Why this ride
On the way it passes Site 28, Site 2, Site 42 and back through Site 2. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. The line favours views over speed.
CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
Site 25 and Site 42
Plan this ride
- Recorded distance
- 404 km
- Riding-time estimate
- 8 h 07
- 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 28.
2. Site 28
The Plain of Jars is one of the great archaeological puzzles of Southeast Asia: hundreds of carved stone jars, some taller than a person and weighing several tonnes, scattered across hillsides and meadows of the Xieng Khouang plateau in northern Laos.
Read the complete Site 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Site 28 comes up about 34 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 119 km into the recorded legs you reach Site 2. Next is Site 42.
4. Site 42
Northern Laos is a country of steep green ridges, and then, near the town of Phonsavan, the mountains open into a high rolling plateau of grass and pine, the Xiangkhouang plain, where hundreds of huge stone jars lie scattered across the hills. Site 42 is one of dozens of clusters of jars that make up the Plain of Jars, inscribed by UNESCO in 2019, and it lies north-east of Phonsavan in remote country.
Read the complete Site 42 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
Site 42, about halfway. Next is back through Site 2.
5. back through Site 2
Return visit. Read the place description above.
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
back through Site 2 sits at 207 km, about halfway. Next is back through Site 28.
6. back through Site 28
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 28 write-up.
Recorded stop-planning note
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Planning note
back through Site 28 comes up about 354 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site 25.
7. 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
Site 25 closes the day.
Leg by leg
Site 25 to Site 28
Site 25 → Site 28 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 28 to Site 2
Site 28 → Site 2 is 85 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 2 to Site 42
Site 2 → Site 42 is 88 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
Site 42 to back through Site 2
Site 42 → back through Site 2 is 79 km of getting across. Ride it tidily and keep the enthusiasm for what comes after.
back through Site 2 to back through Site 28
back through Site 2 → back through Site 28 is 68 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site 28 to Site 25
back through Site 28 → Site 25 is 51 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.