Since I cannot read French I assume that what they are planning to apply for world heritage status in this province is the Plain of Jars.

I took a trip to Laos in December 2006 with some friends to sort of escape Christmas at home. After having read about the Plain of Jars and seen pictures of them, I made sure that I went to see them, even if I had to brave 12 hours of an uncomfortable bus ride from Vientiane.

These so-called jars are really urn-like structures made of stone. Even though it is called a "Plain of Jars" there isn't really one single plain or area where one can find all the jars in there. The jars are scattered across a wide area in the countryside in various sites of varying concentrations of jars.

No one can really be sure why these jars were created. Experts theorised that they were made to store ashes of deceased people or food. But I much prefer the local theory. Apparently some king won a war and to celebrate he ordered the jars created to make and store wine.

The base from which to explore the Plain of Jars is the very little town of Phonsavan, the capital of Xieng Khouang. My friends and I arranged for a minibus and a driver from the guesthouse we stayed at to take us around the area.

The area is apparently the most heavily bombed one in history. During the Indochinese war, American planes unloaded tons and tons of bombs on the area. Even today, there are still plenty of unexploded ordnances waiting to be discovered. Travelling in the area can be dangerous (and therefore visitors MUST AT ALL TIMES follow the directions on the paths) but the authorities have cleared three sites for tourism. They are simply named Sites 1, 2 and 3.

Site 1 is the nearest to town and definitely the most heavily visited. I think this is the site with the most jars. The bigger ones are there as well.

Look out for one particular jar on which you can vaguely make out the carving of a man. I sure did not know there was such a jar until I overheard a guide telling her group about it and pointing it out to them!

Besides the jars, visitors are also treated to spectacular sceneries of the Laotian countryside. Personally I find the sceneries around Sites 2 and 3 better than that at Site 1. The trade off though is that the jars at Sites 2 and 3 are perhaps not as impressive.

The scenery at Site 3 is the best I think. To get to the jars, one has to walk for at least 15 minutes across scenic farmland and fields situated among the hills. It was not an easy walk but I did feel that even if I could not get to see the jars at this site, the scenery alone was worth the trip. In any case, the jars at this site were not that significant.

There are apparently many more of such sites in the region but they are closed off to visitors because they are not declared safe yet. And again I will advise visitors to really toe the line! The sceneries are spectacular and one can easily be distracted and wander off the approved paths like I did! I live to tell the tale now but I am pretty sure I was lucky.

I wonder if the presence of the unexploded ordnances is the reason why this site is still sitting on the tentative list after so many years. This site is definitely an important relic of a lost culture in South East Asia which in my opinion must be protected as a world heritage site.