Mekong Friendship Festival, 15-17 January
Tuesday, January 15, 2013 at 9:04AM This festival is held in Chiang Rai, Thailand. It is a festival to bring together the people of the the four countries the boarder the northern part of the Mekong River; Laos, Thailand, Burma(also known as Myanmar) and China.
The festival includes foods, dancing and what would a festival be without being able to buy things. According to one blog I found you could get many different things from artisan items to fake Prada.
They even have games similar to what I remember playing when I was a child at school festivals. The fishing game where they have a kiddy pool with plastic eggs and you get a one with a number that corresponds to a prize. The idea of having a fishing game in reference to a festival about the Mekong seems pretty appropriate to me considering how important the river is to those of this area.
The Mekong is the heart an soul of the area, I have a friend whose family is from Laos and the number of times I have heard her say that if you want to heal something you just need to swim in the Mekong I don't think I could count. Her mother apparently says this all the time. I know that this is how many people left Laos after the United States left Vietnam after the war. They crossed the river to find safty in Thailand on their way to live in other parts of the world.
Links: http://www.thailand.com/travel/festival/festivals_chiangrai_mekong%20friendship.htm
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