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.
On the way it passes Site 12, Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai, Site 28 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.
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.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 42 is where the day begins. Next is Site 12.
Imagine hundreds of huge stone jars scattered across a high plateau, some taller than a person, some lying on their sides, some cracked open by time or by bombs. That is the Plain of Jars in Xieng Khouang province, Laos, and nobody knows for certain who made them or why. Archaeologists believe they are about two thousand years old or more, and that they were connected with burial practices; local legend says they were made to brew rice wine to celebrate a great victory. Since 2019 a selection of the jar sites has been listed by UNESCO as the Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang. Site 12 is one of the smaller groups, out in the countryside some twenty-five kilometres from the provincial capital, Phonsavan.
Read the complete Site 12 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 12 comes up about 39 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 88 km into the recorded legs you reach Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai. 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.
Site 28, about halfway. 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 sits at 145 km, about halfway. Next is back through Site 12.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 12 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
back through Site 12 comes up about 244 km into the recorded legs. Next is Site 42.
Return visit. Read the place description above.
Read the complete Site 42 write-up.
May refer to an earlier itinerary; verify against your selected route before riding.
Site 42 closes the day.
Site 42 → Site 12 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 12 → Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai → Site 28 is 45 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
Site 28 → back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai is 62 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Megalithic Jar Sites in Xiengkhuang - Plai → back through Site 12 is 49 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.
back through Site 12 → Site 42 is 39 km of rhythm rather than effort. Let it flow and let the view breathe.