After a bumpy 7-hour journey through the Laos’ central highlands, we arrived in Luang Prabang. Since it was the start of Pi Mai, the Laos New Year, we were lucky to find a room in the heart of the town’s historic peninsula, an UNESCO World Heritage sight. We arrived at night to see the old French villas lit beautifully next to hidden temples that dazzle you by day with gold and mosaic decorations.
We immediately set out in the charming town to the night food market. To get there we weaved our way through a long tunnel of Hmnog market vendors. The Hmong people come from the highlands and sell bright textiles, silk scarves, handbags, and knick-knacks made from their various traditional fabrics. Starving, we by-passed the shopping and ate like kings for peanuts, which made up for our more expensive accommodation rate for the New Year.
The following day we woke up early and explored the many temples around the small town and walked along the river. When we walked back through town in the afternoon, we were suddenly doused with buckets of water or squirts from children on the street. Luckily, we were wearing quick dry clothes, but we raced back to the hotel to water-proof ourselves! This was nothing compared to the next two days…
Our second day in Luang Prabang, we woke up at the crack of dawn to watch the monks collecting alms. There are so many young monks in Luang Prabang, mostly boys who are around fifteen years old. It is considered an honor for a boy to go into monkhood for a short period of time, and it seems that most do it at an early age. In the mornings, the boys file down the main street in their saffron robes collecting alms from the local people. We watched them move solemnly down the street, as their bowls gradually filled to the brim with food for them to eat throughout the day. Next to them, small children begged the monks for food and filled up bags of goods to bring home to their families. It’s a strange sight as the tourists lining the streets in front, behind, and opposite of the monks like paparazzi - an extreme clash of tradition with modernism.
Following our colorful morning, we took a tuk-tuk to the Kuang Si waterfalls, an impressive waterfall that spills into various blue lagoons that you can swim in or splash into via tarzan rope swing. Since it is such a big holiday, the falls were - unfortunately - packed with people, the most noisy being the locals who lugged in their speakers to do some karaoke. Also at the falls is a bear rescue center, where baby bears played in a caged off area - adorable!
On the way back to town, our tuk-tuk crew consisting of an Australian, a Lao, two Spaniards, and a Malay, got soaking wet from children who expertly threw water to aim between the plastic partition and the open spaces of our tuk-tuk sides. Back in town, the party was bigger than the previous day. All of the shop fronts - most of which are family run and family homes - shut down to turn to the more important task of dousing passerbys (on bike, feet, motorcycle, car - you name it!) with clear and dyed water, paint, baby powder (this is called "frosting"), and grease. We somehow avoided the paint wars and came out of our hotel room after the festivities for dinner.
The following day - the 15th - was the height of Pi Mai. Literally every shop shut down and you couldn't walk one foot without ten buckets of water being poured down your back or on your head - did I mention that the water is dirty Mekong water? Not a fun activity for the paranoid traveler! Most of the backpackers in town joined in the festivities, everyone baring their own water guns, paint bottles, etc. as a means of defense! Trucks paraded down the street with the bed packed full of young people singing, cheering, and rejoicing in their soaking, and often, brightly colored state. From what we could tell, the majority of the population seemed to be inebriated as well despite the many drivers on the road!
This extreme water fight was all in preparation for the Miss New Year parade. Nolan and I were lucky to run into another traveler who had heard of this local event. It turned out to be a giant fairground, or stadium, full of locals, vendors, and arcade type games. The event was the Miss New Year contest in which about 40 beautiful young girls (must be virgins) from Luang Prabang compete for the title. The best part of the contest was the traditional dancing that took place beforehand. We were able to watch various ethnic dances, hear traditional music, and see the beautiful costumes that come from the various tribes of Laos.
The morning of the parade, Nolan and I decided we'd had enough of changing our clothes three times a day and booked a night-time bus to Hanoi. We checked up on email and before leaving the cafe, the owners - cousins - asked us to sit and have a beer with them. It was a wonderful experience getting to talk to locals about their culture, the new year, and business in Luang Prabang. I asked them if they had ever been a monk, and one was for two years when he was 15 - 17. He said he probably won't ever do it again because you have to walk barefoot (which is scorching hot at times), you don't get to eat dinner, no girls, and no new year. It seems the locals may have it wrong encouraging young lads who are mostly interested in girls, eating, and celebration to do their monkhood at such an early age! We said goodbye to our new friends and headed into the heart of the festivities to watch the parade from a safe restaurant terrace.
Sitting down, we merged tables with some Argentinians, a German, an Italian, and some Americans. We sampled Lao Lao, the local whiskey (potent stuff!), drank some beers, and engaged in some serious water fighting. When 4:30pm rolled around, Nolan and I definitely did not want to go. We changed into dry clothes and waited for our ride to the bus station. When the tuk-tuk arrived, we noticed there were no barriers to block water bombs. We braced ourselves and hopped in...fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the bus station - Nolan with a greasy black hand print in the center of his back and the both of us soaked to the bone!
Regardless of the many wet clothes, Pi Mai (or Songkran in Thailand) is definitely the best New Year celebration in the world! We're thinking about bringing it back to New York City...but maybe in the summer. :)
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