This Means (Water) War!

The biggest water fight that exists (that I found) is the Thingyan holiday, aka “the water festival” in Myanmar. It’s celebrated over the course of 5 days in April according to the Buddhist calendar and is the most important holiday of the year. In the past, it was a traditional part of the festival to sprinkle water into a silver bowl, to metaphorically “wash away ones sins” before the beginning of the new year. However, this has morphed into an all out water fight involving buckets, hoses, and water guns that persists throughout all 5 days.

From my research - During the 5-day celebration there are people everywhere on every street with buckets, hoses and water guns just waiting for someone to walk or drive by. For the exception of monks, it's said that no one is exempt. Women, young children, the elderly, a car with a window rolled down, everyone gets a bucket of water poured on them if they are out in public. Foreigners are especially popular to douse and when a foreigner is spotted word goes out quickly in the surrounding area so they can have their water-spraying implement ready to begin an active pursuit of the targets.

Any downers to this?

During the festival everything shuts down - the markets, many restaurants and shops, transportation in and out of town… so you can get stuck in Mandalay or Yangon for the full 5 days. This can mean that during the festival you cannot leave your guesthouse or hotel without getting soaked, and the water used is not clear or clean.

Some guests may feel trapped in the hotel room because you don’t want to get your last dry t-shirt soaking wet. On the other hand where else you can go in the world and be able to carry a Super Soaker drenching anyone, anywhere without violating some social norms and/or getting arrested?

In the states

Kiss of Death has become a cult obsession among Peter Pan syndrome Los Angelenos. The game’s founder is even considering a reality show based on the game. Kiss of Death is an intricately planned version of hide-and-seek using the city as the “playing field.” No one is “safe” anywhere or at any time. Players sign up at the StreetWars website; they then receive a packet containing the name, contact information, home and work addresses, and a photo of their intended target. The mission: to “assassinate” them with a water gun, and ultimately, to be the last dry person standing. KOD players are cutthroat. One player brags about anther who was water assassinated because she thought she was going a job interview at a movie studio only to get to the lot and be “killed” by her “assassin”.

Remember those tiny, translucent-plastic squirt guns you ran around with as a kid? Filling them from the water hose faucet and splashing your friends from a foot away with water wounds that could easily be treated with a couple of sheets of paper towels. Yea, they were cute.

Today's water war technology leaves those discount store pistols in the past along with Lincoln Logs and Cabbage Patch dolls. Instead of a silly little splash of water, today’s water weaponry launches a 20-ounce surge of water in a mere second or maintains a 40-foot stream for a full 30 seconds that is anything but a splash of water. Forget the paper towels; bring a few terry cloth beach towels and a change of clothing. The “toys” of today have names like Super Soaker, Water Balloon Slingshot, Flash Flood and Stream Machine which shoots water up to 70 feet! These are nothing less than implements of modern (water) warfare meant for serious water fights.

If you're looking for the right sidearm to lead a platoon into water combat, ready to sign up to be a water assassin or if you just need to defend yourself from the nasty neighborhood girls (or boys), grab one of the latest modern (water) warfare weaponries of today and suite up for war!

Cyber Tracker