There are really bizarre and strange things that have occurred on this planet; Stonehenge, the statues on Easter Island, the pyramids in Egypt… and really weird things that still occur every now and then: alien sightings, crop circles, videos that accidentally capture ghosts and other spirits, etc. Very weird and unexplained things are scattered all around the world – and people LOVE hearing about these mysterious places and take vacations to go see these crazy things. And I’m pretty sure everyone has heard of all of the examples I mentioned.
But there’s a place I happened to stumble upon while backpacking in Southeast Asia that I think is one of the most mysterious places that I have never even heard of! It’s definitely the most mysterious thing I have ever seen!
This place is in Laos – in the middle of NO WHERE (nothing around for miles and miles). It’s called the “The Plain of Jars.”
Have you ever heard of The Plain of Jars?! I never have and, believe me, the site is just as impressive and mysterious as anything else. And no one even knows about it! There are practically NO tourists around taking pictures of this crazy place!
What Is It?!
In the middle of nowhere in Laos, there are huge hallowed out rocks scattered all over this one area of the world – and they call this “The Plain of Jars.” There are 3 main sites that a few tourists visit with a LOT of jars in each site. However, there are more than 90 sites! There are up to 400 jars at each site.
The jars vary in size and no one has a clue as to what these jars were used for (although there are a lot of theories)! Among the theories, I’ve heard “collecting rain water,” “making whiskey,” and even “burning the dead.”
But aside from the jars themselves, there’s no other evidence that civilization was ever around here; no remains of houses, no cemetery, no other objects scattered around, nothing.
What’s fun about this attraction is the guessing and seeing if for yourself. There are thousands of jars spread out for miles and miles with nothing around it. WHY?! The world may never know…
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Other Weirdness That I Noticed
What I thought was interesting is that out of the 1,000 or so jars that I saw, I only noticed about 3 or 4 lids – 1 lid placed on top of a jar, and the others were on the ground… If all jars had lids [for whiskey or for the ashes of the dead], then were did all those huge, heavy lids disappear to?! Was there a group of people that went through all that trouble of removing and destroying the lids?! If so, why? And why go through that trouble and leave the biggest and most important part: the jars themselves?! It really is interesting!
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Where Exactly?
The Plain of Jars in located relatively in the middle of northern-Laos with not much around it. The closest town is Phonsavan, but this town exists purely for tourists to eat and sleep while visiting the jars – the town itself is awful.
How I Got There
Bus to Phonsavan. Motorbike to visit the jars (by far, the best way)!
I thought The Plain of Jars was going to be very lame… I mean, come on… a bunch of hallow rocks in a field?! It probably would have been extremely lame if I went with a boring tour group, but 5 other visitors and I all rented motorbikes and drove ourselves to see the 3 sites and had the freedom to take our time and really enjoy each of the other sites for as long as we wanted. Because of the unlimited time and walking around with just 5 other people [instead of 5 BUSES of people], I really appreciated all the jars, how remote they are, the scenery around, and the mystery behind this place!
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Plan Your Trip to Laos!
Have any questions? Planning a trip to Laos? Have you been to The Plain of Jars? Let’s hear what you have to say! =)
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Heard the good news from your mom. Travel safely. Good time for a break. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I’d send an Irish poem but too much space taken so do a jig instead, kid.