Day of planning

Last night's thunderstorm put a stop to plans of tubing on the river today. The main bamboo footbridge connecting the village centre to a lot of accommodation collapsed, presumably from the high water levels.

That meant I could concentrate on planning my next destination. I'd been debating between Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam. While looking at restaurants in Siem Reap (Cambodia) I read that some places were closed for the water festival (Bon Om Touk). The festival runs from the 5th to 7th of November and apparently Phnom Penh doubles its population for 3 days. It marks a reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap River and celebrates the end of the rainy season. It's a huge deal and is the first official one since 2010.

I didn't want to miss out on the festival so I immediately started looking for flights. Within a couple of hours I'd booked a bus, 2 flights and a hotel. I'm a little sad to be leaving Pai but excited about the next stage.