CURVESCOUT / MOTORCYCLE RIDE
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.
The stops in between: Site 25, Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai and back through Site 25. The stored terrain estimate reaches about 1,250 m; a measured road-elevation profile is not available. It was put together for the scenery rather than the shortest line.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 28 is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 25 comes up about 34 km into the recorded legs. Next is Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai.
Hundreds of huge stone jars lie scattered across the grassy hills around Phonsavan, some tall enough to hide a person, some tipped on their sides, some with stone lids lying beside them. Nobody is entirely sure who made them. Archaeologists date them to the Iron Age, roughly two thousand years ago or more, and connect them with burial practices, since human remains and grave goods have been found around them. Local legend has a more cheerful version, saying they were made to brew rice wine for a victory celebration of giants. Since 2019 the Plain of Jars has been a World Heritage Site.
Read the complete Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 68 km into the recorded legs you reach Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai. Next is back through Site 25.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 25 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site 25, late in the day. Next is Site 28.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 28 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Site 28. That is the ride.
Site 28 → Site 25 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 25 → Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai → back through Site 25 is 35 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site 25 → Site 28 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.