2 December 2014. National Holiday Day

2 December is a national holiday in Laos - in fact it is The Lao National Day, which according to the official tourism website "celebrates the 1975 victory of the proletariat over the monarchy with parades, speeches, etc. Lao National and communist hammer and sickle flags are flown all over the country. Celebration is mandatory, hence poorer communities postpone some of the traditional Ok Phansa activities-usually practiced roughly a month earlier-until National Day, thus saving themselves considerable expense."

The mandatory celebrations around Luang Prabang seemed mainly to involve family get-togethers with plenty of beer and loud music. I went for a walk along the river side and passed several of these events - even got invited to join in one for a bit. 

























The walk itself took me through an area where there are a lot of home-based paper craftspeople and weavers, making the items one sees for sale at the night market. The items are beautiful and clearly take a lot of skill and time but the sales at the market seem sadly low even now in the peak season. I think, generally, too many people have piled in to milk the tourist dollar and the result is a lot of unsold goods and virtually empty restaurants.

Aside from the weavers, the walk offered a nice miscellany of views ranging from the Mekong to goats and children