The Plain of Jars

Scattered across the uplands of Xieng Khouang in Laos are thousands of stone jars, some three metres tall and weighing several tonnes, carved and placed roughly two thousand years ago, with human remains buried around them. Local legend says they were brewing vessels for giants; archaeologists read them as funerary. Grimly, the plain is also one of the most heavily bombed places on Earth, so visitors must stay strictly on the marked, cleared paths. PUBLIC UNESCO site, Laos.