the mysterious jars
when my dad decides that he has read enough on silk road mummies for a while, i might just strategically set a book about the plain of jars in that beijing living room for the ‘unsolved mysteries’ buff. the jars are as baffling as stonehenge. some are big enough to fit a few people inside, some are nearly twice the height of me, some are fat and squat. they dot thousands of miles of plateau, and no one has figured them out. the locals, who take great pride in their lao lao whisky, love the hypothesis that these jars were made to brew ancient rice wine for celebratory armies. talk about a victory bash. some believe that the jars were used as urns, making the clusters of them more like ancient burial sites. my favourite theory: they were just plain old jars left in laos by a race of giants. or ben’s idea: a dual purpose. maybe the soldiers drank themselves silly on rice wine, collapsed in the jars, and drowned in sweet lao whisky.
at any rate, it was a fun weekend with the mcc laos crew, following a relaxing few days with ben and alisa in their little community. ben and alisa: thanks for introducing me to true laos life. there was a lot of papaya salad, fried river fish, a few rounds of lao lao with the workers at alisa’s clinic, my first sin (traditonal lao skirt), and a refreshing dip in the river with alisa and the water buffalo. the highlight was the morning with alisa at her clinic, sitting with village health workers and local women, all of us chopping taro or pounding sticky rice into a paste for a nutritious lunch congee. it was delightful.
Tags: Travel
Administrator
December 11th, 2005 at 6:42 pm
… and check out Ben and Alisa’s blog that has a great picture of the Jars and a group photo of the visit there. These Jars are as mysterious as the Puskaskwa Pits on the north shore of Lake Superior – symetrically round depressions of rocks on many sequential shorelines as the water levels retreated. They have been the subject of much archaelogical discussion over the past century and still no conclusive determination as to thier significance to the ancetral Algonkian populations of the region. I expect these these Jars may have had spiritual, utilitarian and environmental signigicance to the user poplulation.
December 27th, 2005 at 12:43 am
Hey Fab
little to nothing to do with big jars, just thought i’d post some comments so you look popular (then more people will read it, and post, causing more people to read it, causing it to be featured on CNN’s blog feature, where they read blogs on tv, causing you to become the most influential advisor to the president…probably)
i really have nothing to say other than merry christmas, and probably should have just e-mailed, but that would have been simple, and now everyone has to put up with my ramblings
so, MERRY CHRISTMAS, and happy all the other holidays, i’m sure you’ll find something fun to do on new years