Boat Racing Festival In Vientiane - A Quick Guide
The Madness of the Boat Racing Festival in Vientiane If you happen to be in Vientiane around the end of Buddhist Lent, usually sometime in September or October, you’re in for one of Laos’s most spectacular, chaotic, and entertaining events: the annual Boat Racing Festival. This is not just some sleepy village race. It’s the biggest festival in the capital, and it turns normally laid-back Vientiane into a roaring, riverbank carnival where tradition, competition, and grilled chicken skewers all come together in perfect harmony. Or, more accurately, perfect chaos. The races themselves take place on a stretch of the Mekong River just outside the city center. Don’t expect to roll out of your hotel in downtown Vientiane and find yourself right at the action. Instead, the venue shifts a little downriver, which means everyone and their cousin is also heading that way at the same time. The result? Traffic that makes Bangkok look organized. Locals know this and park their motorbikes miles away...