Muang Khoun

Muang Khoun was the seat of the Xieng Khouang principality for centuries and the province's main town until it was destroyed during the war of the late 1960s. The population moved to Phonsavan, and what stands here now is a small town among the remains of the old one. That Foun, a sixteenth-century stupa, survives as a brick shell with a hole in its side. At Wat Phia Wat the hall is gone and a large seated Buddha of the same period sits on its base in the open, with the pillars that once held the roof still standing around it.

What you actually see

• That Foun - a sixteenth-century brick stupa standing roofless on a low hill.
• Wat Phia Wat - a large seated Buddha on its original base, open to the sky, ringed by broken pillars.
• The old town site - foundations and fragments across the fields where the capital stood.
• The setting - upland plain and low hills, the same country as the jar sites.

When to go

November to March is the dry season and the best time for the roads. October leaves the surrounding fields green. The upland winter here is genuinely cold at night, colder than most visitors expect in Laos.

Honest expectations

There is not a great deal to see and the sites are a few minutes each, so this works as a half-day trip from Phonsavan rather than a destination. Unexploded ordnance remains a concern across this province: stay on paths and cleared ground, which is standard local advice rather than alarmism. Facilities in the town are minimal.

Nearby

Phonsavan and the Plain of Jars sites are half an hour northwest.