Water Festival

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20th - 21st November 2010

I'm not sure if south-east Asia is always having festivals or if Aaron and I are just lucky with our timing. During our stay in Siem Reap the town held it's annual "Water Festival", where crews from around the area come to compete in boat races. The main festival, which lasts three days, is in Cambodia's capital Phnom Penh, but a smaller version is held in Siem Reap for two days.

A few days before the festival we saw some boats practising.

Aaron and I took a few rest days between temple tours. When we found the rare good wifi connection, which was advertised virtually everywhere, we caught up on blogs and I applied for a couple of stats jobs in Australia. We also discovered an excellent selection of gifts and paintings on sale, so we enjoyed some Christmas shopping. Haggling was common in Siem Reap, but I discovered that if you suggested a reasonable price, with a smile, to the vendor they usually accepted without further negotiation. The trick is finding out what an appropriate price is! When we were walking around town we missed having bikes, as the tuk-tuk drivers were constantly asking Aaron “Sir, tuk-tuk?” The day we visited the museum Aaron counted 25 inquests!

Our guide book warned us that the postal service in Cambodia was dubious, but we decided to risk it in an attempt to get our parcels to their destination by Christmas. When we reached the counter at the post office we were curtly told by the unenthusiastic attendant that it wasn't possible to mail to the US. He then abruptly disappeared to a back room to eat his breakfast before we got a chance to enquire if it was possible to send something to the UK. Soon after, a far more helpful man arrived and proceeded to box and weigh our gifts for the UK. He produced a printed price list and told us there was another $3 fee for customs. We weren't really clear why this fee wasn't included in the listed price, but wanting the package to at least make it out of this office we agreed and also tipped/bribed him another dollar. Despite our concerns the parcel arrived safely with weeks to spare! We later found out that the US had stopped accepting packages from certain countries after a bomb threat. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11696684  However we were able to mail the gifts from Vietnam to the US and they still arrived a few days before Christmas!

In the evening I checked out the festival.

Street vendors
Vendors lined the streets selling all kinds of food and drink. They also sold pretty, decorated, small floats with incense (but I missed when they floated them down the river). It was great to see the streets by the river filled with locals out enjoying themselves, rather than serving the foreigners, who dominated the streets in the centre of town.
Lights at the edge of the river.
Unfortunately I didn't know what time the races where, so I only caught some speeches at the end.
We watched fireworks from the roof of our hotel.
During the festival in Phnom Penh this year over 300 people were tragicly killed, when a panic broke out on an overcrowded bridge. http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/nov/22/scores-killed-cambodia-water-festival Aaron and I would like to express our condolences to the families of these people. The people of Cambodia have been through horrific trials in recent history and now this needless loss of life is another disaster they will have to cope with.

By Jean

Comments

Unknown said…
Thanks for the Christmas parcels. My had it great. We will send your pictures on when you have a settled address.
love M and D
2 January 2011 at 03:33
TomY. said…
I want to thank you and Aaron for sharing your adventures this past eight months. They have been enlightening to my knowledge of the real people and how they live in all the places you have visited.We also want to thank you for the nice gifts.
2 January 2011 at 07:26
Aaron said…
Hmmm... There seems to be a direct correlation between posting comments and receiving parcels.

Jean also noted that there seems to be a correlation between people who gave birth to/raised us and people who received parcels.

Further study is required.
2 January 2011 at 07:35
sly said…
I think EVERY day is a festival day for you two! Thanks for taking us along via blog.
2 January 2011 at 07:52
TomY. said…
Scout's honor, there is no bias on my part. I'm getting an insight through your travels; thanks.
2 January 2011 at 13:20
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