Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Laos → Muang Khoun

Location: Xiangkhoang Plateau, Laos

Time Required: 1-2 days, when combined with visits to the Plain of Jars sites.

Red Tape/Notes: The weather here is pleasant year round, but apparently the air quality is best from October to January.

What’s Nearby?: Plain of Jars

Once the capital of the Xieng Khuang kingdom and later the capital of the modern-day Xiengkhouang province, Muang Khoun has been robbed of much of its historical riches by various means over the centuries, the most recent (and most devastating) of which were bombs dropped by the US during the war with Vietnam. Not only is the Xiangkhouang Plateau a strategically important location (which is the reason it’s been fought over for hundreds of years), Muang Khoun was also the headquarters of the Pathet Lao, the pro-communist rebellion which was allied with North Vietnam during the Second Indochina War (aka the “Vietnam War” or the “American War” depending on where you’re from) and succeeded in overthrowing the royalist Laos government in 1975. Because of this, the area was heavily targeted by US bombing raids; after a near continuous onslaught lasting just shy of a decade, the entire area had suffered enormously and virtually everything in the city had been leveled, including most of the 16th century temples for which it was renowned. The moist poignant reminder of the devastation is the ruined temple Wat Phia, where a large statue of Buddha sits amongst the remains of the temple. Nearby, the shell of what was once a French colonial estate stands as one of the few remnants of French occupation in the area (sometimes guides tell tourists it was a French hospital, but I didn’t find any historical evidence that that was true). Although the active bombing has stopped, the area is still riddled with unexploded ordinances (UXOs), claiming the lives of villagers who unwittingly activate them by doing such mundane things as plowing their fields. Walking through a nearby village known for its weaving you’ll see large notices posted showing various types of UXOs in an attempt to prevent these types of tragedies. The UK based Mines Advisory Group (MAG) is actively engaged in clearing mines in the area (and other areas around Laos and the rest of the world) – an estimated 78 million UXOs remain through Laos, affecting 25% of its villages and killing around 300 people every year. On the plus side, in nearby Ban Naphia, villagers realized they could take scrap metal from the UXOs and other military era trash (downed planes, artillery, etc) and make them into spoons – they’ve recently diversified into more than spoons, and are being assisted with additional expansion opportunities by various companies including Article 22, but they’re still known as the “War Spoon Village”. You can visit them and check out their work – they’re located near Plain of Jars sites 2 and 3.

Unfortunately for us, there wasn’t a site like this one to tell us all the cool stuff there was to do in the area, so we missed some things, including Ban Naphia, and some other sites that sound pretty awesome. I’m sure if you insist on including them when making your travel arrangements, they’ll help you see them, but you have to force it. Otherwise you’ll end up doing some generic boring tour that “all the tourists do”. If you build your own custom tour and actively tell them what you want to do, they’ll figure out how to make it happen (usually). Other sites we missed out on are the “secret tunnel”, which was used by the Pathet Laos during the war. It’s located at the Jar Quarry site, up a long flight of steps. There’s also apparently a cave adjacent to the tunnel, and some very nice views from the top. We also would have loved to have visited some of the temples – damaged or not – around Muang Khoun, including That Foun and That Chom Pet (I would also include Wat Si Phoum, but it may have been rebuilt, which would make it much less interesting to me).

This area is also the closest major area for driving to Sam Neua (it’ll take you around 6 hours by private car, so you’ll need a couple of extra days to go there). Why would you go to Sam Neua? Well, because it provides the easiest access to something pretty amazing – the recently opened caves of Vieng Xai, where the Pathet Lao resistance built an entire village inside the caves. There were caves for living quarters, for hospitals, for markets, for communications – anything they needed to survive and direct a war. Little has been done to the caves since they were vacated after the war ended, so visiting them is like stepping back in time. Also in the area, but MUCH less visited and discussed, is the Hintang Archaeological Park where you can visit standing stones!! Laos has its own version of Stonehenge, and everyone is missing it!!! What is wrong with us?? Read about the stones here, on a Dutch archaeologist’s blog (seriously, how much more obscure can information get?).

Epic Travel → Asia & the South Pacific → Laos → Muang Khoun