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.
113 km from Muang Phônsavan to Muang Phônsavan, about 2 h 57 of riding. On the way it passes Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai, Site 25 and back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai. 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.
Group 2 gives you the sense of how the jars sit within working farmland. The cluster lies near a village, with fields running right up to the edge of the cleared path, and as you walk you pass rice stubble, a small irrigation channel and perhaps a woman carrying a load of firewood. The jars here are of medium size, some pushed over, some partly buried, and they are mixed with outcrops of natural rock. It all looks quite casual, as if the landscape had not noticed it was famous.
Read the complete Site 3 - Group 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 3 - Group 2 is where the day begins. 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.
Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai comes up about 23 km into the recorded legs. 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.
about 57 km into the recorded legs you reach Site 25. Next is back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai, late in the day. Next is Site 3 - Group 2.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 3 - Group 2 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Site 3 - Group 2. That is the ride.
Site 3 - Group 2 → Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai → Site 25 is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 25 → back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai is 34 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai → Site 3 - Group 2 is 23 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.