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.
A 115 km round trip from Muang Phônsavan - roughly 3 h 04 in the saddle. 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. The line favours views over speed.
Site 3 is the third of the Plain of Jars locations near Phonsavan, in Xieng Khouang province in northern Laos, and it is probably the most attractive to visit. The jars, giant stone vessels carved from sandstone, lie scattered across low grassy hills, and at Site 3 there are over a hundred of them spread across several groups. Group 5 sits on a gentle hillside among rice paddies and is a small cluster, reached by a short walk through farmland. The jars are not uniform, some tall and wide with lips, others broken or toppled, and many tilt as if the ground has been shifting under them for centuries.
Read the complete Site 3 - Group 5 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 3 - Group 5 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 24 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 58 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 5.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 3 - Group 5 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Site 3 - Group 5. That is the ride.
Site 3 - Group 5 → Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai is 24 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 5 is 24 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.