Let The Celebrations Begin!
>> Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Cambodia's second most important holiday week is about to begin. The most important is the Khmer New Year.
On 30 October, the King Father's (Norodom Sihanouk) birthday will be celebrated. On Monday, the Water Festival starts, featuring dragon boat races on the Tonlee Sap River, whose reversal of flow is the cause for celebration. Competitors and boats are arriving from all across the country.
The usual expectation is for two million visitors. Old-timers like me leave the city to the revelers, many of whom will sleep where they can and crowd to the riverfront during the day to watch the boats compete and each night to see the massive fireworks tower over the river and above the majestic lighted boats drifting on the black waters below. I will head down to Takeo to visit some Topaz gem mines on the Vietnamese border.
My Land Manager's family is traveling down from Ratanakiri. I invited them last year, but Chrorn said that it involved too much money. Since I am footing the bill this year, they will come! His five kids are very excited, none of them has participated before. They have relatives to stay with across the river in Bakhieng.
I told them my own version of the truth: "You got to do it once and it can be great fun. But to do it twice is probably crazy!"
