Songkran Mayhem

On leaving Chiang Mai we agreed to come back before we fly home as we really enjoyed our time here. But for now it was time to move on and to make our way over to Hanoi so that I could spend my birthday in Halong Bay, one of the 7 natural wonders. This meant a short trip through Laos, just 5 days in fact, we were worried it was hardly worth it but it turned out to be an experience I'm pleased we didn't miss. We caught a long bus ride to Chang Kong, just across the Mekong river from Laos, we spent a pretty non eventful night there before getting up early to make it across the boarder in order to catch a 2 day slow boat down the Mekong to Luang Prabang.  It was a stressful morning, made worse by the 30 degree heat at 8am which steadily got more intense by the minute. So much so that we heard an ozzy bloke say to another "look new year celebrations have already started" pointing at Greg's soaked shirt. Needless to say in-fact this was sweat, caused by walking 10 minutes down the road to the Thai border ferry. Luckily for Greg (not that he really gives a shit) the Thai, Laos and Cambodian new year celebrations were about to begin, the focus of which is a country wide water and paint fight. I had already been targeted by some locals when leaving Chiang Mai, coming head first into a thrown bucket of water. Initially I saw red, but on realising it would be ridiculous to get angry I laughed back. It did however make me realise over the next few days it would be a case of fight or be slaughtered, I think Greg was a bit worried I'd be a girl about it and refuse to get wet, which really isn't an option unless you hide out in your hotel room. We still had 2 days until the official start and we'd heard that Luang Prabang was the best place to celebrate. So we were looking forward to a relaxing 2 days floating down the river before the mayhem, unfortunately relaxing couldn't have been a more opposite description to what the boat was like. It was a party boat complete with football chanting, a fight, people falling over, the necking of bottles of whisky and gin and drunken sex with people you can't remember the name of. The only people who didn't join in with the banter were absolute losers who openly shouted at people, were rude and pretty much loners for the next 2 days. We could hardly belong in that group could we! Luckily we were sat near some friendly English/Welsh people who led the shenanigans and thoroughly entertained us for the next 2 days, which were really very slow with same same scenery.  After a few drinks and an early night (midnight curfew in Laos!) in the half way town, which was as crappy and dodgy as the guidebooks suggest, we were back on the boat for another long day of the same until we finally arrived in Luang Prabang at about 5. At this point there was a mad rush to get the bags off the boat and up the hill to find a guesthouse. Arriving the day before Songkran is a risky tactic, but we went along with Dai and Zara (a couple of slow boat friends) to a guesthouse they had already booked, and luckily they had a room, overpriced as it was, we snapped it up. Thank god we did as 3 hours later there were slow boat goers wandering around still trying to find a spare room. The next day we woke and dressed in preparation for war, but without a gun we were helpless. So after meeting with the battalion, about 12 of us, we set out to buy super soakers. There were plenty of stalls selling them, but there didn't seem to be much action apart from a few kids. I even considered not buying a gun, just sharing, but thank god we bulk bought some pump action mega guns and got one each. So next we decided to hunt out trouble, whilst on the way getting a few unsuspecting tourists in the back. A few idiots turned round and got angry, which made it even more fun. Why go outside during a water festival and get annoyed at someone getting water on you?? I let them have it right back!  The fighting grew more and more as it turned afternoon, with music blaring from every cafe, restaurant and shop, and refills wherever you could find a hose. And then the coloring came out, bright red, green, blue and black grease which you couldn't get off your skin without a serious soap scrub. By mid afternoon it was absolute mayhem, I've never seen anything like it, and everyone in such good spirits. Local kids, teenagers, adults and elderly were all joining in. Free beer was flowing, pop dance music was filling your ears. Every car, moped, and tuk tuk were plastered. There were those on foot, some standing by bins of water soaking and colouring anyone who tried to use their hose, and then the best of all, teenagers in trucks, with water buckets and guns, drenching you as they went past. Local groups of teenage kids were dragging people off mopeds pouring vodka down their throats. Not a bad punishment really.  The idea is that by touching people with coloring or water, you wish them a happy New Year, it's good luck. But over the year this has become a war, and tourists are the target, as well as groups against other groups of locals. It's brilliant, especially how everyone gets involved. It all finishes each day by sun down, when the night market opens and restaurants open as normal, the only evidence of the day's mayhem being the coloured water running in the gutters. On one such quiet evening after an exahusting day, I'd washed and straightened my hair, and put a nice dress on. The streets were peaceful and pretty, we stopped to look at a menu, when out of nowhere I looked up and was greeted with a bucket of water thrown directly at my face, the peace was broken with my response as you can imagine. I sat down to dinner in a damp dress, streaming makeup and frizzy hair. Not impressed. While we were with the group we had a bit of a night out and after piling double capacity into a tuk tuk we turned up at a Laosation night club. Same as our night clubs really, but we were some of the only westerners here. It was fun, but whilst everyone else was jumping up and down Greg spent the evening watching Harry Potter on one of the clubs tv screens without sound, needless to say it was not his cup of tea. After the club ended about 1am we continued the evening at a Laos institution - bowling. Mostly filled with westerners doing their best to keep drinking, as this the the only place to get a drink after 1am! The next 2 days were more of the same, culminating in a big parade of monks, traditionally dressed dancers, and floats which were impressive.  I'm sure if there were similar celebrations in England, despite the good intention there would be trouble. Either from spoil sports or people taking it too far, and getting too drunk.  We had a brilliant time, despite the fact that we hardly got to see what this pretty town is actually like. But with the French influence, plenty of dimly lit river side bars and restaurants and festive night market, we could tell it would be a romantic place when the craziness of New Year wasn't happening.  We enjoyed our short time in Laos which was worth it because of Songkran. We did find the people fairly friendly, but terrible for cheating with money. Every single day we were there people attempted to either short change us, or fiddle the bill. It was a slight dampener on an otherwise good impression of the country. So... in order to get to Halong Bay on time for my bday, we decided to wimp out of the 20 hour land crossing into Vietnam which is legendary for delays and terrible roads, and get a flight. It was a tiny little propeller plane which made it exciting/ nerve wracking. Apparently Laos airlines had a terrible reputation for crashing, back in the day...