Muang Phonsavan Things to Do

Muang Khoun (old Xieng Khouang) used to be old capital of the province and place of noble architecture - because it was also capital for the Phuan kingdom buildings were built to accomodate people of higher social status with many temples and stupas. During the civil war it was completely destroyed - nowsadays visitor to that wounded place can see only few remains: temple of Si Phum with sitting Buddha, two very old stupas outside of the town and a few ruins of colonial architecture... altogether very little was left behind.
Wat Si Phum was built in 1582; in the picture you can see what is left of it. Since the Buddha statue didn't collapse during the assault it has special meaning to local people and festivals are held at the ruin. But the statue is damaged from bombs, indeed.
Beside the statue one can still see standing pillars of the temple - which once upon the time carried the roof.

New houses of cement are being built in the town, yet they don't get close to old grandeur. New capital is far away now and it is Phonesvanh that gets money for 'development'. I always wondered why they decided to give up the old capital.

There's market with pick up station in centre, short walking distance to anything what is worth to see.

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Plain of Jars is the most common excuse to make a trip to Phonsavanh. There are 3 sites open to tourists: Site 1 is the closest - some 10 km southeast of the provincional capital. There were more than 50 sites recordered already.
In site 1 there are more than 250 jars altogether. Some of the biggest are larger than a man.

History of jars is very interesting although it's not always clear of their original purpose. It's most commonly believed they were funerary urns. Other more interesting stories include the belief that they were actually cups to drink from for giant men. Then another one says they were used to store the liquid and food.
Official history claims they were carved 2500 years ago in Iron Age. Most probebly they were brought here by outsiders. You can see by yourself that stone used for them isn't autochtonus for Xieng Khuang.

Best time to visit is in the morning before it gets too hot and crowded. Please don't climb the stones although you see many local tourists do it - it's nor allowed nor appropriate, nevertheless.

Admission fee is 10 000 KIP for a foreigner. There's small souvenir shop at the enrance but the shopkeeper prefered to play cards than sell.

There's MAG centre with exhibition on the main road in Phonesavan. They do good work here in the province: they educate people how to deal with UXO and they clear the area of it because they are still many left since the civil war.
Exhibition shows few posters with detail about UXO locations, how many are left, what are the consequences, how many were dropped and a few of them are exhibited in vitrines. You can watch 2 short movies here - first one starts at 5.30 and it's about 'bombies', very sad and educational one which is followed by another one (by Australian author - forgot the title) about clearing the area of mines. Both movies are subtitled when Lao locals were interviewed.