Monday, October 30. I walked through the morning market. Skinned hog’s heads. Caged birds (to release, thereby gaining good luck). Blood in baggies. 

Most of the day involved a boat ride up the Mekong. A discussion about the significance of the river to Laos. Dams for power first and irrigation second. Forced relocations with limited compensation. Virtually all the tour boats are exactly the same design and paint job. Communism at work?

Visited a very poor village. Food making for commercial sale. Rice cakes, flavored river-weed wraps. 

Very popular small caves (Upper and Lower) with thousands of buddha statues. I climbed to the Upper. Numerous women and children selling bracelets along the path.

Lunch on board. I skipped it.

The Mekong is mostly wilderness with occasional fishing activity. 

Returned to visit wood carving shops, silk factory, paper-making factory. The silk was overpriced, but the paper was both beautiful and inexpensive. Would have liked to buy some, but why? Our return to the hotel was in the rain via jumbos.

Rained a lot, putting a slight dampener on the evening’s festivities. Fortunately, the rain stopped. It was interesting to see how the locals handled the rain. Scooters riding with one hand, an umbrella in the other. Pedestrians essentially ignoring the rain. Few raincoats.

The celebration was about the end of the rainy season. Huge crowds. Huge. Paper floats of dragons, apparently made by high schoolers. We had an Italian dinner on the outskirts of town and spent twenty minutes in jumbos trying to make the eleven minute “walk” back to the hotel. Eventually we got off and indeed walked. Most bypassed the hotel to view the party. I had already grown frustrated with the crowds and turned in. Sporadic Fireworks.