Destination Laos: Part 14 A simple life

The Plains of Jars were incredible scenic, not quite the Stonehedge of Asia, but definitely one up when it comes to location. Spread over a large area, the paths to get to the sites (2 and 3) wound through paddy fields, now dry and yellowed because of the recent harvest, with buffaloes grazing around lazily.

It also saw us walking past wooden huts, the accompanying smaller shack, balanced on stilts to house the rice and keep it away from foragers and water, and vegetable gardens, moist and brimming with life, emerald green due to the charming irrigation systems put in place - the beauty lying in its simplicity and effectiveness, wheels, pipes and chutes, fashioned from wood and the rattan that grew in abundance in the jungles around northern Laos.

Left: An example of a "bridge" in Xieng Khouang

Balancing precariously while crossing rickety bridges made completely of rattan, often just a pole of rattan across the gap and accompanying scaffolding, and happily walking along the rice paddy dykes, more for the fun of it that the need, since the fields were dry.

A beautiful day, where the journey was more exhilarating than the destination, completed by a brilliant heaven's gates arching across the mountains and reaching the paddy fields below. It felt good to be alive.

The people were really great too - the kids that smile and wave at you while you pass really brightening up my day. Im in love with the Lao PDR. =)