For the second consecutive year exploring the land of a million elephants, male tourist Ninh Cong Hoang (25 years old, Hai Duong) had unforgettable experiences during the traditional New Year of Laos. Before the trip, he carefully researched information on social networks as well as prepared necessary items.
An unforgettable impression
The traditional New Year's Day, also known as Bunpimay Waterfall Festival, of the Lao people usually takes place from April 13 to 16 every year. The biggest holiday of this year is conveyed the meaning of a beginning with good luck, prosperity, happiness and peace for all things.
During the traditional Tet holidays, Lao people will clean their houses and streets, then decorate them with Champa flowers, royal melon flowers everywhere or combine them into flower wreaths to pray for luck for the new year.
In particular, people will prepare flower- roommed scented water with ingredients such as: Water, turmeric, baked pork floss, flowers and essential oils. The flower- roomed fragrance water will be used to water the Buddha statue and then stir-fried to bring home, scattered on every family member.
During Tet, children often go with their grandparents and parents to drink water to bless the elderly. For Lao people, this is an act of washing away the bad things of the old year to welcome the new year better. The more wet your clothes are, the more luck you will get.
In big cities, today, many tourists have joined in the traditional Bunpimay Tet atmosphere with the people, not afraid to drop water as well as ready to get wet to learn about this unique cultural feature.
Minh Cong Hoang even arrived in Laos 5 days before Tet. He went through Vientiane, Vang Vientiane and mainly played Lao Tet in Luang Prabang for 2 days.
The male tourist recounted: Ahead of the official holiday of one day, April 13, which I happily call the 30th of Tet, it was like Lunar New Year at home, I felt that the people here seemed much busier.
That day, while kayaking on the Namsong and Vang Vieng rivers, I saw people and tourists flocking to the two banks of the river to gather to eat, swim and fall into the river. The atmosphere was fun, the music was bustling. However, because I thought it was not a major holiday, I got soaked.
The next day, at 12 noon on the first day of the Lunar New Year, on April 14, in Vang Vieng, the sun rose, many households carried water boxes out front to pour water on people crossing the street, regardless of local people or tourists. There are even many people holding a glass of beer with one hand, and firing water guns with the other hand to join in the Tet atmosphere, Cong Hoang happily said.
On the 2nd day of Laos, Nam Tourist moved to Luang Prabang and played a full day of water here. Around 13h, crowded people gathered on the main street of the night market. After the speech of the local authorities, everyone was excited to observe the parades on the street and splash the lucky water.
Minh Cong Hoang recalled: The weather that day had to be called super hot. However, I feel the festive atmosphere here is really vibrant. The Lao people are very happy and friendly, they play their best with tourists, even comfortably lending/borrowing water guns and water balloons".
Modern Vang Vieng
During this trip, in addition to immersing himself in the Bunpimay waterfall Tet with local people, Minh Cong Hoang was also very impressed by the youthfulness of the small town of Vang Vieng.
Located 150km from the capital Vientiane, without beautiful architectural works, without modern resorts, Vang Vientiane is just a peaceful countryside with a fresh, cool climate, and pristine nature.
For those who like to move, Vang Vieng is an ideal stop to experience outdoor games such as: Swimming, kayaking, zipline sliding, hot air ballooning...
Cong Hoang recalled his kayaking experience on the Namsong River: I never thought the river would be so long. At first, when I was able to row a section of the river, I was splashed with water to clean my clothes and the windshield was blurred. Because I had not prepared in advance, I decided to return to the starting point, but the tour guide said "no".
The river is not deep, but there are many rocks, so the rowers keep turning right and left. Cheering time is more than 1 hour. After traveling about 5km, I felt pain on both shoulders.
In particular, the moment the young male tourist was most impressed when kayaking must have been the image of a hot air balloon flying right on his head. The first time being able to see hot air balloons directly in a peaceful countryside, he was happily without a shore.
However, because it rained heavily in Vang Vieng in the past two afternoons, Minh Cong Hoang could not complete the original plan. During this trip, the young man missed the Blue Lagoon with its pure blue water like pearls and the Namxay viewing spot to see Vang Vieng from above.
The weather was not as expected, but for me, this trip was still an unforgettable experience. Because this is the first time I have participated in a major festival of your country, witnessing the happiest days of all Lao people, the male tourist expressed.
