It's the boat racing that brings most Cambodians in from the countryside to attend their annual water festival. Pride and bragging rights are at stake as provincial teams muscle their large boats down the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers.
The festival also celebrates a unique feature of the Tonle Sap; the monsoon increases the size of the lake 5-fold, and its depth from little more than a metre to more than nine. This eventually causes the river to alter its flow and it now heads, not towards the sea, but into the lake, thus ensuring a plentiful supply of fish.
The other attraction is surely the $2,000 prize for the winning boat. That's not a lot by Western standards but it's 5 times the average Cambodian income.
Once the boat battles have been won and lost and as night settles it is time for the spectacular lantern boats to make their appearance. They gently cruise the river before pulling into the riverbank to await the climax of the evening, the fireworks show.
With close to a million Cambodians pouring into Phnom Penh it's difficult to imagine where they all sleep. In the back of trucks, under trees and in the parks, I suppose. Torrential rain hit Phnom Penh for two nights of the festival so for some it must have been unpleasant. Hardy folk though the Cambodians, and almost all looked like they were having a whale-of-a-time.
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