I had a wonderful time visiting the Dai ethnic group.  They are good at singing and dancing and like water so much that they try to live by a lake or river.  They have a Water-splashing Festival to celebrate their New Year at which they row dragon boats and soak everyone when they go to the market.  They wish their guests happiness by sprinkling with a water-soaked branch. 

          We had planned to stay overnight at Jinghong, but there weren’t enough guest rooms there so we went to Ximao to put up for the night with the idea of returning the next day.  When we boarded the bus in the morning, however, we were surprised that so many people were armed with buckets and basins and squirt guns so they could have a water battle.    

          Upon arrival, there was a lot of water on the streets, but we thought that the sprinkling of water had probably been overstated.

          We went to a park by taxi, as there would be no water-splashing there, and we viewed tropical plants and took a lot of photos.  As it was very hot, we bought coconuts and while we were enjoying the cool, sweet milk our clothes suddenly became wet, and we heard laughter behind us.  It was from the seller who wanted to wish us happiness.

           As we were already wet, we decided to go to the streets where people were sprinkling each other.  We didn’t have squirt guns, but we got some basins and took part in the water battle like children.  We’d really go after people to get them wet.  That day we forgot how old we were and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.