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New Year Parade

Posted by Stuart at 09:27 PM on April 14, 2004

It's been another exhaustingly fun day today. We started the day with breakfast at the Scandinavian Bakery. Then, we walked around town a bit, visiting the temples and again trying to avoid getting splashed by little kids. (We were only moderately successful in the latter.)

The big event in Luang Prabang today is the New Year's Parade. Luckily we saw Ted and Than just before the parade started and so we joined them for a Beer Lao at a sidewalk cafe -- front row seats for the show.

And what a show it was! I have never seen anything like it. Row after row of costumed people walked by, along with a few flat bed trucks carrying very old monks or monks beating big drums, or monks just sitting there getting soaked by the crowds.

Finally, the highlight of the parade was a big float carrying a huge (fake) boar with a beautiful costumed Lao girl lounging on top of it. After the boar passed, the crowd followed in the streets, splashing water, throwing flour, and laughing and talking and having the best time. I think I took about 50 pictures during the 30 minute parade alone.

After the parade, the four of us walked around visiting more temples and doing a very bad job of staying dry. After a little snack back at our guesthouse we just had to take a nap. It's amazing how tiring it is to walk around laughing all day...