Monday, September 2, 2013

Night at That Luang Festival

That Luang Festival coincide with the full moon night of 12th lunar month on Wednesday,the 28th Novemebr 2012.
The next full moon will be on Sunday the 17th November 2013 and travelers to Chiangmai can witness the Yi Peng Festival while in Bangkok will be the Loy Krathong Festival.

That Luang Festival is a very grand Buddhist celebration in Vientiane,Laos PDR and the surrounding That Luang Park will also host the traditional trade fairs.food fairs as well as musical and cultural stage shows.


 The statue of King Setthathirat before the main entrance of the sixteenth century old Pha That Luang was quite an attraction with many visitors never missed having a photographic session here.
The late King Sai was the architect behind the construction of the grand stupa.










Main entrance arch into the  Pha That Luang.
On the eve of the festival,huge crowds of Buddhist devotees were already gathering to perform their annual pilgrimage.









Interestingly the securities personnel manning all entry and exit point to the sacred Pha That Luang Temple were Lao university students ensuring that the crowds behave orderly and do not carry any harmful belongings.This include body search as well.








That Luang Park is quite a huge compound and during the festival days,the place was specifically used as a Trade Fair ground.












 Scene similar to a night market but this is the biggest so far in Vientiane.









 Crowds near the garment section.
Garments in Laos is currently the single biggest manufactured export of the country supported by close to a hundred garment factories spread across the country.
Laos joined the World Trade Organization (W.T.O) in early 2013
sourcing:
1)PV Garment Co Ltd
2)Vision Manufacturing Co.
3)Shinawatra Garments Laos Co ltd
4) Hi-Tech Apparel Co Ltd
5) Midori Anzen

 Akhom Trading Company,an import and export business entity exhibiting some of the locally manufactured products.

The annual event trade fair  at That Luang is in collaboration with the Lao International Trade and Convention Center.








Lao Telecom ,the main mobile phone operator in Laos operated a classic  booth at the That Luang Festival Trade Fair giving out free gifts to visitors.
International access code to Laos is +856.
Area code for Vientiane is 021.
When calling to landlines,the first digit 0 is omitted whereas mobile lines code 020  is inclusive.




 

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