Happy New Year, Laotian style

While the actual New Year began in December, Laotians wait until April to celebrate and we were lucky enough to be around when the celebrations began. The Laotian students here at Hong Duc are putting on quite a party; it began this morning around 9am and at close to 10pm, there's still loud music blasting. And today is just the beginning of a three-day celebration.

We were invited to join in and upon arrival, walking through the flower and balloon-strewn entrance, I had my neck doused with water from a large sprig of some plant or another. This would not be the first time I got wet. By the time I left, I'd water sprinkled, poured and over-sprayed onto me. I was wet down to my knees. We also got smacked with talcum-powdered hands, leaving traces of white on our hair and faces.

Other highlights included plenty of toasting with your drink of choice: juice, cola, beer or vodka. Plenty of food was spread around the tables, including sweets, fruits and those little meat things wrapped in banana leaves (someone help me with the name, please). The guys and girls danced beautifully with flowers in hand, sang traditional songs and just enjoyed themselves, despite the light drizzle that we had here (versus the hot, hot weather in Laos).