We spent the day at Nam Dee village, visiting their New Year celebrations.  Nam Dee is primarily a Lanten tribe village, and they also have some people from the Sida tribe living there also.  The Sida village is 4kms walk from Nam Dee, and the Sida people who want to be closer to town have moved in at Nam Dee.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It was so fantastic to see the tribes in their full tribal dress; the Lanten women almost always wear their traditional dress but the Lanten men, and the Sida tribe, don’t wear their’s very often. So it was really a once a year opportunity to see this display of beauty.  We spent part of the day hanging out with Jacob and Nate, Jacob is our friend in town who has been here a few months doing his PhD, and Nate has been in Laos on and off for about 10 years studying the cultures here and setting up the university, so it’s nice to have some ‘regular’ friends instead of only transient ones.

This is Guan and Korlee showing off some dancing moves for us. We got to join in on the dancing throughout the day, and also watch the dances specific to the different tribes. We were thoroughly impressed with the whole event, it really reminds us how different cultures in Laos can really be. It was really different to any Lao party we have ever been to (and there have been many!) and it was really enjoyable.  Our photos are here.