Ugh. The alarm startled me into consciousness at 5:45 this morning. I quickly got ready and headed out to meet Steve. We flagged down a tuk-tuk and headed to the That Luang Festival, which happens (like so many Buddhist festivals), on the 11th full moon of the year (i.e. today).
We arrived at the outside Pha That Luang, a towering gilded stupa, which is also the country's national monument. The road and main compound were lined on both side by a continuous series of tables, behind which were a seeming continous orange line of monks. On the table in front of each monk was a bowl for accepting alms.
As we arrived, people were
continously streaming in, and spreading out their prayer mats in the massive compound before the monument, and the 
speakers were blaring, reciting morning prayers to the crowds. The sun was slowly climbing into the sky behind That Luang. At some point, the ceremony ended, and people got up and began wandering around, making their donations to the monks - sticky 
rice, fruit, cookies, money - it was a colourful ritual.
We headed back around 9AM. I picked up Carole and we met Steve and Tracey for a leisurely 9:30-11:30 breakfast. Afterwards, Carole and I went browsing at one of the local markets.
We met up with Steve and Tracey again at 4:30, and headed back to That Luang. Though this is a large festival, it was hard to get information on what was going on and when. We heard rumours of some sort of candle procession, but this never materialized as far as we know. We wandered around, waiting for the fireworks which begain at 8:30. The place was packed with people and was noisy, with speakers everywhere blaring on some topic unknown to us.
Fireworks here certainly lack the armageddon-like intensity
they have North America; they were sent up one at a time. We amusingly wondered if there was only one guy at the launch area with a lighter. However, there was a definite repetition pattern to it, so perhaps the fireworks hard a religious protocol to follow. Also, unlike North America, there are no qualms about sending the fireworks up over a crowd. A few times we felt our eyes burn as particle debris came down.
We left half an hour later. The place was now totally packed; we were swimming against the current in a sea of humanity. It was almost overwhelming at times. We tuk-tuked back downtown and had dinner at an wonderful Indian restaurant.
Returning to our hotel, the hotel manager invited us to join him in a beer as he celebrated his birthday with some friends and other customers. Carole was tired and went to bed, but I joined them for a while, and ate and drank for another hour, having a chance to chat with some locals about life in Lao.
We arrived at the outside Pha That Luang, a towering gilded stupa, which is also the country's national monument. The road and main compound were lined on both side by a continuous series of tables, behind which were a seeming continous orange line of monks. On the table in front of each monk was a bowl for accepting alms.
As we arrived, people were
continously streaming in, and spreading out their prayer mats in the massive compound before the monument, and the 
speakers were blaring, reciting morning prayers to the crowds. The sun was slowly climbing into the sky behind That Luang. At some point, the ceremony ended, and people got up and began wandering around, making their donations to the monks - sticky 
rice, fruit, cookies, money - it was a colourful ritual.We headed back around 9AM. I picked up Carole and we met Steve and Tracey for a leisurely 9:30-11:30 breakfast. Afterwards, Carole and I went browsing at one of the local markets.
We met up with Steve and Tracey again at 4:30, and headed back to That Luang. Though this is a large festival, it was hard to get information on what was going on and when. We heard rumours of some sort of candle procession, but this never materialized as far as we know. We wandered around, waiting for the fireworks which begain at 8:30. The place was packed with people and was noisy, with speakers everywhere blaring on some topic unknown to us.
Fireworks here certainly lack the armageddon-like intensity
they have North America; they were sent up one at a time. We amusingly wondered if there was only one guy at the launch area with a lighter. However, there was a definite repetition pattern to it, so perhaps the fireworks hard a religious protocol to follow. Also, unlike North America, there are no qualms about sending the fireworks up over a crowd. A few times we felt our eyes burn as particle debris came down.We left half an hour later. The place was now totally packed; we were swimming against the current in a sea of humanity. It was almost overwhelming at times. We tuk-tuked back downtown and had dinner at an wonderful Indian restaurant.
Returning to our hotel, the hotel manager invited us to join him in a beer as he celebrated his birthday with some friends and other customers. Carole was tired and went to bed, but I joined them for a while, and ate and drank for another hour, having a chance to chat with some locals about life in Lao.
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