New Year – Songkran – in Luang Prabang, Laos

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A day that debuted with a bold sun, with a stroll to Kuang Si Falls, the beautiful waterfall a few miles from Luang Prabang and a playful butterfly play, which we talked about here, quickly exhausted our resting reserves. We went back on our feet with an hour’s sleep and soon we were looking for a cruise on Mekong, with direct views of the sunset and waiting  for Songkran – Lao New Year. As the ship was leaving the port at 5 PM, I had enough time for a massage. The travel agency where we were had such a salon, but the hardest part was to convince my husband to abandon himself to a Laotian woman and try a foot massage for just $ 6 🙂 Just when I was glad that he accepted and I was admiring him lying on the bed waiting for the moment of relaxation and the girl with soft hands, from the next room appeared a pretty solid man, ready to take his role seriously 🙂 I was lucky, but for him it was more relaxing that for an hour he could play the phone quietly than the massage itself, and his conclusion was: a little bit painful. Really? It’s just a massage 🙂

A few minutes later we were on the boat, ready to discover Mekong. We took this cruise without knowing much about the program, so we woke up with a fabulous dinner with Laotian traditional dances and songs, played by some young people who were not more than 16 years old, a pleasurable time for the tourists.

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After that a 2-hour tour of the river followed, with photos taken at sunset, although the horizon was covered by fog, many dishes that I did not know what they contained if I did not have a description on the table and it all ended with applause for the girls that waved in tune with the motions of the ship.

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In Laotian accords, we said goodbye to the crew and got back into the thrill of the night market, where we started looking for silver bracelets, elephant pants, traditional bags and fridge magnets, though we still had no luggage. 🙂  I only had one day left to spend in Laos and I could not leave without souvenirs – friends know why 🙂

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We finished the evening on a terrace near the hotel, in an almost perfect silence, disturbed by the sounds of the little gecko reptiles that, forgot to tell you, are all over Asia.

The next day had prepared for us some other adventures. It was the day before April 13 when Songkran – Lao New Year is celebrated. The young people in Laos started preparations for the great water splash earlier, so from the early hours of the morning, wherever you went to the city, you got wet. We avoided this as much as we could. Taking into account the wet conditions that were being prepared outside the hotel and adrenaline adolescents who would have given anything only to wet you with buckets of water, hoses, or any other containers at hand, we made a very wise decision.

I went to the boy at the reception and told him I wanted to see the rural area around Luang Prabang, I asked him to recommend a tuk tuk driver, good English speaker, which I accentuated about 3 times. I explained that we want to avoid walking through the city today, so we do not have to change with other dry clothes a dozen times. He understood, or so it seemed. In 10 minutes we already had the driver, our tuk-tuk and our adventure outside the city was about to start. Before we left, we approached both of them and told them once again that we wanted to go to rural areas, that we did not want to be splashed with water and that whenever we knock in the window that separated us from the driver, he must stop and let’s go down to take pictures. They both smiled, exchanged words in their language and we left.

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Half an hour later we were wet from head to toe, with the clothes clinging to us, with camouflaged camera in seven bags, with telephones hidden beneath the tuk-tuk seats and … very close to Villa Champa, our beautiful hotel. I looked at my husband and exclaimed, “We’re still here, he’s crazy, he’s been playing us the whole time”. We waited for more 10 minutes and observed that where there were young men with water buckets, he was slowing down, they were getting funny and pouring water directly into my head, because the vehicle we were going on had only a roof. We did not understand what was going on. It was becoming pretty clear that he had understood exactly the opposite, that we wanted to walk the streets so that children would have fun. I do not have many pictures with us attacked from all directions, because the technical equipment was well sheltered. The experience Songkran in Luang Prabang was the same as in Thailand.

Quite nervous, I told him to stop and showed him the area where we wanted to go: beyond Mekong, where are those houses, do you see them? He did not understand English !!!

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After two hours intot the city and spinning around the tail with our wet clothes, we got where we wanted, in the rural villages near Luang Prabang. We didn’t we escape the young men armed with water guns, but they were quieter. At one point, we saw a local market and went down to buy fruits: bananas, longan, mango and other little things I do not know how are called. For 3kg of fruit mix I gave $ 2.5.

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We returned to the city exactly when the rain started, so what if someone wanted to sprinkle with water? We went to the local market and ate two sandwiches prepared by a little girl who was not older than 12 years old

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I played with some nice kids, I rolled back through the night market, then went to the hotel where we abandoned ourselves to a deep sleep.

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It was the last night in Laos. In the afternoon of the next day we will start a new adventure in Vietnam, another Asian country where we could not wait to get to.

Until next time, I will hug and leave you with some more pictures.

Related posts:

  1. Anul Nou – Songkran – în Luang Prabang, Laos
  2. Three unforgettable experiences in Laos – Luang Prabang
  3. 10 + 1 reasons to visit Luang Prabang – Laos
  4. Luang Prabang – first impact with the Laos paradise

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