Day 9: Vieng Thong to Vieng Xai
Since we didn't have to travel far, we decided to have a bit of a lie in. We also changed our plans and headed for Vieng Xai instead of Sam Neua. On our way to Vieng Xai, we decided to stop by Sua Hin, the Laos version of Stonehenge.
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| The Mountains We Passed Along The Way |
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| Where are the tigers? |
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| All I see are water buffalos! |
Nominated as a world heritage site, Sua Hin (stone garden) is also known as Sao Hin Tang (Standing Stone Pillars) or the Hintang Archaeological Park. It's got an arrangement of stone pillars that are 2 meters high and some large discs. These structures are around 2,000 years old and no one really knows why they were built. What's interesting is that the stones these megaliths were made of are somewhat similar to the materials used for the jars in the Plain of Jars in Phonsavan. Some people say that the discs used to be on top of the megaliths and they were supposed to serve as a table for the sky spirit, Jahn Hahn. Some believe that this used to be a burial ground as there are tunnel-like trenches under some of the pillars.
These stones were discovered and excavated Madeleine Colani in 1931. She found some funerary urns, ceremonial stone objects, bronze brazelets and ceramic hanging pendants which lead her to believe that these were built for the purpose of honoring and giving offerings to the dead. These could've been built by the ancestors of the people who built the jars in Phonsavan before they had the tools or abilities to make jars since the grave offerings and the lids used to cover the jars and the graves in the stone gardens were quite similar.
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| Sua Hin Tang |
"In ancient times Lao was inhabited by the Kha Yeui. Their chief, Ba Hat was a great giant possessing amazing powers, to whom the gods also gave three magical objects : a double-headed drum - one face struck to make enemies disappear and the other to call help from the gods ; an enormous awl which pierced the stoniest ground and made water gush out ; and an axe which could cut hard rock like wood.
Ba Hat fell himself no less strong than the Luang Prabang Kingdom, thanks to these marvelous instruments, so he decided the were no longer subjects of the king, who soon declared war. But the victory went to Ba Hat. Later believing the enemy king intended to return, Ba Hat called on the help of the gods. The chief of the gods descended in person and on seeing no enemies anywhere he flew into a rage and seized back the magical drum.
Ba Hat still had the other tools given him by the gods. With the magical axe, he set his people out to cut blocks of stone along Nam Peun, and bear them to the top of San Ang ridge to build the new city of Kong Phanh. This aroused the king of Luang Prabang’s fears and he decided a ruse to keep that city from ever beeing founded. He succeeded in marrying his son to Ba Hat’s daughter. Misplacing their confidence in the prince, the Kha Yuei were induced to lay the magical awl and axe onto a white-hot brazier. The two instruments immediately lost all magic power.
So the Kha Yuei had to abandon their project and they just left the stones where they had been raised along the crest. These later on became the menhir fields of San Kong Phanh and the neighbouring countryside."
(Article based on a text of the Department of Museums and Archaeology, Laos PDR Ministry of Information and Culture).
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| A Hole Under The Pillar |
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| What we had to go through to get here! |
Vieng Xai is a very beautiful and serene location. It's quite hard to imagine that it was bombarded by bombs during the Secret War. Because of the tons of bombs that were dropped in the area, the people had to stay in these caves to protect themselves. And, we planned on visiting these caves the next day -- The Secret City of Vieng Xai.
We found a guest house by the lake. After putting our things in the room, we decided to explore the town and found a restaurant by the lake. Since they weren't serving food at that time, we decided to have some cold drinks and chill. While we were there, the landscape was enhanced by the double rainbows in the sky.
That night, we had dinner in our guest house while looking at the beautiful view outside until it became too dark to see. I loved the fish with sweet and sour sauce. The beef was a bit tough but it tasted good.
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| The Guest House Where We Stayed In |
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| The View Opposite The Guest House |
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| Kids Playing In The Lake |
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| The View From The Place We Had Some Drinks |
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| Double Rainbows |
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| The View Outside The Guest House |
Quick Travel Tips
How To Get To Sua Hin
Sua Hin is around 55 kilometers from Sam Neua. You'll see a sign on the road. And, from there, you'll have to hike around 6 kilometers. In our case, we had to ride our motorbike up an uphill, muddy road. GPS Coordinates: N20 07.388 E103 53.737
The Guest House In Vieng Xai
I can't really recall the name of the guest house we stayed in but I remember that it had a Vietnamese name. Since Vieng Xai is a city that's near the border of Laos and Vietnam, it's no wonder that there are some Vietnamese people living here. Our dinner was actually disturbed by the loud chatter of the other guests. We knew that they were Vietnamese because we could understand a bit since we've been living in Vietnam for some time.
The guest house is on the lake and has a U shape. The bedrooms located on each side of the U and the dining area is located in the middle. This is the reason why I could take a picture of one side of the guest house while having dinner. We paid around 60,000 kip for this place.
The Journey Continues:
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