There is a night during the 10-day water festival, when the Cambodian people light candles and place them in the center of a flower to float them down the river. It's an offering to the Gods as thanks for the fact that the flow of the river's water changes direction (stops dumping into the ocean and begins depositing into the Tonle Sap Lake, which provides a freshwater resevior for the people of Cambodia). It was an amazing sight to behold the night that the lights took over the river. I thought I was in Paris, for a moment (even though I've never been to Paris or seen the twinkling lights of that city). But it felt romantic for some reason, the same way I imagine that Paris might.
That night was the culmination of a week long celebration complete with live music, rockin' festival foods for 25 cents, and river boat races. We even got the opportunity to take a child from the hospital (one who has been there for weeks now and is confined to a wheelchair because both his legs are in casts) to see the men and women practice for the boat races. He was ecstatic about it. He talked about how he wanted to race the boats when he was older. He smiled the entire time he watched from the river bank (something I didn't think this particular boy was capable of...everyday you can hear him crying from the other side of the hospital). The doctors and nurses, of course, told us to keep him out there as long as possible....for both their and his own sanity, I'm sure.
The boat races were pretty amazing. It wasn't the actual races that were amazing so much, but the sheer number of people gathered at the riverside....it was staggering. I loved the chaos and the laughter and the festivity of it all. Nothing like that has happened here since my arrival and I got the feeling that it was a once a year kind of blowout celebration for the Cambodian people.
It was the night of the candles on the river that my friend, Aldrin, flew into town. He is an English teacher in Seoul, South Korea. He came for a few days and his welcome to Siem Reap was thousands of candles floating on the river. Needless to say, I felt like a pretty good hostess at that point. After all, it was one of the most breathtaking things I'd ever seen...so it couldn't have been too shabby.
The week of celebration, the hundreds of smiles in the streets, it all got me thinking...how wonderful it would be to truly celebrate in such a whole-hearted way...I mean, to celebrate, in such a huge way, the gift of water...it's amazing to think about all the things we take for granted. The people here in Siem Reap and all over the country are each, individually, genuinely so thankful and aware of the fact that they will have water for another season, another year. And all we have to do is turn on the faucet. Nobody even thinks about it. I never did. Not until last weekend. I want to celebrate those kind of things. I want my celebrations to mean as much to me as the Khmer people's celebrations mean to them. And I start today.
