The Buddha's Boat Shed

Over the past several months in southeast Asia, we have seen our share of Buddhist temples, shrines, and stupas. In Luang Prabang as well, we found no shortage of temples, but one in particular, Vat Sensoukharam, held a surprise. Tucked away behind a shrine building with an impressive golden standing Buddha, I discovered a boat shed. The shed contained two 75 foot (24m) slender racing boats, along with photographs of past events and crew members posing at the temple. The photographs appear to date from the late 1960’s, perhaps the glory days of these great veterans. I was truly impressed by the length of these canoes and by the number of crew (upwards of 50 by my count) required to paddle these boats.

I later learned that it is not uncommon for these racing boats to be stored at temples until the annual Luang Prabang boat racing festival, when they emerge for the competition. The festival ‘Boun Souang Heua Luang Prabang’ is held each year during the new moon of the ninth Buddhist lunar month, generally the end of August or the beginning of September. Traditionally the festival honors Naga, the mystical water snake, and the festivities hopefully pursuade the serpent to leave the flooded rice paddies to return to the river.

The Luang Prabang festival marks the beginning of the boat racing season in Laos, and someday I would love to witness the race, and feel the energy of the crowds lining the banks.

These 2 short videos produced by Tourism Luang Prabang offer an exciting look at the race:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RgZ5KNeEd0U

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J50XcvTSSlw