Back to Luang Prabang and a solid hotel room. I had two days ahead to find things to do so after a fun saturday night Skype'ing the fam then drinking more while watching 'football' I woke hungover and set about pounding the streets.. The National Games are being hosted in Luang Prabang at the moment, after seeing a few games of Rakkan ball (an athletic cross between beach football and netball) I set about heading to the National Stadium to check out the other sports. Sadly I took the long route which didn't suite my head and belly but that's hard luck. Arriving there I walked into the stadium and took a seat in the stands.. Though nothing was on, so after 5 minutes recovering I walked to where cheering was coming from. Finding badminton taking place in a side-hall I watched for a small time but then set off back to town. Bumping into a few friends made over the past few days and weeks I went shopping looking for various items though avoiding buying til I'd seen every shop and market in town. Got my coffee in though.
Next day i rolled around checking the rates for travel to Vang Vieng, about 5-7 hours away by bus.. Booked for the day after the opening ceremony of the games gave us another day to try and fit in things we'd missed or otherwise.
The opening ceremony of the games was pretty interesting, we arrived just before 2 but for whatever reason it didn't start til 3.. An hour of parachuting followed by an hour of singers - we think one group from each province - then finally the parade began, led by a marching band and followed by flag bearers and athletes or coaches from the separate districts. The whole place was packed this time, at first we couldn't even enter the stadium though this seemed to relax after a certain time for an uncertain reason.. I've been stitching together this video of some highlights, excuse the sideways footage and questionable camera-wielding/editing etc.. Enjoy!!
www.youtube.com/watch?gl=US&hl=en&client=mv-google&v=X1_R2JHn6lA
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