New Years Eve events in Vientiane

I am quite impressed about what is going on in Vientiane between Christmas and New Year. There is a the Tiger Beer Event at Nam Phou Square, which is on of the most professional organized events I have seen in SE Asia so far. What I like is that the music fits the audience, both foreigners and locals, the bands are really good and now there business (means no playback), the sound is awesome (applause to the guy on the mixer, great job). Food is available, not that much, but enough for a small dinner, and of course beer is there for a fair price (11.000 KIP a big bottle). The organizers changed the program every day, from DJ to Guitar player to rock bands. Looking forward to today's and tomorrows program.


There is also an event at the cultural hall, sponsored by Beer Lao and the Government. The stage is bigger, of course, but the band seems to be from one of the hotels: Nice, but nothing special. So expect an atmosphere where people just sitting on tables and listing to a older guy singing Lionel Richie songs. Food is local, but well organized, and you can order your drinks with the beer girls. Again, it is not too bad, but it is not exciting, and this is something that you may expect for the end of the year.

So no wonder that the modern middle and upper class locals are more into the Tiger Beer event, while some of the average citizens are joining Beer Lao. But I believe that the Nam Phou event is more popular and just better done.

Sidenote: even if the Government sponsored events still lack international standards, they are much closer to that that any of the official Vietnamese events I attended.