Every October many provinces around Laos light up with fire breathing water dragons. The festival Lai Heua Fai marks the end of Buddhist lent (known as Boun Awk Phansa) which spans three lunar months from the full moon in July to the full moon in October. The festival is second only in scale to the New Year celebrations in Laos. If you’re wondering what time of year to visit Laos, you should seriously consider this magical festival into your decision.

The festival is all about paying homage to the Nagas or water spirits in the Mekong River which will then bring good luck for the year in return. To do this each Laotian builds a little boat called a Krathong by wrapping a piece of banana trunk in banana leaves and decorating it with marigolds, a candle and incense. It is possible to buy Krathongs at many shops and stalls around the towns, but we stumbled across the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (“TAEC”) in Luang Prabang where you could build your own at their arts and crafts workshop. This was a thoroughly enjoyable experience and it was quite straight forward as all the materials were provided.

20,000 of these little boats are launched into the Mekong River every year, each one with a moment of meditation and a wish to bring good luck to its architect. It is said that if both you and your lover’s Krathongs float down the river together you will meet again in your next life – one of ours turned upside down and sank instantly, so make of that what you will.

It is popular for tourists to pay for a boat trip out into the Mekong to launch their Krathongs, but this is not essential. We joined the locals by clambering down the steep stairs on the bank of the Mekong and launching ours from a little platform at the water’s edge.

Luang Prabang is a fantastic place to experience the festival, as all the temples are adorned with candles and surrounded by hundreds of colourful paper lanterns throughout the build up to the big day. On the evening itself, all the surrounding villages pour into the town centre wheeling the most magnificent dragon boats. Each boat is made primarily from paper layed-up over a wire frame which is bent into intricate curves to form the head, body and tail of the dragon. The dragons glow brightly with hundreds of candles placed inside each one.

The dragon boats form a line and parade slowly up the main street of Luang Prabang accompanied by music, dancing and singing. The parade works its way up the main street and culminates at Wat Xieng Thong temple. Here the best dragon boat is crowned and at about 9pm they are all launched into the Mekong River creating one of the prettiest boat races you will ever see. The huge shining dragons navigate between the thousands of tiny flickering lights of the Krathongs, already bobbing down the Mekong, bringing good fortune to all.

Here is how we recommend taking part in the festival in Luang Prabang.

1. Build your own Krathong at the Traditional Arts and Ethnology Centre (“TAEC”)
2. Hunker down on the terrace of Novelty Cafe and have dinner while watching the magical parade of dragons pass
3. Catch up with the parade as it turns into Wat Xieng Thong for the finale
4. Watch the launch of the dragon boats into the Mekong
5. Launch your little Krathong (and don’t forget to make a wish)

If you are interested in reading more about travelling in Laos, please have a look at our 10 Day Itinerary in Laos. It was certainly one of our favourite trips so far, and we’d recommend it to anyone.