Boat racing on the mighty Mekong in Vientiane

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Friends Roscoe and Fiona arrived. Quick catch up over Loa coffees and headed out into the kerfuffle of the festival. Not really anything of value to purchase, but excellent people watching. BeerLao down on the waterfront in a little makeshift café with Moroccan style cushions. Saw the first of the dragon boat teams training on the Mekong. People pissing directly onto the sand banks at the side of the Mekong which would be used the next day for boat watching. Excellent! Doof Doof music was overwhelming but luckily the Lao curfew sees this stopped at 2330.

Next day took a "Tuk-tuk jumbo" to the central stupa. Also to the "morning" market, but in the afternoon. Saw hundreds of gold merchants competing side-by-side. Cath commissioned a tailored top and blouse from fabrics she had bought in Shanghai in an earlier leg of the trip. Back to the waterfront. Ended the day with a meal in on the balcony of a waterfront restaurant. Good view, uncomfortably spicy ostrich meat dish, of course washed down with BeerLao. Purchased several bateaux (Gateau) flower arrangements to be floated down the Mekong as part of the festival. Took some effort to achieve the launch given the greasiness of the levy banks and the pushiness of the crowds.

The 13th was a Full-on race day. Very hot in the sun – perhaps beyond 37C. Big crowds gathered along the race course. Hundreds of stalls, many with fermenting chicken BBQs and dried squid. We watched the early races from near the finish line. Purchased two pink umbrellas which became an integral part of the girls trip. Then a long lunch at a restaurant across from the start line. Later races got much more intense. We ate BBQ Mekong fish from a little BBQ embedded in our table. Obligatory BeerLao. Sort of a hot pot type dish. Lumps of pork lard placed at the top of a “helmet” apparatus. After seeing the last race, we took a cab to the airport and then the flight to Luangprabang. Pretty flight over higher hills and thick rainforest. Found an exceptionally pleasant guesthouse (Ancient Luangprabang). Airconditioned! The temperature and humidity were a bit more pleasant up here. We started dinner at a riverside restaurant but were redirected by the waiter to see the “biggest party of the year”. See the next entry.

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Photos

Travellers in a tuk-tuk
Catherine, Fiona and Roscoe head to the Grand Stupa

Intricate banana leaf offering
An intricate offering at the Grand Stupa

"Beside the mighty Mekong with beers"
"...getting old is the least of our fears" (Guild League)

Liquid horizon
Sunset over the Mekong on the night before Boun Suang Hua, boat racing festival

Purchasing the right bateaux
Or is that gateaux

Offering for the Mekong
The bateaux: an intricate arrangement of flowers and leaves mounted on a cross-section of banana tree. Soon to be lit and launched.

Race finish line
Floating on the Mekong between Vientiane and a Thai village

Mekong bank early in the day
..and the trsuty umbrells start their work.....

A tense start
Serious contenders approach the start boat seconds before the start

Full power start
Half, half, three quarters, full stroke!