PLAIN OF JARS, XIENG KHOUANG PROVINCE, LAOS
Over the past few years I’ve talked to dozens of people who’ve visited the Plain of Jars and not a single one had anything good to say about it. The tourist literature bills it as Southeast Asia’s most enigmatic destination – thousands of ancient stone jars lie strewn across the landscape, their orgin and purpose still a mystery!

That’s a pretty accurate representation and the area has serious archaeological significance, but unless you’re an anthropologist it’s really hard to care. If you’re just passing through you’ve probably already seen something like Angkor or Sukhothai, and compared to the well-maintained ruins of powerful ancient kingdoms the Plain of Jars isn’t very impressive. When it takes ten hours on a crappy bus to get there, “unimpressive” turns into “massively disappointing.” Most of the tour companies in Phonsavan seem to have recognized this, so any tour you take will likely include visits to a Hmong village, a hill full of craters and possibly a derelict Russian tank that I never managed to find.

I actually enjoyed Xieng Khouang a lot, but I didn’t go for the jars. I think it’s definitely worth the trip, especially if you partook of the mindless debauchery of Vang Vieng, but the place suffers from a bit of a marketing problem. I can hardly blame it – XK has other stuff to deal with.