Christmas, New Year and my birthday usually come and go without much of a fuss (all for different reasons) but I realise I may be in the minority when it comes to this.
When it came to ideas for my 30th birthday I never really considered a party or a large gathering, and I spend each Christmas in the company of my family in York which consists of my mum and grandparents. I'm definitely not 'anti' either one of those, but the one I've never really been big on is New Year.
Going through my teen years, the 31st December usually involved one of my friends having some form of gathering at their house, but it's been a while since that happened.
One year my friends and I planned to go out, and brought tickets to an event in Newcastle.... We didn't leave the flat and none of us saw midnight!
"Hitting the town" on New Years isn't my idea of fun anyway as I can imagine it's very busy, extremely expensive and gives licence to places which don't usually charge an entry fee to start demanding extortionate cover fees.
I've always thought it might be fun to spend either Christmas or New Year (maybe both) in a different country. Perhaps a warm one. I had the experience of spending 2009's Christmas and New Year in Korea which was a surreal experience. I think it's become more celebrated these days, but back then it was just a regular Friday with shops open, buses running, and the mall crowded with more people than usual. My friend Charlie and I went out for a 'Christmas Meal' but I vaguely remember having something festive like lasagne.
New Year wasn't a big deal either as everything closed at the usual time without a firework or a party popper in sight. Definitely no 'Old Lang Syne' either.
I'm not against celebrating the coming of a New Year, I just find it a bit of an anti-climax, but maybe that's because we're doing it all wrong....
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Since arriving on Saturday, Vientiane hasn't really made a big impression on me. It's one of the quieter capitals I have ever visited, and definitely not at the top of the list for cities I've visited on my journey so far.
Today was liable to be a difficult day to because my flight out of Laos was not until 23:30 but I had to check out of my hotel at 12:00 meaning that I was going to have to fill a lot of time prior to my departure. Filling time and capturing my attention hadn't been a strength of the Lao capital so far.
I made the most of my time this morning, getting as long-a lie in as possible, and making sure I wasn't out of my room until right on the limit of my check-out time.
I'd heard loud music coming from outside, but it was only once I'd convinced the guy behind reception to look after my bag for a while that I realised it was the grounds of my hotel. As I mentioned a couple of times recently Lao New Year starts today, and it seemed that the hotel had joined suit with lots of other places all around town, and decided to crank up the bass on the party music.
When I got outside it looked like more of a family gathering than a rave, but the manager of the hotel very kindly came and said that there was some food available if I wanted it. I was hesitant at first, but he insisted so I grabbed some of what was going and sat down to eat - at least that was one less meal it'd have to consider.
The receptionist who checked me in on my first day came over wearing a very floral shirt (which must have been all the rage because today I saw really everyone wearing one) and offered me a drink. Although I knew that taking a while over lunch would be a great way to kill time, I didn't want to get stuck there for too long, and sitting at a huge table which was piled high with free beer and soft drinks was starting to draw attention to me so I sloped off the first chance I got!!!
I thought about all sorts of things I could do to fill the day such as walking along the river again or going back up to Pha That Luang, but I decided to do a new activity first and save those for if I needed them later on. The one thing on my list which I'd not yet done since arriving in Vientiane was to visit something known as Xieng Muang - or Buddha Park.
From what I'd read it was a sculpture park of sorts which was filled with statues created for a Buddhist Temple which no longer exists.
To get there would require me taking the bus (something I'd not done in Laos) and I figure it would be a good way to start what could be a long day.
Walking down the road, New Year celebrations were in full flow as people lined up outside their business' and houses' with paddling pools of water and hoses at the ready. I'd seen some shops in the last couple of days doing excellent trade on water pistols, and it seemed as though pretty much everyone had brought one.
Considering I was going to spent the whole day out and about, my main goal was to stay dry and try not to get too involved in the shenanigans going on around me. Already out on the streets there were some very drenched people, a feeling I can't imagine would have been comfortable for me!
I crossed the road on a couple of occasions to avoid being 'attacked' as when I hadn't done yesterday someone chucked a bucket of water on my direction, but thankfully the person didn't quite have the range to get anything more than some collateral damage from the splash on the floor, but I wanted to make doubly certain today.
Even those who weren't armed with water pistols looked to be celebrating as lots of people had tables and chairs set up next to the road. Pretty much everything en-route to the bus stop was closed, and I was sceptical whether the park itself would be open - something I probably should have checked before leaving.
The main bus stop in Vientiane is just down from the mall (which was probably open, but looked as dead as ever). It didn't take long to find the correct bus, and after about five minutes we set off on our way.
I didn't know how long it would take to reach the park itself, but along the way I took in the experience of New Year from within the safe confines of the bus.
Closer to town, everyone, everywhere was out celebrating with water. People with buckets, water pistols and hoses mercifully doused anyone passing. Just before we left some people aimed a saucepan of water through the bus side doors but thankfully I was close enough to the front to avoid being hit.
The journey to the Buddha Park ended up taking about an hour, and even in the suburbs there were people out on the street just parting and having fun. There were lots of people dancing, everyone was dressed in brought colours and everyone just generally appeared to be in good spirits.
On the way we stopped off at the main border crossing between Thailand and Laos, known as the 'Friendship Bridge'. This is a popular way for travellers to get in and out of the country, although today there seemed to be plenty of locals who were going to spend time over the border as the bus almost emptied out when we got there.
The few of us that remained got off at the park, which also appeared to have New Year fever. It seemed like quite a quiet place normally, but today there were lots of people, some stands with fairground games to play, and also lots of chairs set out in front of a large stage.
I brought myself a drink and paid to get in before spending about an hour wandering round looking at the statues.
It wasn't the most spectacular attraction I've ever been to, but there were about fifty or so statues ranging in size, shape and upkeep which was a pretty impressive sight:
The main attraction was the reclining Buddha....
...which can't have been far off the size of the actual golden one I saw in Thailand. There were some other excellent looking statues spread around, and it was quite relaxing to walk around and photograph them.
Even in the park itself you couldn't escape New Year traditions as there were people armed with water. Thankfully this was only so they could pay tribute to their religious icons as people wet flowers and dabbed water on the statues in a ritualistic manner.
Some people squirted water at them where as others just chose to sprinkle some using their finger tips. It was fascinating to watch people do a lap of the whole park, and be certain they'd got to every one.
Considering the length of the journey it was depressing that I'd spent the same amount of time travelling to the park as I had done walking around, but there genuinely wasn't that much to see other than the statues so I waited on the other side of the road for a couple of minutes before the bus eventually came. When we got to the Friendship Bridge we stopped there for about twenty minutes before continuing our journey and by the time we got back to the city it was a wash with vans travelling round the city with people on board showering those they drove past.
I was planning to go down to the river to watch one last Mekong Sunset, and had to take a zig-zag route to avoid a water cannon, and several groups of people in a reciprocal water fight with people in vans.
My closest shave came when I needed to go to a convenience store, but the two I could spy on the main road were occupied with people aiming a hose pope up in the air. Thankfully I managed to dodge behind some cars and sneak across, and when I came out they'd temporarily shut off their own water supply.
The day I'd got here I'd seen a stage being prepared for today, and it was currently hosting some kind of party which you could hear from the bus station. The sand sculptures which I'd also spotted were also now fully functioning, and I went town to look at the full collection of impressive delights:
I continued walking towards where I'd seen people lined up every night I'd been in Vientiane and decided that this would be a good spot to watch sunset from. I was at the tip of where the water began, and even in the full gaze of the sun it looked beautiful.
There were lots of people swimming close to where I was standing, and there were also some fisherman pulling in their days catch:
The sun started to get to a point where it was getting very low, and it was at this point I decided to walk a little further around the sanded area.
There were some food stands set up on the bank and also a lot of people in off-road vehicles testing out their capabilities on a home-made track:
I walked to another point where I captured a few more pictures...
...before continuing further to an area where it started to get really muddy. From here I got a phenomenal view of the sun going down, and I stayed there until it totally disappeared:
There was nobody within about 100m of me and even the roar of 4x4s and the bassy tones of 'Lil Jon couldn't spoil the peacefulness of the moment.
Considering I will had a few hours to kill before I needed to be at the airport, I decided to grab some dinner at one of the restaurants on the river and I had a delicious sweet and spicy curry with beef which was cooked with fresh ingredients right in front of my eyes:
It was thoroughly delicious, and by this point the darkness had completely set in, and I was ready to go back to the hotel.
There were still people celebrating out on the streets and having escaped from getting wet so far today I foolishly let my guard down for thirty seconds as I walked past a bunch of people celebrating. There was a guy with a hose who I thought hadn't seen me until I felt the power of water being squirted all over my back as I turned round to see him grinning and thinking that he was pretty hilarious. I gave him a bit of a stare and I think he realised I wasn't impressed. I wasn't actually too bothered about getting wet as I figured I'd probably dry out although because I had my rucksack on that was the thing that ended up getting the most wet, and in full view of him I took out my camera to inspect it. He saw what I was doing and held his hand up to apologise.
Slightly miffed that I'd gone so close to staying dry my plan was to try to flag down a tuk-tuk on the way and bargain with them to do a trip to the Sisavath Hotel and then go on to the airport. Typical that I didn't see a single one along the way when each day I have been pestered on average about three times a day.
Thankfully my bag was safely still behind the desk at the hotel, and I asked the guy behind reception to call me a taxi. After about five minutes he took a call which turned out to be from the taxi driver stating that his road was blocked by people celebrating New Year - I suspected that perhaps he was busy celebrating with them.
The receptionist said he would try to call another taxi company, but then ushered me to follow him, and sure enough the hotel manager was offering me a lift. I was pretty grateful that he'd come to my rescue somewhat, and after feeding me earlier some of my negative feelings about the hotel experience itself were starting to wear off.
Unfortunately this tale doesn't come with an entirely satisfactory or feel-good ending - a reminder that even though I sometimes forget, to people I am still a tourist in these parts and very much there to be taken advantage of when the opportunity is right.
After unloading my bag from the car the hotel manager asked me for 150,000 kip (£12) saying that's what I'd agreed with the receptionist.
Although I was grateful of his help, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that he'd openly try and rip me off like that (the guy in the hotel had actually said that the taxi would be between 60,000 and 70,000). I insisted that's not what I'd agreed, and he immediately corrected himself sensing my disgust and lowered his demand to 100,000 which was still way over what I'd been told.
At this point I was starting to sour on his false generosity as this was clearly a plan he'd thought of when suggesting that he'd give me a lift.
I stood my ground and handed over 55,000 (still more than the 30,000 I could have paid if I'd found a tuk-tuk) which is what I paid to get from the airport to the (wrong) hotel on Saturday and with that he drove off.
I was disappointed that this will probably be my lasting memory of Laos, and in particular after I'd spend what had been an enjoyable day in the capital which had thoroughly underwhelmed me for three days.
Still, I am now another passport stamp closer to achieving my goal of travelling around South East Asia.
Laos has been a trip of two halves really. I liked the laid back nature of Luang Prabang, and enjoyed certain elements of Vientiane, but overall I think that the capital was a largely negative experience.
As always I cannot judge a whole country on two cities, but if I were to comeback to Laos I think I'd probably skip the capital and go elsewhere.
It was good for a very short stay, and interesting to see the New Year preparations and celebrations, but I'm not sure how long it will live in the memory if I'm honest.
Despite managing to fill the day, I still had to spend at least three hours in the airport to travel to my next destination; a place which I hold very dear to my heart.....
Old Lang Syne
Robert Burns (1788)
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