Happy new year from Laos! The water festival is the celebration of the new year. It begins on the 14th, which is the last day of the old year. Laos people clean their houses and prepare offerings of perfume, flowers and water. The 15th is the "day of no day" because it doesn't fall in the old year or the new year. The 16th marks the first day of the new year.
On the 14th there was going to be a big parade down the main street in Luang Prabang. Tash and I bought our water guns (they sell them everywhere on the streets and if you don't have one you're in serious trouble!) and then headed to the parade. Within the first 5 minutes of our walk we were soaked. Everyone participates; locals, tourists, monks, young people, even elderly people! The locals put huge bins and pools of water outside of their storefronts and passersby are allowed to fill up their guns- the only catch is that while you're bent over the bin filling up, you're getting buckets and buckets of ice cold water dumped over you!
Some locals even used colored dye to wipe on tourists' faces-- my face was definitely a casualty!
After participating for the day, Tash and I decided to chow down at a street food vendor that tons of people had been raving about. Tourists were flocking to her vegetarian stand because she was an american running a stall-- she assured us her food was safe.
Fast forward about 6 hours later: those tons of people who had been raving about the vegetarian street food were all sick. My time would also come, but not for another day. #donteatlaosstreetfood
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