Site 1.
Site 1
- closest site to the city
- easy to get to with taxi, tuk tuk, motorbike (we drove motorbikes)
- out in the open - definitely bring sunscreen (I'm brown and I still got Sunkissed but that was mainly from riding the motorbikes all day no long-sleeved shirt to protect my arms)
- lots of Jars and Cave
Site 2
- Roughly double the distance of the town to Site 1
- FAVORITE SITE
- can walk a longer trail if you have time - we didn't
- Jars in the Forest - LOTS of shade
- Jars on a beautiful hillside with a gorgeous vista as a backdrop - some shade
- Warning or Point of Interest *for me Interest* - Lots of BUGS!
Site 3
- 10 mins walk through beautiful rice patties
- under tree cover but not as much as Site 2
- Great place to wide down from a long day of seeing...Jars.
This is Site 3 - our last stop of the day of driving in motorbikes. We just took pictures, sat around the jars and listened to the cows.
This is Site 2. The Best site in my opinion and with such a different setting from the other two sites.
This is the Site 1, the 1st site we visited that pretty hot since there isn't much tree coverage here. Still a great site, but I'd say knock this one out first and foremost but don't spend all your time here.
This pic and the pic below are of the cave at Site 1. The coolest thing I've ever seen was the bees seen at the entrance of these wild hives. I've never seen wild beehives!
Not only that, they are pretty gentle.
How do I know, well, you can stand directly below - as shown below - and they won't attack you.
If you were near a hive with African Bees, a.k.a 'Killer Bees,' you wouldn't be able to stand that close without getting stung.
Just don't be a dick and throw something at them. That'll piss 'em off and then you'll get attacked.
Jus' sayin'.
You can walk into this cave and see two holes at the top - manmade or blown.
What We Did:
- We had 2 full days in Phonsavan
- 1 FULL day of just Jars - all 3 main sites
- rented 2 Motobikes from Kong Keo - I think it was 300,000 kip per person.
- Put it into perspective 100,000 Kip is 15 USD. It's worth it.
- BRING sunscreen, long sleeve shirts (preferably breathable ones), snacks
- coconut biscuits
- mama noodles or any other noodle brand that you can sprinkle the salt pack, mix it up and eat dry - yes, dry! Great to satiate you for the day and gives you electrolytes (Did this on the Annapurna circuit in Nepal and it worked well)
- bread
- water
- Find a pharmacy and get electrolyte packets to put in your water - keeps you better hydrated
- Hat
- Sunglasses
- Camera
- Power Bank and cord
- Towel - can use a bit of water to wet it and use it to keep you cool
I mainly go to these sites to take pictures and I hope to make a photobook of it soon. Site 1 was our first one and I highly recommend getting this one out of the way because it's HOT! Get there early in the morning and explore, by the time it's the heat of the day, you can leave for the other sites, both of which are a LOT cooler in temp because there is actual tree coverage.
I was pleasantly surprise that there were TONS of bugs in all the sites. You just have to look harder.
Site 2 and Site 3 are about 2x the distance and takes some time to get to. I thoroughly enjoyed Site 2 because of the forest the Jars were situated in and there were tons of cool bugs to see. Lots of Spiders there so if you have arachnophobia, just be warned that these jars have a decent amount of them just chilling - They won't do anything but look intimidating to some, neat for entomology hobbyist like me!
Leave 2 hours before sunset if you want to drive out before dark. We left Site 3 around 4:30 and sunset was at 6:10ish. We didn't make it in time but I also stopped at the site of the road and took some pictures of the water buffalo traffic (! :D ) and sunset. I actually was caught in a traffic jam of cattle because them come home at the end of the day of grazing the neighborhood.
Account for Cow Traffic --> Cowfic.
Go at your own pace, or if you feel more comfortable, get a taxi. I think the taxi was around 450,000 kips but I can't honestly remember the costs. This is mainly to give you a ballpark on what to expect for costs.
