Xiengkhouang province in North East Laos is an underrated tourist destination, but it holds the treasure of past in Laotian history.
When we landed in Phonsavan in the province of Xiengkhouang, we had to walk 30 mins to our guesthouse in the town centre. I remembered it was a dusty isolated outskirt feeling during the walk. It was the lunar new year for the Chinese community when we we landed in this province, hence we could see some Chinese decorations in some of the Chinese descendants of the Laotian shops.
 |
| Phonsavan Town |
The guesthouse we stayed was a famous guesthouse called Kong Keo, run by a Laotian family. It was the host of the guesthouse that brought us to the adventures of Xiengkhouang in the next few days.
 |
| Kong Keo Guesthouse |
In the next morning, we visited the local market and some typical local villages in the outskirts. The roads were dusty and the houses were mainly made of attap and woods. The laterite roads plus the yellow sands transformed the village scene into a bright brown surroundings. There were bull carts and chicken coups around.
 |
| Squirrel for sale? |
 |
| Beautiful land |
 |
| Traditional village |
 |
| Rice grinding |
 |
| Memorable childhood |
Nearby, there were big craters caused by bombing during the Vietnam war with US in the 70s, as the province is near North Vietnam border. Xiengkhouang indeed is an UXO (unexploded ordnance) district where there are still remnants of unexploded bombings around. Therefore, it is unsafe to stray from main roads and there could be unexploded bombs planted in the ground long time ago. Not far away, there is a beautiful waterfall.
 |
| Crater from bombing |
 |
| UXO |
The main and must see visit is the mystery Plain of Jars, the UNESCO megalithic archeological landscape. There are more than 2100 tubular stone jars scattered across Xiengkhouang plateau. There are different version of stories on how the jars came about. It is believed to be more than 2000 years old, starting from 500BCE. Some said the jars were used to store rice wine while scientists believe they were used as urns for the dead as human skeletons were found inside the jars.
 |
| The mystery Plain of Jars |
 |
| For burial or rice wine? |
On the 3rd day, we trekked to an unnamed beautiful hill, where the past could be partially explored. On the hill, there are tunnels made by the Vietnamese to escape and hide from the US armies during the 70s war. It was a wonderful trek, overlooking gorgeous barren valley below and passing by some farm houses.
 |
| Savannah in Laos |
 |
| The hidden tunnel |
 |
| Awesome scenery |
 |
| A farmhouse |
 |
| The endless road |
This province is indeed one of the places I love the most in Laos besides the 4000 islands in the south. It is isolated, peaceful and less developed, therefore, giving a sense of tranquility..
