These artificial boats, all lit with numerous candles and decorated with multicolored balloons, are ...

1. Boat Racing Festival in Laos
These artificial boats, all lit with numerous candles and decorated with multicolored balloons, are
paraded on the key road, with their creators chanting and playing music, walking all the way to the
river. Soon, the speckled lights on the river are mirrored in the sky by ceremonial weightless white
paper bags being sent up in the air by little burning flames fixed inside them. The pageant
competition is the event that lastly launches the two-day boat racing festivities.
The Night Festivities
In preparation for the actual race, every single village's (or neighborhood's) long naga-shaped boat
is offered a fresh coat of colorful paint right after obtaining spent the year stored at its local
Buddhist temple. The river becomes dotted with sparkling lights gently drifting down, representing
evil spirits being sent away - people's souls purified by water. Every village has constructed a boat
made of wood, bamboo, paper and banana leaves expressing the artistic talent and cultural
traditions of Laos. River-side restaurants and beer gardens are operating at complete capacity and
each and every time a race starts everyone's interest is drawn to the river. The practice races are
almost as preferred as the actual occasion and residents from every single village cheer their group
as they show their raw physical talent.
The Actual Race. Each and every team compete two-by-two - in front on thousands of persons on
each sides of the river - in an eliminative manner, until only two teams are left. The festival has deep
roots into Laos"royal heritage and is held each year at the finish of Buddhist Lent, which sees the
finish of the monk's three-month rain retreat.
There are two races. For a week or so the small town of Sainyabouli wakes up to the lively arrival of
hundreds of family members and guests from other parts of Laos, as nicely as from Thailand and
beyond. In between every race, comic relief is provided by rafts full of drunken, chanting, crazy-
acting drag queens.

2. Additionally, no Lao festival would be full without the need of the traditional competition to locate
the town's "Miss Boat Racing" among every single village's most lovely female teenager dressed as
an sophisticated royal princess from the country's past. There, every boat is sent down the flows
exactly where judges pick the most effective ones in terms of creativity, originality and respect for
Lao traditions.
The boat racing festival in Sainyabouli (also spelled Xaignabouli or Sayaboury) is celebrated in mid-
October - a couple of weeks right after Luang Prabang's own race and about a week just before
Vientiane. Then, for a week or so, practice races are held on the glittery waters of the Nam Houng
river, swelled from the monsoon rains.
As soon as the race is more than, there is still 1 extra evening to shop for garments, jewelry or
kitchenware at the numerous stalls or to go party and dance at one particular the river-side outdoor
discos, either to celebrate the winning team or to drown lost bets with http://www.laostravel.com/
cool, ice-diluted Beer Lao.
The boat racing festival is the major time of year for family reunions in Laos and plays a comparable
part as the Christmas and New Year holidays in the West. The women's race is held on the identical
day as the nigh festivities and the men's race is the subsequent day. With the water and the sky
illumined in such a style, the concluding fireworks transform the whole scene into a breathtaking
sight of light, colour and brightness on the dark background of the clear, warm evening.
In the course of the evening of the initially day are the night festivities. The atmosphere is both
festive and tense, as significant bets have been cast on several favored teams. Street stalls line the
main road as vendors from Vientiane, Luang Prabang, Thailand and China hope to profit from the

3. sudden flow of vacation-minded people.
Though the fake bamboo boats gradually float down the river, villagers send their own person
miniature boats created of banana leaves and lit with a candle or two