Beyond the communists and the monks, the rest of the parade was a bit hard to figure out. The line between spectators and participants was very blurred, as everyone knows everyone so the two groups were always stopping to chat with one another. The one theme I remember was vegetables, as each town in the district sent a delegation, and they each chose their favorite vegetable and carried a big plastic replica of said vegetable down the street. Apparently that wasn't that photogenic because I don't have any photos of it, so I've left you instead with the usual assortment of hill tribes, elephants, a man paddling a boat down the street, etc. You get the idea.

Surprisingly, there was also a huge contingent of monks in the parade. I don't normally associate monks with parades, but it did make for some nice photos.

Some more communists, although the youngest ones seem to be a bit less organized than their older comrades.

Finally the day for the big Songkran parade. I guess this is a Lao thing, because parades don't feature in Thailand's celebration. The parade is a mess, as is to be expected, but interesting nonetheless. In the neighboring countries, Songkran is best known for religious ceremonies in the morning, water fights all day and getting drunk at parties at night. A formal parade, complete with perhaps the world's only remaining hammer and sickle symbol and marching young communists, doesn't really blend with this spontaneous fun.