The Water Festival or Bon Om Touk is celebrated across the country on the full moon of the Buddhist month of Kadeuk, which generally falls at the end of October or sometime in November. This year Water Festival take place on 5th-6th November 2014 in Siem Reap River.
There are many Cambodian people and foreign tourists joint Water Festival this year. Siem Reap is a second Town after Phnom Penh where Water festival are celebrated. The Water Festival is one of Cambodian Traditional ceremony that attracted many tourists during their visit in Cambodia.
Dating back to the reign of King Jayavarman, the Water Festival marked the end of monsoon, the reversal of the Tonle Sap, and the start of the fishing season, with boats races and celebrations.
The Water Festival is celebrated all over Cambodia, however, it was cancelled the last few years due to heavy monsoon rains and widespread flooding.
As we discovered during Khmer New Year, and again today at the Water Festival, Cambodians love a celebration. They love to spend time with family and friends. No matter how rich or poor they are, everybody heads out for these events, from the old grannies to the littlest kids, pants or no pants.
Cambodians love to socialise and they love to party. They love nothing more than sitting around with loved-ones, drinking and eating, even if they’re poor and they are drinking and eating very little. They go out to have a good time and they make the most of it.
Cambodians love the communal aspect of holidays. They obviously enjoy being part of a community. Everybody cheered for every boat that was racing today. There was none of the favouritism, competitiveness or aggression that you see at so many of these sorts of events around the world. Everybody seemed to be there to support… well… everyone.
Cambodians are also incredibly warm, welcoming and friendly. They are generous with their smiles and greetings to foreigners and if they speak English they’ll ask you if you’re enjoying yourself and make an effort to include you.
During Khmer New Year, I was on the receiving end of a number of invitations to join the round dancing. Today, people simply made room for us to squeeze in to watch the river action and they apologised if they were in my way or we stepped on eachother’s toes.
We have also been witness to an increasing entrepreneurial spirit during our time in Cambodia, especially during public celebrations. We saw it during Khmer New Year but today… well, we’ve never seen anything like it in Cambodia before.
The leafy riverside streets of Siem Reap have been closed to traffic and behind the masses of people on the riverbank watching the boat races, there are hundreds of stalls lining the road.
The stalls are selling everything from children’s toys and cheap clothes to phone plans and rice cookers to cold drinks and street food. Ah, the street food… corn on the cob, steamed dumplings, barbecued sticks, grilled sausages, pickled fruits, baby duck eggs, crabs, you name it.
So despite what you read in the travel stories written by writers who’ve only spent a few days in the country, most Cambodians are not still suffering some extraordinary grief, struggling to come to terms with the tragedy of the Khmer Rouge years, and so on. (Although obviously some are.) But the vast majority of people – these naturally happy people – are enjoying life, and it’s evident everywhere today in this magic little city.
If you’re in Siem Reap now, forget Pub Street. Make a beeline for the riverside, and its roads and side streets, parks and gardens. Tomorrow is day two of the Water Festival and the action is set to start at 2pm with the boat race finals. In the evening there’ll be full moon rituals and more live music and fireworks. It’s a fantastic time to be in Siem Reap.
Water Festival gets a bad rap amongst expats. The week leading up to Water Festival is affectionately referred to as “robbery season,” because so many bag-snatchings take place. Every year, millions of Khmers from the countryside flood Phnom Penh (and to a much lesser extent, Siem Reap) and the streets are packed with families who have set up camp on the sidewalk, sometimes days in advance, waiting for the festivities to begin. Unsurprisingly, petty crimes rises when the city is flooded with poor relations.
This is what expats usually gripe about: the streets are packed, traffic is at a standstill, stores are closed, and crime is up. In 2010, there was a stampede during the Water Festival on Koh Pich in Phnom Penh that killed more than 350 people. There hasn’t been a Bon Om Touk celebration in the city since then, until this year.
But the Water Festival also offers a glimpse of Cambodian culture that shouldn’t be missed. If you’re in Phnom Penh, head to the riverside to watch the boat races. They have special grandstand seating set up for foreigners–or anyone willing to pay to sit there–that have unobscured views of the river. If you’re planning to head into the crowds, leave your valuables at home but bring sun protection and water. Once you find a seat you’ll probably not want to leave. In the evenings, there are fireworks.
Savvy Phnom Penh expats head to riverside apartments to watch the races. If you don’t have friends with a riverside balcony, considering getting a hotel room for the day. Check out the Hotel Quickly app for same-day hotel deals, if you sign up using the code MTCAM you’ll get a $15 credit (and so will we!). Agoda also often has good same-day deals on Phnom Penh riverside hotels.
Water Festival celebrations in Siem Reap are much less crowded but just as enthusiastic, with a carnival-like atmosphere, games and rides. Boat races celebrate during two day, 5th - 6th Nov , with 34 boats set to compete. Like the festival itself, the boats in Siem Reap are smaller but no less colorful. At night, there are floating candles and fireworks.
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