| The Water Festival is held on the full moon of the eleventh month each year, at the end of the rainy season. At the beginning of the rainy season three months ago, the rising Mekong River caused the Tonle Sap River to flow northward into Tonle Sap Lake, the largest freshwater lake in Southeast Asia. Now as the Mekong drops, the Tonle Sap River has reversed and is again draining the lake into the Mekong. It is the largest and most exuberant of all the many Cambodian holidays, and about a million people pour into the capital city, doubling its size for this weekend. The major event is three days of boat racing. 400 long narrow boats, each paddled by 50-75 men--and sometimes women--race in pairs over a kilometer course with a finish line in front of the royal palace. The boat races and the gathering of humanity are quite a spectacle. |
All the streets leading to the river are blocked off so thousands of people fill the roadways on their way to the festivities and viewing points.
The races are extremely well organized, with heat after heat of the the pairs of racing boats making their way down the Tonle Sap River. Whoever organizes the boat races ought to be set up as prime minister. He or she knows how to get things done!
Many people sit along the river levee and watch the races, but many thousands more are on the move on the road above the river. Probably every third person is selling something and many of the others are buying. It is a truly joyful celebration of a simple people in a simple culture, taking a long weekend off from hot and backbreaking manual labor to have fun and relax with their families and friends.
A racing crew taking a short lunch break. The boats and paddlers come from all the country, many of them walking their boats here on special trolleys with bicycle wheels. While here the provincial people not fortunate enough to have Phnom Penh relatives just sleep in the open or in school compounds.
One of the crew takes a dip in the Tonle Sap River after their heat is finished. That's a rather risky endeavor given the level of pollution in Cambodia's streams.