Enigmatic and mysterious. Spread over 58 sites in Xieng Khouang province are thousand of granite and sandstone jars that are believed to be 2500 years old. However, there is no consensus on what the jars were used for, how they were made, where they came from or who made them. Anthropologists and UNESCO claim they were used as either burial vessels or storage containers for precious materials and spices. With a little more flair, locals suggest they were used by their giant ancestors as glasses for rice whisky. We visited the three main sites near the town of Xieng Khouang (only seven sites are open to the public because the rest are still surrounded by unexploded ordinance from the Indochina War). The first site sits on a undulating plain not far from the airport. The second site is atop two hills, while the third is on the edge of a hill in the middle of rice paddies. The jars are a totally unexpected site and it is amazing they have survived through so much turmoil.
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