Water Festival

Writing in cushy comfort from the Anise hotel on Thursday. I’ve been having an unusual visit!

Tuesday was quite an adventure. I came to Phnom Penh in the hopes of being able to get at least a glimpse of the festivities – and never dreamed I’d end up with one of the best views in the house!

I took a moto toward the riverside, and we had to pay guards at several blocked-off streets to get through. I discovered that the passage price was 500 riel, except when the moto dop was carrying a foreigner, when the price mysteriously moved up to 2000 riel… Ah, well. He did get me all the way to the central park (near the Meta House), where I wanted anyway to get off and continue on foot.

The crowds were in high humor. People everywhere – very few tourists, in fact; almost all were Cambodians dressed up and wildly snapping pictures of each other everywhere. At first I was self-conscious about my camera, but then I noticed that there were dozens of people running around with some very nice cameras indeed. So I relaxed and began my wanderings.

Food vendors were everywhere, selling both things I recognized and some very intriguing things I’d have tried if I were hungry. Fried and fresh spring rolls, rice and grain goodies in bamboo sticks, buns, brochettes, “balut”, duck eggs complete with embryo… and one huge cart with a million different kind of “edible” bugs. No, didn’t try any, I’m not quite ready yet…) One could also buy quite an amazing selection of toys and gadgets, some, but not all, reflecting the theme of the holiday – the Cambodian Water Festival.

When I reached the Royal Palace, I stood and watched the guards preparing the short road from the Palace gates to the stand they had built so the king could enjoy the boat races in comfort. He was due to arrive in short order, so I waited to see if I could catch a glimpse of him, but I got tired of waiting after a while.

I made my way through the park toward the king’s stand. The area along the riverfront was roped off, but I saw that some people seemed to be getting through without showing a pass or paying anything. I looked past the ropes and saw that the ministry of tourism had set up a special stand with risers and upholstered chairs, and on a banner was printed in large letters “no charge for international visitors”.

So… I walked over to the guard and he smiled and waved me through… It was an unusual feeling, paying LESS (nothing in this case) to do something here in Cambodia; I’m so used to having to pay MORE just because I’m blond and pale. And a RICH foreigner, to boot (according to everyone here.)

The tourist stand was very comfortable. There were no seats left in the stand itself, but I climbed down the cement bank of the river and found a seat in the very first row! The river lapped at the bank about four yards below us, and we sat for hours watching the boats arrive, warm up, and then race. The king’s “tribune” was only about 80 yards to our right, and if I’d had the courage to walk further down the slanted cement bank, I’d have been able to see him when he finally did arrive.

While watching, I met two young men from France, Alex and Clément, who’d been there for hours already, and planned to stay to the last moment possible. We chatted, and I found them to be very interesting and amusing companions indeed… (Clément is a member of a well-known restaurant and nightclub family in Paris – a “Manouche”, as I learned within several minutes of meeting him… and Alex had to cancel our lunch appointment for today because he had been called to the Royal Palace with his uncle…)

The guys had been there since morning, and I stayed with them for about 4 hours as we watched.

First there were the rowing boat races. As each boat moved slowly past the king’s pavilion (and therefore us), an announcer called out the name of the team and all the rowers (and the crowd) cheered. They then made a right hook several hundred yards further down the river, and, two by two, raced toward two red flag-boats right in the middle. I learned today that one of the teams had lost a member on Monday when he fell overboard; his body was found two days later. It would have been poignant to know which team it was when they went past us on Tuesday, as they were determined to stick with the race in spite of the tragedy.

After the races, as the sun began to set, about 20 enormous, lighted floats began to position themselves downriver of the king’s stand. As dark fell, one by one, they sailed past us with the help of tugboats, some playing music, others with dancers, all with some kind of theme: telecommunications, world travel, the country of Cambodia. The boats were absolutely beautiful – I had seen some workers preparing them a couple of weeks ago from the island across from the city, but I hadn’t expected them to be so lovely.

The effect was more than slightly enhanced by a very impressive fireworks display from the island. Placed as we were, about as perfectly as humanly possible, we saw the fireworks display as a backdrop to the passing, lighted boats.

As the last of the boats finally sailed past, we decided we were hungry. So I took them to the FCC for drinks, and we were able to watch the boats as they all circled in front of us for another hour or so, before docking along the riverside and illuminating the crowds still moving slowly along the sidewalks.

We spent the evening together, talking about everything in the world… and I got home very late from an unexpectedly warming and fun time.

Yesterday was a similar “play day”. I got up very late, and met Alex for an afternoon wander. This time, however, it was a bit less exciting… The crowds were far worse than the day before, and as we explored the fun park that had been set up at the base of the riverside, we were more than once squeezed into a crush of people that caused us to grip our “assets” with firm hands. As night set in, a couple of near-fights broke out in the crowd around us – the young people had plenty of access to beer and wine – and we decided to get out of the mess. Back to the FCC for a drink again, and then we went back toward Independence Monument on foot (no sense trying to get any transport, as neither tuktuk nor moto could really get through the crowds.)

The Japanese restaurant we wanted to try was closed, but we had a very nice Thai dinner in the street near the hotel. I’m forever astounded at prices here… We had an “apéro”, a starter, and a main dish each (well, we shared the starter) and the whole bill came to $12. Expensive by some standards here, but once translated into Euros and then split in two… And the food was truly good.

So anyway, here I am on my last day in Phnom Penh for a while. I’ll be off on Saturday to the Vipassana meditation workshop with Arun, and so will be incommunicado for about 2 weeks. No email, no telephone, no books or anything, in fact. No talking, either… egads. Shall I survive?

There are some new photos on Picasa. If I have time in the next hour or so to get them ready, I’ll put up a few photos of the Water Festival festivities. Otherwise, they’ll have to wait until I get back from Battambang in a couple of weeks.

Love to all…

Bonnie