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.
190 km from Muang Phônsavan to Muang Phônsavan, about 3 h 52 of riding. It goes by way of Site 21, Site 28 and back through Site 21. 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.
Groups 1 and 3 at Site 3 are two clusters among several that make up this part of the Plain of Jars, near Phonsavan in Xieng Khouang, and they reward patience more than the headline site does. The walking route links the groups through fields and across low ridges, so you move from one cluster to the next with a view over farmland between. Buffaloes graze in the stubble, children cycle past, and the jars appear in the grass ahead like a set of oversized tea cups left from a giant's picnic. The stone is rough sandstone, and lichen has coloured the surfaces in grey and orange patches.
Read the complete Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3 is where the day begins. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 21 comes up about 42 km into the recorded legs. Next is 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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
about 87 km into the recorded legs you reach Site 28. Next is back through Site 21.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 21 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site 21, late in the day. Next is Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Back at Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3. That is the ride.
Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3 → Site 21 is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 21 → Site 28 is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 28 → back through Site 21 is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site 21 → Site 3 - Groups 1 & 3 is 42 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.