2012 Elephant Festival – Xayabouri, Laos

As I traveled throughout the Northern part of Laos for a week and one of the destination was Xayabouri.  I am so glad, I had the opportunity to attend this year 6th Annual Elephant Festival.  There are 6 of us total, we rented a van with drivers included for $1,000,000.00 kips($125) that takes us from Luangprabang to Xayabouri.  The road condition is horrible – mostly dusty dirt road cutting through the hills.  It took us good 4hrs hours on the road and that’s including the down time waiting for the ferry boat.  We made it to the town almost noon and we missed most of schedule events.  That’s including the elephants parade and the traditional baci ceremony.  But, I still manage to captured some pictures.

I heard from the locals, this is probably one of the biggest turn out. Half of the people probably left already by the time I took this picture.

Those folks on the mound are waiting for their turns to ride them elephants. It is so unsafe trying to get on and off. I don't know how much they charge for 10 or 15 minutes ride.

It was hot and dusty that afternoon. I was wearing slippers, which was a very bad idea. There is no set tracks or directions for those elephants to follow. They seems to be going around the circle.

poo sao 🙂

They even had a beauty pageant contest.. I'm not sure if anyone of those gals are excited to be call Miss Elephant 2012. hahahhaha I spotted this gal whooshing through the crowd, I quickly snap my camera..

Our drivers for this trip... Looks like they are enjoying the festival as well..

There are vendors set up along the road that sells just about anything you can think of. In this case it is fresh bamboo shoots.

Fresh squeeze sugarcane...

Hungry anyone???? Looks like chicken heads bbq

The organizers of this event should built a ramp to allow easy access for people. These poor elephants knee down and up all day so folks can get on.

Those elephants love the water and never wants to leave..

We left Xayabouri as soon as the festival was over. By the time we got to the MeKong River, the line for ferry crossing is pretty long. I think we waited for an hour before it was our turn.

This is the ferry got us across the river. They are building a bridge just south of this ferry crossing and should be done in a year.

So, we made it back to Luangprabang around 8:30pm that evening.  Stay tune for more blogs about my trip.

Signs

If you ever travel through Laos, most likely that you will run into some odd signs along the way.  I didn’t captured all the crazy signs I saw, but managed to come back with few funny signs.  Perhaps, the Department of Transportation ever thought about standardized their road signs.  Throughout the country, most streets are without names or not post it properly.  I am not even sure if some of those streets are given its name to begin with.

Also, signs from various tourist destinations aren’t standardized at all.  This blog is simply bringing out some humors of all these signs.  I love Laos, but common people.. Let’s get this right!! Some of these signs might take couple times of reading before you bust out a laugh.

Talking about missing in translation... Those words in Lao simply said.. Caution, Slippery Area.

Tharng pai yil... hahahah Love the picture

Noodle shoup for 10,000 kips.. hahah I actually ate there once and it is pretty good.

Why bother paying for the sign? When you can go ahead and write it on the wall.. hahhahah This is pretty typical in Laos.

Again.. Lao word said.. No Passing but in english.. Danger!! hahaha This sign is from one of the waterfall in Champasak.

walkingdow??? lol

hahhaha This one is pretty funny.. In Lao, it simply said.. This way down to the bottom of fall..
Way down.... lol

I found this sign at Wat Phou, Champasak..

Construction site next to Khop Chai Deu Restaurant.. Classic!!

Wat Sisaket, I was charged as the locals... 2,000 kips($0.25)

This is probably the funniest sign of all. I found this sign at the Victory Gate Monument(Arnousawaree).

Luangprabang Morning Market

It has been almost 6 years since I last visited Luangprabang morning market.  You can find just about anything at this market ranging from silk to wild animals.  This particular morning I got up super early for the morning alms and had some time to kill afterward.  I decided to stroll down to the morning market.

The entrance..

dried fish anyone? shrimps or tiny frog??

fresh catches from MeKong River

chickens... dried cow skin

ka nom koke..

banana and papaya... and there are also undies and bra

riverweed from MeKong or Nam Khan River.

wild mushroom (het hu nu)

fresh meats

noodles..

ready to eat meal.. grill fish, chicken, sausage, and beef jerky.

fresh fruits..

check out those papayas.