What Lao New Year and a Winnipeg Winter Have in Common

Revisiting the topic of "fun"...

I recently got back from a trip to Laos with a friend (hi Sarah!) where I was struck by how unbelievably attractive everyone was (but especially the young men).

I mean really, I couldn’t get over it (and don’t worry, my partner Uri won’t read this, but I told him anyway.) They were physically good looking, sure, but the insane allure I felt was more than that.

My trip coincided with Pi Mai (Lao New Year), which is basically a giant, two day long water fight. Except people aren’t “fighting”, they are playing. You can’t take more than five steps outside without getting a bucket of water dumped over your head by a shopkeeper, or shot in the stomach by bunch of smiling kids with water guns. Their joy is downright contagious.

Here I am trying to film a video and in the course of literally five seconds, getting three different buckets of water poured on me:

No wonder I found everyone so attractive: they were drenched in fun, oozing it from every pore.

Some of you may remember that I got into this whole newsletter writing business because I was feeling pretty passionate about how much “fun” was absent from our lives. I still believe that.

It’s hard to capture just how much ol’ fashioned fun people of all ages were having when I was in Laos. I’ve had a lot of fun in my life, and been to more than my fair share of festivals and parties, but it’s rare I partake in something that feels so harmonious, good natured, inclusive, and safe (my happy place, Coney Island, is a notable example!).

Unfortunately, so many of the “fun” events I have participated in are alcohol/drug-infused (e.g. St. Patricks Day, Mardi Gras etc), and though I’m no teetotaler, inebriated strangers scare me, always have. Or else they are more insular (like Christmas, which is very festive but for the most part celebrated within a family or community like a school/church) or exclusive (e.g. weddings, music festivals, sporting events etc). Some have outrageously high barriers to entry (hello Burning Man or 2-year MBA), or are inherently coercive (e.g. any work related party, however much fun I may end up having).

I’m a firm believer that fun can be had anywhere, but I think the best fun happens when any hierarchy, status, or distinction between insiders/outsiders is erased. Not only is Pi Mai (also known as Songkran, which is celebrated in other parts of SE Asia, though not where we are currently based in Vietnam) for everyone, the nature of the water “fight” means that everyone — young and old, rich and poor, farmer or tourist — engages with everyone else.

Here’s our hotel staff treating any passerby to a free shower, while kids swim in an inflatable pool across the street.

I could have watched them do this alllllll day, I’m not kidding. I did watch them with a big goofy grin on my face for about an hour until I had to leave to catch my train.

I’ve heard Carnival in Trinidad has a similarly joyous and inclusive atmosphere, Maybe it’s also no wonder I’ve hitched my ride through life to a Trinidadian! He swears to me that it’s not unusual to wine on anyone in your path at Carnival: teacher, cousin, police officer…in fact it’s expected. Despite how sexual the dance looks, it’s apparently not. I think I’ll just have to experience it to believe that though.

Anyway, getting water hosed onto your face by a group of sexy men is surprisingly refreshing, and not because they are tattooed and topless, or the new year coincides with the tail end of the extremely hot dry season (aka “burning season”) in Luang Prabang. I just couldn’t help but feel humbled, and like I was part of something more important than myself.

I also couldn’t help but think how much America would benefit from good dousing once a year. It reminds me of what I love most about Winnipeggers. Winter is the great equalizer, and nowhere is that more true than in Winterpeg. Spend enough days, then weeks, trying to go about your day in below forty degree temperatures and you will inevitably feel pretty damn humbled. And I gotta say, there’s something so special about people who think there’s nothing special about them.