Cambodia cancels Water Festival as floods worsen

October 14, 2011
ABC Radio Australia

The Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen has cancelled the annual Water Festival celebrations because this year's severe flooding.

He says money that would have been spent on the mid November Festival - which feature dragon boat races in Phnom Penh - could be better used to help those affected by flooding.

The prime minister says the water levels of the Tonle Sap could pose a risk for the million or so Cambodians who usually migrate to the capital to celebrate.

Last year's event ended in tragedy when more than 350 people were killed in a stampede on a narrow bridge.

Presenter: Liam Cochrane

Speaker: Seda Douglas, head of Radio Australia's Khmer Service

Click here to listen to the audio program (Windows Media)

Yearly Water Festival in Lowell Continues to Grow

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=20SYkYXCbIM&feature=player_embedded

After the prayer, celebrants followed the monk to a nearby canal, to release floating bowls called “kantoung” meant to ward away evil spirits and bad luck. (Photo: by Pin Sisovann)

Thursday, 25 August 2011
Pin Sisovann, VOA Khmer | Lowell, Massachusetts

“I’ve seen the festivities continue to develop.”

The 15th annual Southeast Asian Water Festival got under way in Lowell, Mass., last weekend, with a monks’ blessing, prayers and a race of eight boat teams.

As it has in the past, the festival opened with blessings to chase away evil spirits, bad karma and ill luck, followed by traditional and rap music performances.

Some prayed for their health, safety and long life, while others wished for peace and the safety of Cambodian and US soldiers.

“Life is vulnerable and uncertain,” prayed venerable monk Ajahn Mang Kone, of the Buddhahavana pagoda in Lowell, which is home to a large Cambodian-American population. “So while we are still on our life path, we need to do good things, good deeds. I would now invite all of us to pray together for safety, peace and happiness.”

Century old tradition lives on through Lowell volunteers

 

Fri, Aug 19, 2011
By Dahnie Tran
Originally posted at http://bit.ly/lowell-water-festival

LOWELL, MA – Once a major American industrial center in the 19th century is now home to one of the largest Cambodian populations in the world and the host of a century old Southeast Asian tradition. The Water Festival or Bonn Om Touk in the Khmer language celebrates the significance of water as a source of food, transportation and livelihood. In Cambodia the festival marks the reversal of the Tonle Sap River, which kick starts the end of the rainy season and the start of the fishing season. But in Lowell, the festival is packed with cultural activities, music entertainment and boat racing. The 15th Annual Lowell Water Festival will be held on Saturday, August 20th from 10 AM to 4 PM.

Organized by the Southeast Asian Water Festival (SEAWF), the full day event has been hosted in Lowell for 14 years. The event brings not only Cambodians but the larger Southeast Asian American communities together. Starting in 1997, Samkhann Khoeun, then Executive Director of the Cambodian Mutual Assistance Association (CMAA), spearheaded the movement to bring the event to the community. It became such a success that by 2002 it had expanded to include other Southeast Asian communities, namely Lao, Burmese, Vietnamese and Thais. The event symbolized the unity of Lowell’s rich ethnic diversity.

The SEAWF is celebrated every third Saturday in August, unlike Cambodia, which annually celebrates the festival for three days in early November. An estimated 50,000 to 60,000 people from all over America and even from other countries come to take part in the festivities, which include the monks’ blessings, Southeast Asian cuisine, one-of-a-kind arts and crafts, performances such as traditional dances to modern musical routines and the highly anticipated boat races.

Cambodian water festival will continue despite tragedy

People place offerings and incense sticks for the victims of the stampede near the Diamond Gate bridge, site of a stampede late on November 22 which left nearly 350 people dead, in Phnom Penh on November 25, 2010 as Cambodia holds a national day of mourning. (HOANG DINH NAM/AFP/GETTY IMAGES)

Fri Nov 26 2010
By Lauren Crothers
Special to The Star

PHNOM PENH—The bodies lay on mats, some cocooned in clear plastic body bags. Others were shrouded with thin, white sheets, some blotted with specks of blood. The bodies seemed innumerable, filling the porch area of a makeshift morgue on a sandy plot in Khmer Soviet Hospital.

An anxious crowd overwhelmed hospital officials, sitting at a little table nearby laden with papers and photographs of corpses bearing ID numbers. Relatives wanted to know where their loved ones were.

This was an end no one saw coming when the annual water festival, which ushers in the end to the monsoon season and marks the reversal of the flow of the Tonle Sap river, on the banks of which this mostly sleepy Cambodian capital lies.

The festival, in many ways, is the event of the year, marked by boat races, concerts, fairground rides and an influx of up to 3 million people this year — mostly from the provinces — to the city.

The long stretch of open park area from Independence Monument to the riverbank is crammed with stalls selling everything from face whitening cream to laundry powder to prawn crackers in bulk — and the constant, high-pitched drone of promotional specials make sure the crowds here can’t ignore it.

What usually takes a 10-minute walk from the monument, built to mirror one of Angkor Wat’s iconic pagodas, can take almost an hour during the festival. While many of roads are closed to traffic, that doesn’t mean the driver of a moto, the preferred method of transport here, will obey.

So the crowds negotiate each other, the blaring speakers and rogue motos. The throng is headed in the direction of Koh Pich, or Diamond Island, a short walk over one of two bridges connecting it to the mainland. The people are here for food, the fair, perhaps a concert or some Japanese wrestling. The entire experience is a sensory overload, punctuated by the fact that no one can really get anywhere quickly. It’s an awkward, shuffling, dodging, waiting game when there are millions of people headed in the same direction.

And on Monday, the final night of festivities, the sheer number of people coupled with a comparatively small bridge resulted in a stampede that left at least 347 people dead, and nearly 400 more injured.

A government investigation found that thousands of revellers cramming the bridge panicked as it began to sway under their weight. Some shouted that the structure was going to collapse; the crowd pushed and heaved, setting off the stampede.

It was the kind of tragedy people here are saying they have not seen here since the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979.

Behind the cordoned-off scene on Friday night, in the shadow of the Nagaworld Hotel and Casino, crowds gathered to light incense, say prayers and just stare at what some are now calling the “Bridge of Ghosts.”

Sem Sophea, 36, a businessman in Phnom Penh, came to see the site for himself, having spent the first day of the festival in the beach resort town of Sihanoukville, about three hours away, and the second at home with his family.

“The way it generally works is that the city people keep their distance, while the people from the provinces flock here,” Sophea said. “They want to experience city life, see the development, go to the carnivals. City people have seen it all before — they just want some peace and quiet.”

The water festival, which will continue next year, is steeped in tradition, typified by boat races and a carnival atmosphere. Now it will be irrevocably connected with the tragedy.

Cambodian festival to go ahead next year despite stampede

Friday, November 26, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH — The Cambodian capital will continue to host an annual water festival despite the deaths of nearly 350 people at this year's event in a stampede on a bridge, an official said.

"The ceremony will still be held as usual," said Chea Kean, deputy secretary general of a government festival committee, adding that it was an "age-old tradition" in the country.

He said it was too soon to say whether Cambodia's most popular festival would attract as many visitors next year in the wake of Monday's disaster, in which 347 people lost their lives, 221 of them women.

"Let's wait and see when we get nearer to the event," said Chea Kean.

The three-day event, which marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, usually draws millions of visitors to the capital to enjoy dragon boat races, fireworks and concerts.

The festival ended in tragedy after crowds panicked on an overcrowded bridge leading to an island that was one of the main event sites.

Authorities said a full report on the incident would be released next week.

Initial findings from an investigating committee suggest the stampede occurred after rumours rippled through the crowd that the suspension bridge to Phnom Penh's Diamond Island was about to collapse.

The crossing, where people have been gathering to mourn and lay out candles, flowers and food offerings for the souls of the deceased, remained closed to the public on Friday although an official has said it will reopen soon.

Prime Minister Hun Sen has described the disaster as Cambodia's worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 reign of terror, which killed up to a quarter of the population.

Cambodia Bridge Tragedy

November 23, 2010
By Luke Hunt
The Diplomat

Tragedies in Cambodia always seem to have an air of inevitability about them. The anti-Thai riots in 2003, 40-odd land mine victims a month, massive slum fires, routine floods, occasional droughts and unrelenting street crime have all left their mark on the country’s return to peace over the past 12 years.

But in terms of loss of life, none can surpass the sheer numbers and total senselessness that resulted from the bridge stampede on Monday night, during the final celebrations of the annual Water Festival.

At last count, the death toll from the Diamond Island Bridge disaster was 349, and still rising.

Hindsight is often discredited as too convenient and too late. But like the anti-Thai riots almost eight years ago, the second and third slum fires at around the same time and the culture of impunity that allows crime to flourish, this stampede and ensuing crush was sadly not unexpected.

For the uninitiated, the Water Festival – marking the end of the rainy season when the Tonle Sap changes directions and feeds into the Mekong River – is an extraordinary, colourful event attracting three to four million people each year to the capital. Here they cram and bunk down along the banks of the Tonle Sap, Sisowath Quay and within just two to three city blocks, each person angling for a view of the boat racing that dominates the festival.

Almost every man and his family will at some point make the annual pilgrimage from the remotest parts of Cambodia where much of the population spent decades in isolation because of on-going wars. Up to a quarter of the country’s entire population can be seen within a few square miles of each other once the festival gets underway.

Between boat races, Cambodia’s country cousins can be seen checking out the buildings of the Big Smoke, the local restaurants and an array of shops that stand in total contrast to life back home.

Among my fondest memories was settling in for a Water Festival weekend with a group of friends on a first floor balcony of the Foreign Correspondents Club, which commands a terrific vista along the river front, the races and the heaving spectacle below.

One family had adopted the common practice of walking Indian file along Sisowath Quay through the crowds with one hand on the shoulder of the person in front to make sure they didn’t get separated. Once outside the FCC they noticed us, about 10 Westerners well armed with wine, beer and whiskey, dining out on a pretty extensive spread, looking like a tribe of well-fed chimpanzees in a zoo.

Upon deciding we were worth further investigation this family carved out a space in the middle of the throng, laid out a blanket on the road, sat down and ate their lunch in front of us, often pointing and sharing a laugh while ogling the odd white people on the balcony above.

The Water Festival is when the country comes to town and in Cambodia the sheer weight of numbers that arrive each year for the nation’s biggest party can be terrifying.

Most Westerners and many Cambodians who live in the capital leave Phnom Penh during this period as the country’s poorest and least educated drink, gamble on the races and basically take over the streets.

Cambodia crowd control measures would infuriate and leave their more experienced counterparts elsewhere in South-east Asia and beyond totally aghast.

For the most part, Phnom Penh is safe during the water festival. But when the authorities investigating the bridge stampede sit down and ask themselves who could have seen this coming, the answer really should be everybody.

Boy drowns during festival

Dragon boat teams steer towards the bank of the Tonle Sap river on Saturday as the first round of competitions kicked off in Phnom Penh. Two racers were injured in Saturday’s competition, while five boats capsized. (Photo by: Heng Chivoan)

Monday, 22 November 2010
Buth Reaksmey Kongkea
The Phnom Penh Post

AN 8-year-old boy drowned on the first day of the Water Festival, while five boats were sunk after the first two days of races, leaving two competitors injured.

According to witness accounts reported to police, the boy was trying to collect bottles and empty cans that had been discarded at the Tonle Sap river’s edge on Saturday, when he was swept away by the river’s current and then submerged under the Royal Palace’s boat.

Phnom Penh deputy police chief Pen Rath said yesterday that authorities were still searching for the victim’s body.

“He disappeared on Saturday about noon near the Royal Palace’s parade, at the Water Festival ceremony, while he was swimming to collect the empty bottles and cans for sale,” he said.

He says the Water Festival attracts at least 100 children who swim in the river to collect rubbish for money every year, and that the police “have to prevent them from entry into the sites”.

He added that this year more police have been stationed along the river to prevent children from entering the water.

Meanwhile, five boats were sunk on the first two days of racing – two from a crash, and three from capsizing – which resulted in two injuries, one of which authorities said was serious.

“The reason why the boats sunk during the race is because some rowers do not have experience and they hit each other during the competition,” said Chea Kean, deputy general director of the National

Committee for Organising National and International Festivals. “However, they all are lucky because they were immediately rescued by competent rescue services.”

The NCONIF had little details about the injuries, but said that one paddler had sustained a serious arm injury, while another participant was in stable condition following a leg injury.

The other paddlers were picked up from the water by rescue boats. Police officials said that 5,000 officers have been deployed to the streets of Phnom Penh this year to ensure spectator safety and to regulate traffic.

Pen Rath said that four people had been arrested on allegations of theft, while two children who had been separated from their families were successfully returned once the parents were found.

The NCONIF said that 420 boats were taking part in this year’s festival, compared with 391 from last year.

According to Phnom Penh Municipality officials, an estimated 3 million people have travelled to the capital so far to take part in this year’s festivities.

Cambodia's water festival in full swing

November 22, 2010
ABC Radio Australia

Cambodia's annual Water Festival is in full swing, attracting up to three million people to the capital Phnom Penh.

For the past two days hundreds of canoes packed with up to 70 paddlers each have raced on the Tonle Sap in the capital in the annual four-day event, which ends on Tuesday.

Presenter: Robert Carmichael

Speakers: Kea Kim, team racing boss from Kampong Cham; Ruah Saran, WorldVision; Rong Chhin, team racing boss from Kampong Chhnang

CARMICHAEL: A racing team from the central province of Kampong Chhnang paddles slowly up the Tonle Sap River on Friday as they prepare for a practice run at this year's Water Festival.

The festival is Cambodia's biggest event, and marks a 12th century naval victory. Winning the rowing races is also a matter of enormous pride, and to that end more than 400 teams have come to Phnom Penh from across the country to compete.

Cambodia's rural majority have a tough time for much of the year. The Water Festival allows them to visit the capital and take a few days off from back-breaking agricultural work.

Sixty-three year old Kea Kim is here from Kampong Cham province in the southeast. He is a veteran of the Water Festival, having attended his first aged 16. In that time he has seen plenty of changes.

KEA KIM: There are a lot more boats now than in the old days, and these days the boats are much longer. Previously we could get up to 40 people in a boat; now the boats take nearly 70.

CARMICHAEL: Kea Kim says wealthy businessmen sponsor some boats, but many other canoes - including his - rely on the people in their villages to give cash and food for the trip to the capital.

But the lack of cash hasn't damaged his team's confidence.

KEA KIM: I am not afraid of the other boats, if it has the same number of men rowing, then my boat will certainly win.

CARMICHAEL: Among those who have come to Phnom Penh are thousands of sex workers, who can earn 100 dollars a day during the festival, around five times their usual earnings.

Kea Kim's team of rowers stay on his old houseboat on the river during the festival. To minimize the HIV risk, he has banned them from going out late at night.

Others are also concerned about HIV. Organizations like WorldVision are doing the rounds, dispensing condoms and advice on sexual health to competitors.

Ruah Saran is one of a team of women from WorldVision talking to racers about sexual health. She says the subject embarrasses most of them.

RUAH SARAN: But some men are happy because our message is: Don't forget about HIV if you are in Phnom Penh to enjoy the Water Festival. And don't take HIV home to your wife. And that is a message they are happy to hear.

CARMICHAEL: Down at the riverside, rice farmer Rong Chhin heads up a team from Kampong Chhnang. He thinks 2010 could be their year.

RONG CHHIN: This year I selected every man on the team - they are all very, very strong. I removed the weaker men, because they didn't have enough strength and they looked thin so we let them rest this year. I had to find very strong paddlers, so I hope we will win.

CARMICHAEL: Rong Chhin's team were kind enough to take me out in their boat on a practice run on Friday. The only rule: Stay as low as possible in the canoe to avoid being hit on the head by an oar.

So while I lie nearly fully reclined in the canoe, Rong Chhin's team of 50 men stand on the gunwales paddling us upstream to the bridge.

We reach the top point, then turn and race with the current downstream to the finish line opposite the palace, about three minutes paddling away.

It's as competitive as it is wet, as we speed along midstream on this wide stretch of river.

CARMICHAEL IN BOAT: Well you couldn't accuse them of not trying. They are absolutely putting their backs into this, and we are tearing down the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh doing - I don't know what speed - but a lot faster than you could swim, that's for sure.

And as you can hear it's very much a team effort as we head towards the finish line. By all accounts they should do pretty well if enthusiasm is anything to go by. And we are coming up to the Royal Palace, which is the end line of the race.

If this was a real race not a practice they would have another team next to them and it would be even more intense and frenetic than it is already, which is hard to believe. So it's a last push to the finish line and with that this is Robert Carmichael, somewhat damp, in the bottom of a Water Festival canoe in Phnom Penh for Radio Australia.

Livelihood of boat racers: 500 riels toilet

Millions flock to Phnom Penh for annual Water Festival

Nov 20, 2010
By Robert Carmichael
DPA

Phnom Penh - 'This year I selected all the men on the team, and they are all very, very strong,' says boat leader Rong Chhun, a lean, weathered rice farmer from central Kampong Chhnang province.

'The weaker men lacked strength so I let them rest this year,' he says, standing on the deck of an old wooden boat moored in Phnom Penh on the west bank of the river.

The boat doubles as accommodation for his 50-strong team of rowers.

'So I hope with this team we will win.'

It is Rong Chhun's fourth Water Festival, and he is not alone in his hopes of glory. Saturday marked the first day of a four-day holiday that celebrates a famous 12th-century naval victory.

But more relevantly, the Water Festival is a chance for millions of the country's rural majority to take a break from agricultural work and head to the bright lights of Phnom Penh.

And it also brings the chance of glory for more than 400 teams that have come from across Cambodia to race in the long, wooden canoes.

Over four days, the teams race each other in pairs down a short stretch of the Tonle Sap river.

The houseboat of another team leader, Kea Kim, is moored a hundred yards upriver. He is a festival veteran, having first come when he was 16, and his face is as weathered as the planks on his boat.

He says the years have seen many changes.

'There are many more boats now than in the old days, and the boats are also much longer,' he says. 'Previously, we could fit 40 people ona boat, but now we can take nearly 70.'

Kea Kim says sponsorship helps. Teams luckier than his have patrons who pay for food and travel expenses. Having a sponsor also allows the teams to take time off for practice.

'But we are not afraid of any of the other boats,' he says. 'Provided they have the same number of men as my boat, we will certainly win.'

But it is not just spectators and teams of rowers who have flocked to the city. Thousands of sex workers have come too, lured by the opportunity to earn up to 100 dollars a day, five times what they would usually make.

And while the authorities have pledged to arrest those engaged in prostitution, others are preaching the benefits of safe sex. WorldVision, an international NGO, has sent several teams of staff to talk about HIV/AIDS.

WorldVision's Ruon Saran says it is vital to educate competitors and spectators during the Water Festival, even though most are embarrassed to discuss condom use.

'But some of the men are happy because we have come here to tell them: Don't forget about HIV when you are in Phnom Penh. And don't take HIV back home to your wife,' she says.

Back on his houseboat, which doubles as sleeping quarters for his team of 50 men aged between 20 and 50, Kea Kim endorses the message. He says the presence of HIV is another change from the old days.

To combat the scourge, Kea Kim has banned the men on his team from leaving the boat for long stretches at night.

In a rest area for the men on the riverbank, the talk is more about strategy and planning than about STDs. Helmsman My Seyhang came from remote Kratie province in the northeast for his sixth festival and shares a few tips.

'Of course you have to make the boat go as fast as possible,' he says. 'And we need a strong boat with a good spirit, since that way we will win easily.'

'But it is the same for us as it is with boxers - if they don't practice enough, they will lose.'

And while many teams have been able to practice as a team for perhaps a week or two, his men have been working hard for months.

'This year we have had a lot of time to practice, and so I am hopeful that this year we will win,' he says.

Water Festival Day 1: Cambodia's Beauties

A Cambodian girl sits on the bow of a wooden boat during a boat race held as part of a water festival on Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. The three-day annual festival, starting Saturday, is to dedicated to the kingdom's ancestral naval warriors, moreover to the mighty river that provides vital natural resources and fishes to Cambodians. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

A Buddhist monk blesses dragon boat paddlers before they start their race along the Tonle Sap River during the first day of the annual water festival in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010. The festival runs from November 20 to 22 with hundreds of racing boats from different Cambodian provinces taking part in the festival. REUTERS/Chor SokuntheaAdd caption

Participants paddle their dragon boats along the Tonle Sap River during the first day of the annual water festival along the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010. The festival runs from November 20 to 22 with hundreds of racing boats from different Cambodian provinces taking part in the festival. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Competitors paddle their dragon boats on the Tonle Sap River during the first day of the annual water festival in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010. The festival runs from November 20 to 22 with hundreds of teams participating. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

A dragon boat captain prays before the start of a race along the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010, during the first day of the annual water festival. Every year, hundreds of dragon boats from different Cambodian provinces will gather to participate in the festival which runs from November 20-22. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea 

Competitors paddle their dragon boat along the Tonle Sap River in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010, during the first day of the annual water festival. Every year, hundreds of dragon boats from different Cambodian provinces will gather to participate in the festival which runs from November 20-22. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Rowers head the to the start line before a boat race held as part of a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. The three-day annual festival, starting from Saturday, is to dedicated to the kingdom's ancestral naval warriors, moreover to the mighty river that provides vital natural resources and fishes to Cambodians. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Rowers head to the start line of a boat race held as part of a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. The three-day annual festival, starting Saturday, is to dedicated to the kingdom's ancestral naval warriors, moreover to the mighty river that provides vital natural resources and fishes to Cambodians. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians row their wooden boat during a boat race held as part of a water festival on Tonle Sap River in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. The three-day annual festival, starting Saturday, is to dedicated to the kingdom's ancestral naval warriors, moreover to the mighty river that provides vital natural resources and fishes to Cambodians. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Cambodians row their wooden boat during a boat race held as part of a water festival on Tonle Sap River in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. The three-day annual festival, starting Saturday, is to dedicated to the kingdom's ancestral naval warriors, moreover to the mighty river that provides vital natural resources and fishes to Cambodians. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Water Festival Day 1: Cambodia's Uglies(?)

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni (R) greets Prime Minister Hun Sen on the first day of the annual water festival along the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010. Every year, hundreds of dragon boats from different Cambodian provinces will gather to participate in the festival which runs from November 20-22. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni greets officials on the first day of the annual water festival along the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010. Every year, hundreds of dragon boats from different Cambodian provinces will gather to participate in the festival which runs from November 20-22. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni waves to boat rowers on the first day of the annual water festival along the Tonle Sap river in Phnom Penh November 20, 2010. Every year, hundreds of dragon boats from different Cambodian provinces will gather to participate in the festival which runs from November 20-22. REUTERS/Chor Sokunthea

Cambodia's King Norodom Sihamoni greets boat racers in front of Royal Palace during a water festival in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, Saturday, Nov. 20, 2010. The three-day annual festival, starting Saturday, is to dedicated to the kingdom's ancestral naval warriors, moreover to the mighty river that provides vital natural resources and fishes to Cambodians. (AP Photo/Heng Sinith)

Boat races kick off in Cambodia

Nov 20, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH - CROWDS thronged a Phnom Penh lake on Saturday as Cambodia began its annual Water Festival celebrations with colourful dragon boat races.

More than two million visitors from across the country are expected to flock to the capital for three days of festivities, with boat races on the Tonle Sap lake, fireworks and parades.

This year 420 brightly coloured boats, with nearly 28,000 rowers, are lined up to take part, according to an official from the Committee for National and International Festivals.

'When I see many people like this, I am so happy,' said Bun Chhiv Meang, 59, who said visiting the festival made a welcome change from his job as a farmer.

But the Water Festival could be a muted affair for monks, who have been warned by Phnom Penh's chief monk not to mingle with the crowds and told they face a reprimand if caught looking at girls in short skirts.

Buddhist monks are highly revered in Cambodia and are not supposed to touch, or even look at, women.

The annual festival, one of Cambodia's largest and most exuberant, marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and the Mekong river. It is also seen as a way of giving thanks to the river for providing the country with fertile land and abundant fish.

Cambodia prepares to hand out 450,000 condoms during water festival

PHNOM PENH, Nov. 18 (Xinhua) -- Cambodia is preparing to hand out 450,000 condoms during annual water festival that will kick off on Saturday, an official from National Aids Authority said.

Sim Kimsan, director of communication of National Aids Authority said Thursday that 450,000 condoms will be handed out to happy goers during the three-day water festival that will start from Saturday until Monday.

He said the main target for condoms hand outs will be the boaters, their companions, and other considered risk people who are flocking into the city as happy goers during the festival.

The government report showed that as of June this year, there were 40,039 people living with HIV/AIDS who received the anti- retroviral drugs, among them 3,881 were children.

Cambodia has been recognized in the region as a success story for having significantly reduced its HIV prevalence rate.

New estimates show that HIV prevalence among adults aged 15 to 49 has decreased to an estimated 0.7 percent in 2009 from 2 percent in 1998.

According to the government report, in 2002, there were 250 Cambodians received ARV, 1,700 people in 2003 and 8,500 in 2005.

Nearly everyone who is HIV positive is receiving the AIDS treatment they need due the efforts of the Royal Government of Cambodia and its development partners.

Water Festival is the biggest and annual event which every year millions of Cambodians, especially, those from rural areas are coming to the city to enjoy the boat race.

For this year, 420 boats were registered for the boat race and the boaters are numbered at 27,734, according to National Committee for National and International Festivals.

The 1,700-meter boat race is held on the four faces of Mekong River and other two rivers in the capital.

Cambodian monks told to behave during festival

Wed, Nov 10, 2010
AFP

PHNOM PENH - Cambodia's monks have been warned not to mingle with the crowds at a major water festival this year, with any caught looking at girls in short skirts facing a reprimand.

More than two million visitors are expected to flock to the capital for the three-day festival from November 20-22 to enjoy boat races on the Tonle Sap lake, fireworks and parades.

But for the city's monks, this year's event will be a muted affair in light of the new restrictions.

"As we are monks, it is not good to walk among the crowd because we could touch other people," Phnom Penh's chief monk Non Ngeth told AFP.

Buddhist monks are highly revered in Cambodia, and they are not supposed to touch, or even look at, women.

It would "not be suitable" for monks to be seen mingling with festival goers along the riverfront, Non Ngeth added, especially with high-ranking officials looking on.

And if any of the monks dared to sneak a peek at girls wearing short skirts or shorts, "they will be corrected", he said.

But the monks won't have to miss out on the festivities altogether.

They will still be allowed to perform ceremonies blessing the wooden boats taking part in the races, Non Ngeth said.

The annual festival, one of Cambodia's largest, marks the reversal of the flow between the Tonle Sap and the Mekong river.

Cambodia: Buddhist monks barred from water festival to prevent undignified behaviour

Wednesday, November 10, 2010
The Associated Press

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Buddhist monks in Cambodia will be banned from taking part in a water festival this month to prevent undignified behaviour such as mingling with scantily clad women and seeing couples kissing, the country's chief monk said Wednesday.

During the Nov. 20-22 Boat Racing Festival monks will be required to stay in their pagodas and watch the event on TV, said 85-year-old chief patriarch Non Gneth.

"For a monk to walk freely with crowds of ordinary people during the water festival violates the rules of the Lord Buddha," the patriarch said.

"If the monks walk freely, they will see women wearing sexy clothes or see people kissing. This violates their discipline," he said. He added some younger monks carried mobile phones equipped with cameras at last year's festival and took pictures of people dancing, drinking alcohol and kissing — all of which are not allowed, including the possession of cellphones.

Monks are supposed to adhere to a code of Buddhist precepts that include celibacy and not touching or being alone with women, not drinking alcohol and leading a contemplative lifestyle without material possessions.

A committee has been created to curb bad behaviour among monks and if any are seen mingling at the festival they will be reprimanded and sent for a re-education class before being returned to their temples, Non Gneth said.

Authorities estimate upward of 2 million people could descend on the capital, Phnom Penh, for the annual boat festival, also known as the water festival, which takes place at the end of the rainy season along the Tonle Sap River.

Some 400 wooden boats will compete in rowing contests that are part of a carnival-like atmosphere that also includes evening concerts, fireworks and late-night partying.

About 85 per cent of Cambodia's 14 million people are Buddhist. The country has 4,000 Buddhist temples and more than 50,000 monks.

Monks prohibited from going to the Water Festival by order of Monk-dictator Non Nget

Hochimonk Non Nget

10 Nov. 2010
Everyday.com.kh
Translated from Khmer by Soch

During the Water Festival which will take place between 20-22 November 2010, all monks inside Cambodia are prohibited from wandering, from getting mixed up with the crowd or from going to any festival places. The personal secretary of Hochimonk and patriarch Non Nget indicated on 08 November that, in order to preserve order among the monks during the national water festival, Buddhist monks from all over the country are prohibited from wandering, from getting mixed up with the crowd, or from going to festival places because such participation can bring disorder and devalue monks and Buddhism, and it also affect all Buddhists all over the Buddhist world.

Water Festival in Lowell MA, Celebrated by Thousands

Water Festival Wraps Up in Capital

By Kong Sothanarith, VOA Khmer
Original report from Phnom Penh
03 November 2009

Phnom Penh wrapped up its annual Water Festival Tuesday, with at least 18 of nearly 400 racing boats sunk and one Kampong Cham province boatman missing after his craft capsized Monday.

The yearly festival, which features races, a lighted flotilla and millions of spectators, celebrates the defeat of a Cham naval force by an Angkorian fleet.

The festival is also a time when Cambodians give thanks to the waters of the Tonle Sap and Mekong rivers, which meet in front of Phnom Penh. It is the most popular of all Cambodia’s annual festivals.

Touch Naroth, chief of Phnom Penh police, said authorities met no big surprises with the crowds this year, although some concerts were suspended because of rain.

Cambodia celebrates water festival

Nov 3 - Thousands of people attend the water festival in Cambodia celebrating the victory of the country over its enemies.

Basmah Fahim reports.