The comment that I made in my last entry about the festival not being as busy as I thought came back to bite me.
I wrote on Tuesday,which was the first day of the festival,and by Thursday the streets had become progressively more packed,particularly at intersections.It took me an eternity to get to my apartment and at one point I stopped at a restaurant for an hour as it was obvious that I was going nowhere fast.
The three days were fascinating however,and I delighted in pounding the streets taking in the sights and sounds,eating all sorts of delights.....I was even offered cow's penis which is a delicacy by all accounts,but politely declined......and watching the Khmer people just have a good time.
On Thursday I spent most of the afternoon watching the races from the concreted over banks of the river,as my legs were starting to give out on me.Now for some reason I entered an enclosure for foreigners that was fenced off and covered in the new Ministry of Tourisms campaign entitled "Cambodia:Kingdom of Wonder"which has been extensively trailed on CNN.Whilst there was quite a lot of room compared with everywhere else,on the opposite side of the roped off area hundreds of Khmers packed together straining to see the finish line.It was all a bit strange and I seemed to be the only person who went over to try and talk to them,ask about their well being and just simply acknowledge their presence.Anyway,eventually some Khmers were allowed in and I happily sat and watched for three to four hours,taking the occasional photo and enjoying a great sunset and the ensuing firework display while the lighted floats went by.For the first time in Phnom Penh I even felt a wee bit chilly as monsoons to the north have resulted in the onset of the cool season with temperatures dropping to 17 deg. at night and a strong breeze to boot.
The city is now back to normal and the clean up has been fairly impressive.On Friday morning when I headed out I was surprised to see that most of the trash had disappeared,obviously collected by gnomes during the night.
I go back to work on Monday filled with memories that will stay with me for some time.If you get the chance to come out here,and you don't mind crowds then the Water Festival would be a good introduction...watch out for the cow's penis though!