Celebrating a Quiet New Year in Pakbeng, Laos
Read "Celebrating a Quiet New Year in Pakbeng, Laos" on TravelFeed.io for the best experience
Just dropping by to greet everyone a happy new decade! I also want to share my New Year’s Eve experience in Pakbeng, Laos. It’s not a place you travel to for a New Year’s countdown, Luang Prabang would have a bigger event that would cater to tourists.
We intended to get to Luang Prabang for the celebration as we wanted to see fireworks, however, we didn’t have enough time to travel from Pai. It took us 4 days to get to Luang Prabang as the buses in Chiang Mai were full going to the Laos border. Two days on a slow boat - over 5 hours on the first slow boat and over 8 hours on the second day of slow boat. We arrived here in Luang Prabang on the 1st.
For New Year’s Eve, we have to stop over at Pakbeng, Laos as the slow boat takes 2 days and they only operate during the day time. We didn’t expect much as it’s a small village that only serves as a transit hub for travelers going to Luang Prabang.
We walked at night and found a restaurant that offered a hot pot. On our way we found scattered groups having a drink and singing karaoke. It reminds me of small towns in the Philippines but without the fireworks.
A local recommended us Hive Bar but they were already closing an hour before midnight so we went to the only other bar called Happy Bar. Most travelers, about 10 or less, were here. We got some free shots and got a Beer Lao. The atmosphere wasn’t so festive and unfriendly so we decided to go somwehere else.
We joined a group of locals celebrating at one of the few still open restaurants. They were happy to see us and were merrily celebrating the new year with songs and beer.
We took the slow boat the following day to Luang Prabang the following day. We ended 2019 on a slow boat and started 2020 on one again. Guess it will be a decade of memorable and scenic travels!
I compiled the video clips in Pakbeng, Laos on a New Year. Lots of locals singing. Happy New Year! :)
View this post on TravelFeed for the best experience.
I love your post! Kinda makes me regret I didn't come to Laos by slow boat. I just stayed in Luang Prabang for a few weeks and I absolutely loved it! I am sure you will have a great time there.
If you're interested check out my post about the pottery village in Luang Prabang :)
Thanks for writing this comment through TravelFeed.io!
You have received a 10% upvote from us. We hope to see you soon on TravelFeed.io!
Congratulations, Your Post Has Been Added To The Steemit Worldmap!
Author link: http://steemitworldmap.com?author=wanderein
Post link: http://steemitworldmap.com?post=celebrating-a-quiet-new-year-in-pakbeng-laos
Want to have your post on the map too?
Congratulations! Your high-quality travel content was selected by @travelfeed curator @elsaenroute and earned you a reward, in form of an upvote and a resteem. Your work really stands out! Your article now has a chance to get featured under the appropriate daily topic on our TravelFeed blog.
Thank you for being part of the TravelFeed community!Don't forget to participate in the TravelFeed.io travel writing contest by @invisusmundi for a chance to win up too 100 STEEM! Read the contest announcement for more information on how to participate.
We are continuously working on improving TravelFeed, recently we enabled Instagram embeds and made improvements to our EasyEditor.
Learn more about TravelFeed by clicking on the banner above and join our community on Discord.
Congratulations @wanderein! You have completed the following achievement on the Steem blockchain and have been rewarded with new badge(s) :
You can view your badges on your Steem Board and compare to others on the Steem Ranking
If you no longer want to receive notifications, reply to this comment with the word
STOPVote for @Steemitboard as a witness to get one more award and increased upvotes!