Water Festival

Today we were able to see the National event of the year, the Water Festival. This event marks the end of the rainy season and the reversal of the Tonle Sap River. During the rainy season the Tonle Sap runs upstream into the Tonle Sap Lake because of the overflow of the Mekong River. During this festival there are boat races comprised of people all over Cambodia. This year teams also came from Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand and competed. We chose to watch from above at a hotel restaurant because of the masses below. There is suppose to be an additional 2 million people in this city of 1 million who come to watch, sell their wares, and join in the fun. These long boats had as many as 70 members rowing in unison. It was quite interesting to watch. Pairs of boat would race one after another. We couldn't quite understand who was watching the finish line, who was timing, or how they determined what. But there must be a system because at times, teams would cheer. There are three days of this racing with over 400 boats competing. Many business are shut down during this week. I do not go to school and the English school here at the house is closed until Friday. So we have time to check out what is going on. However, the heat and the masses keep us close to home! We did have a wonderful birds eye view of the interesting festival.