I just found out today (1/20/2010) that Sousath died about five months ago from untreated high blood pressure. That’s a shock, and his presence will be missed in Phonsavan in Xieng Khuang Province. I guess it makes this interview series even more important/historical… I think there are many reasons to travel to and through Xieng Khuang Province. Probably the main reason for most tourists though would be to visit the Plain of Jars. While most people visit Site #1, there are two more sites fairly accessible. In this video, Sousath Phetrasy, owner of the Maly Hotel and tour guide extraordinaire traveled with us and we recorded what he had to say about the Plain of Jars. We were there in December, which is a couple of months into the dry season, and you can see that the grass is brown and the wind is blowing, as it often does on the plateau where the Plain of Jars are situated. The Xiangkhouang Plateau or Tran Ninh Plateau is a plateau in the north of Laos and the highest peaks of the plateau are between 2000 and 3000 meters high. Several tributaries of the Mekong originate in the Plateau and of course it is the location of the Plain of Jars featured in this video, which is a collective name for several sites with archeological remains. The plateau is also one of the most heavily contaminated areas in the world from unexploded cluster munitions. As I found written on the web, Perhaps 2000 years old, the jars are one of the oldest archeological wonders of Southeast Asia …
