Happy New Year from Luang Prabang!

When I think back on Luang Prabang, I remember the New Year's water fights. The Lao New Year begins on April 14, but from April 12 or 13 through the 17th, the city breaks into an all out water war. The locals form teams, they print t-shirts, even the children prepare for battle with cartoon-themed water tanks trapped to their backs. What a fantastic and fun-loving way to ring in the new year! Or so it seemed. But by the end of day 2, it started getting old. After all, in this conservative culture, you can't just enjoy the water fights in a bikini, so you're stuck spending your days wandering around in soppy, clingy clothing. At some point, the dyed waters started entering into the mix. And keeping one's camera and valuables safe and dry is easier said than done. By the end of day 3 or 4, I started getting to the tipping point. There were just so many water fights. Far, far too many water fights...

Lao people celebrating New Years in typical Laos fashion.

At least after sundown, the water guns were tucked away and the evening festivities felt more accessible.

Happy Lao New Year! All the locals kept pulling us into their celebrations and insisting we share a drink with them.

But first let's take a step back. After all, this trip to Luang Prabang began in perfect serenity, at a time when the occasional water gun through the van window was welcomed: my trip to the Kuang Si waterfalls.

Kuang Si waterfalls

Attached to the Tat Kuang Si (water falls) park is the Bear Rescue Center, where world's first bear neurosurgery was performed in 2013. Pretty cool!

The Lao people demonstrated a greater apparent respect for and consciousness of the environment than I'd observed in Vietnam and Cambodia, whether or not this is a marketing ploy. It was neat to see how many environmental initiatives and educational plaques were posted around the park. I was, however, a bit disappointed that all the nearby elephant reserves, while making a point to advertise their roles in environmental protection and support of the locals, still offered elephant riding. It was tough, but I resisted a visit. I'm not so sure elephant riding makes the elephants happy, and while I want to support locals and the environment, it shouldn't be at the cost of the elephants.

Not only did the locals demonstrate a concern for the environment, but they also offered a genuine kindness toward the tourists, despite knowing that we are far more financially comfortable than them. Their haggling was much less aggressive. They weren't nearly as fond of their car horns as were the Vietnamese. They weren't parading their sick or disabled. There were very few beggars. And most notably, we couldn't stop them from inviting us into their homes to feed us! (This may have been happening because it is considered auspicious in Laos to welcome guests into your home over the new year.)

I was completely charmed by the local pride and enthusiasm for the burgeoning tourism industry. They hoisted banners in their parade touting Luang Prabang as the winner of Wanderlust's Best City 2015 award, noting that it marked the 7th time it's earned this distinction. The locals regularly stopped us in the street to practice their English with us, which was really impressive next to what I'd seen in Vietnam and Cambodia. Many of them were actually able to chat about really random topics. The Lao children apparently begin studying English in elementary school, and it showed! And, of course, who can forget just how often the Lao people asked us if we were traveling alone only to say, "Why you don't come with friends? You should go home and tell friends about Laos, and then come back again with friends." From the time I landed in the airport until the time I took off, it seemed the whole country was in cahoots to send us home with messages to send our friends to Laos.

Generally, Luang Prabang offered a much more laidback atmosphere than what I'd seen up to this point in my travels across SE Asia. In terms of the ambiance and locals, this was definitely my top country. And on one other factor, Laos also came out ahead: traditional massages. The traditional Lao massage is in the same vein as the Thai, but slightly softer, the perfect balance between deep muscle massaging and avoidance of (transient) pains. And I visited the massage parlor with a European professional massage therapist, who agreed with my assessment (though she was more pro-Thai massage). Me, I could have spent all day getting Lao massages. 

Traditional Lao massage parlor. (In my eyes, the parlor could also easily pass for traditional Thai.)

The poverty much more carefully hidden than it was in Siem Reap, where the Cambodians seemed to be interested in putting it on display in the hopes of garnering more tourist dollars. This just made the entire experience here so much more soothing. It was easier to relax without my conscience constantly nagging at me over my advantages as a rich Westerner.

Random images from across Luang Prabang

Another really cool aspect of Luang Prabang was all the Hmong art on display in the stores. The Hmong are an ethnic group found in Laos and northern Thailand, and they do some incredible work. Their art consists of intricate, colorful embroidered clothing and finely carved silver jewelry. I'll confessed to having even caved to taking home a piece as a souvenir.

My fancy Hmong necklace

There were so many temples scattered across this city (and they served as great hiding places from the water fights), but the coolest by far was Vat Souvannakhiri, pictured below. Here, we met a friendly monk who taught us about the practice and how monks can come and go from the orders without negative repercussions or pressure from the monastery. The monasteries here actually serve, among other roles, as a place for young kids and adolescents to go for an education. The monk who chatted with us explained that he planned to leave the monastery the following year to pursue a university education (and that, once he left the order, he would finally be allowed to defend himself during the New Year's water wars!).

Survived another day of water fighting! Hiding out at Vat Souvannakhiri until sundown, when the fighting subsides.

Vat Souvannakhiri, the most impressive temple I saw in Luang Prabang and overall one of the coolest little temples around SE Asia. Fantastic blend of golden sculptures, golden intricate and ornate paintings, and vibrantly-colored mirror-mosaics made the entire place sparkle.

On my last day in Laos, I decided to escape the water fighting with a biking and kayaking touring with one of my new solo traveler friends, the aforementioned massage therapist. We biked along streets carved out of the jungle and kayaked past bathing elephants, cobra holes on the water's edge, and almost fully submersed water buffalo hiding from the heat. Finally, some villagers at the town where we wrapped up our kayaking invited us in for some food cooked freshly for us on the fire pit just outside their one-room hut. It was a pretty exotic and humbling day.

Our biking and kayaking trip through the nearby wilderness and down a tributary to the Mekong.

And can't forget this cutie from the end of our kayaking trip.

Speaking of cuties: I can't write about my time in Luang Prabang without mentioning my new friends, the kittens! These very dirty and tiny, motherless kittens found a fellow traveler and me on the street. After cuddling them for a half hour, we could hardly walk away and leave them to a certain death, so we convinced my hostel to host them, found some street food to their liking, bathed them, got them into a cozy warm bed, and spent the evening cuddling. We'd had our doubts, but they survived that first night in bed with me in a basket lined with a scarf, waking me up early in the morning to demand some more cuddles. Strengthened by our TLC (and the fish nuggets), these guys quickly became the new mascots at my very fun and social hostel, where we ended our nights to live guitar music on the rooftop and started the days with delicious breakfasts cooked to order each morning.

My Lao besties, our rescued kittens!

Soon enough, the New Year's celebrations and my time in Laos came to an end. I rode out my last day of defenseless water fighting napping on a bench in a monument park, safe from the action and enjoying the sun.

My last sundown in Laos

I'm hopeful that this won't be my last trip to Laos.