December 29, 2012 @ Plain of Jars



Hmong ball tossing game pov pob is a common activity for adolescents


Hmong girls and parents going to the ball-throwing game


Hmong girls meet possible suitors while playing a ball-throwing game


Young Hmong girls in Phousavan


Love their outfit


Suitors


Me & Hmong girl


Jac & Hmong girl


Boys and girls form two separate lines in pairs that are directly facing one another


Girls can ball toss with other girls or boys


But boys cannot ball toss with other boys


It is taboo to toss the ball to someone of the same clan and date the same clan


The pairs toss a cloth ball back and forth until one member drops the ball


If a player drops/misses the ball an ornament/item is given to the opposite player


Ornaments are recovered by singing love songs to the opposite player


Recent times the young lovers have been seen to carry tape players


to play their favorite love songs for one another


A pair


This guy gone crazy with the camera


Love her outfit


Cute baby


This is the only info we found about Site 16


Here we go orienteering


Saturday is dressup day


Happy kids


Small town near Old Capital Xieng Khouang


Fish sticky rice


Noodles for lunch


Bikers


Kids playing in the river


Naked kids!


Asking the local for Site 16


Homes in the rural area


Stop again for direction


Guys at wedding banquet


Me on the bike


Hot spring


This guy is so nice


He took us to the hotspring


Perfect day for taking a cruise


Jac


Wedding crasher


Tie the white string to the wedding couple


The white string symbolize good luck


The bridemaid


The wedding party


Box for wedding gift


Lining up to get in


Kitchen for the banquet


Local dishes at the banquet


Village houses


Few of the non-brick roof house


Kids helping


Asking for direction, these people carry gun


In search of Site 16


Finally we found it!


Site 16 near the Old Capital Xieng Khouang


More than 90 sites are known within the province of Xieng Khouang


Each site ranges from 1 up to 400 stone jars


Site 16 is smaller scale compare to the others we had seen


But we had a lot of fun in search of it


There are no signal of Site 16


Very few local people known about this Site 16


Only seven of the 90+ jar sites have been declared safe to visit


Head back to Phousavan happily


Major landmark along way



Make a LEFT here from the main road


Rush back before the sunset


Wooden bridge shortly after the Old Capital


Houses along Khounchueang Road


Seem like basic living in Laos is not bad


Hydropower Project


Oh no car accident


Another wedding


Laos might be a people country, but citizen living condition is not bad


Dinner before night bus


Glass noodles


We ordered pure veggie dish but they still got it wrong after 3 attempts


I supported annual education supplies for a UXO survivor to return to primary school


UXO (unexploded ordinance) Survivor Information Centre Unexploded Ordinance (UXO) Survivor Information Centre


A lot part of the Vietnam war was fought in Laos


It is called *the Secret War* due to long-time US denial of any involvement


Bombs were dropped on Laos for a couple of reasons


Unable to land safely back at the base while still carrying bombs, US military dropped them on Laos


Overnight bus to Vientiane


Thank god it is a sleeping bus


Glad we got the *single* bed


12 hours ride


People sit on the floor too