Months before I arrived in Siem Reap, I was already excited to experience the Water Festival in Siem Reap. I was told that this Holiday and then Khmer New Year would be experiences that I would literally never forget.
Bom Om Touk- the Water Festival in Cambodia occurs once a year on the 12th day of the Khmer Lunar calendar (in November). The reason for this celebration is to acknowledge huge natural occurrences. In this case, the natural occurrence is the reverse fo the river flow between Mekong River and Tonle Sap. This three day festival is filled with boat races, fireworks, concerts, parades, games and A LOT of food!
I am not really aware of what my expectations were but, I think the festival exceeded it. There were tons of people EVERYWHERE! I have never seen that many people in Siem Reap throughout my time here. Although I was so exhausted from walking around, I loved every bit of it!
Because of my conversations with different students before this festival, I was really hoping to be able to attend festivities in one of their villages for one of the days. Unfortunately I was not able to because of lack of planning and my horrible navigation skills. I was very happy when we returned to school because of all of the different stories that my students had to offer about their experiences.
Bom Om Touk was truly an amazing time!
Comfortable Being Uncomfortable 