Why this ride
The stops in between: Site 21, Site 2 and back through Site 21. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Site 25 and Site 2
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 142 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 3 h 15
- Journey
- Recorded itinerary
Distance and timing basis
Ordered leg totals agree within rounding. Stop distances are approximate sums of rounded legs. Stops, delays, approach and any separate return travel add time. Basis: producer-declared routed record.
Reading history stays on this device. My road watch requires a separate selection; opening it does not subscribe this ride.
Distance and riding time are measured on the routed road. Check local closures and conditions before you ride.
Waypoint introductions and full write-ups
1. Site 25
Local legend has a cheerful explanation for the stone jars of Xieng Khouang. It tells of Khun Cheung, a legendary king who won a great victory and ordered the jars carved so that his people could brew lao-lao, the rice spirit, in huge quantities for the celebration. Archaeology prefers a funerary purpose, but the story says a lot about how people here like to see their past, and it is a good one to share over a glass of the real thing in the evening.
Read the complete Site 25 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Site 25 is where the day begins. Next is Site 21.
2. Site 21
The Plain of Jars is one of Southeast Asia's great riddles: across the Xieng Khouang plateau in northern Laos, thousands of huge stone jars lie scattered over hillsides, in groups of a few or a few hundred, some taller than a person. They were carved from sandstone and other rock during the Iron Age, roughly between 500 BC and AD 500, and the most widely accepted theory is that they were linked to funerary practices, perhaps used to let bodies decompose before final burial. Local legend has a happier explanation: the jars were made to brew rice wine for a victory celebration of a mythical king. The sites were added to the World Heritage list in 2019, and Site 21 is one of the many numbered groups in the countryside around Phonsavan.
Read the complete Site 21 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Site 21 comes up about 33 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site 2.
3. Site 2
The Plain of Jars is not one site but many, and Site 2 sits on a hillside about fifteen kilometres from Phonsavan, the market town that serves as the base for visiting them. Phonsavan, with some thirty-seven thousand people, is a plain, post-war place of tin roofs and wide streets, rebuilt after the original town was destroyed in the bombing of the 1960s, and the jar sites lie scattered around it, along dirt tracks, in grassland and light forest.
Read the complete Site 2 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
about 71 km into the recorded legs you reach Site 2. Next is back through Site 21.
4. back through Site 21
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 21 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Site 21, late in the day. Next is Site 25.
5. Site 25
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 25 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Back at Site 25. That is the ride.
Leg by leg
Site 25 to Site 21
Site 25 → Site 21 is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 21 to Site 2
Site 21 → Site 2 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 2 to back through Site 21
Site 2 → back through Site 21 is 38 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site 21 to Site 25
back through Site 21 → Site 25 is 33 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
More motorcycle rides nearby
- Site 28 and Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai · 248 km
- Site 25 and Site 42 (237 km) · 280 km
- Site 28 and Site 12 · 234 km