The Best of Cambodia & Laos

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PHONSAVAN & THE PLAIN OF JARS LUANG PRABANG & NORTHERN LAOS
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Luang Say Lodge, but you need to be on a Luang Say cruise to stay there). For Pakbeng
this is the equivalent of the Palace of Versailles. Pretty rooms with shiny wooden floors
include a minibar and bathrooms with hot water. The main balcony, made of gleaming
dark wood, also affords good views of the river. The Kopchaideu Restaurant (main
courses 10,000 kip; daily 10am–11pm) specializes in Indian food although they also do
some Western and Thai. The dining area is on a deck overlooking the river. In the morning
little stalls selling baguette (khao ji) sandwiches dot the main street providing you
with a lunch option for the final leg of your boat journey.
ATTRACTIONS
Pakbeng is worth a wander about. There are two wats, of which one is quite interesting.
Wat Sin Jong Jaeng is a 10-minute walk up the only street turning right from the boat
landing. The sim (ordination hall) boasts some great murals depicting early European
traders or invaders. The views from here are very good. There is also a small market in
the center of town. Look out for the local delicacies, such as barbecued field rat on a
stick.
7 PHONSAVAN & THE PLAIN OF JARS
Phonsavan and the surrounding province of Xieng Khuang has a history that is both
mysterious and intensely tragic. As the flattest part of mountainous northern Laos in the
very strategic position buffering north Vietnam, the rolling green hills of this area were
often the scene of interminable conflict. From the start of the 19th century until 1975
armies and destruction swept back and forth across the Plain of Jars. Although an independent
principality, the area was ravaged by the Vietnamese and the rampaging Chinese
Haw (p. 270). At the end of the century the Xieng Kuang region accepted Thai and then
French protection. Any respite was doomed to be short-lived. When the Indochina wars
of independence started to rage, the strategic position of the area covering the “back
door” to northern Vietnam (including the scene of French humiliation at Dien Bien
Phu) ensured that it would once again be relentlessly in the front line. With the advent
of American involvement the province was an integral part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail by
which North Vietnamese forces supplied their compadre Viet Cong in the south. By the
end of the ’60s the Plain of Jars was part of one huge battlefield with American-sponsored
Hmong militia battling North Vietnamese and Pathet Lao troops. Whole villages
(including most of the state capital) were simply erased from the map by repeated saturation
bombing. You see the rusting metal legacies taking the form of door jams, table legs,
and many other practical household functions. Now 35 years since the horrors of the
bombing, village life is returning to some semblance of normality and the area represents
a vibrant mix of ethnicities.
PHONSAVAN
This town isn’t winning any prizes for atmosphere or urban planning, but then one
doesn’t visit for the town itself. It is simply a base from which to explore the mysteries of
the surrounding area.
GETTING THERE & GETTING AROUND
Lao Airlines flies from Vientiane to Phonsavan on Monday, Wednesday, Friday, and
Sunday and from Luang Prabang on Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday. Their office is