Whilst not on the scale or significance of the concurrently held Water Festival in Phnom Penh, the Siem Reap Water Festival offers a more relaxed version of this historically and culturally important event. There’s a full intro to Bon Om Touk (Water Festival) here.
The Royal Water Festival at Siem Reap lasts three days, with the main events taking place on the first and second days. Festivities begin with an opening ceremony centred on the riverside pavilion opposite the Cambodian People’s Party office along Pokambor Avenue. Beside this pavilion, a display board highlights the times of events and activities over the two primary days which is often not so easy to find online.
After the opening ceremony in the afternoon, there are some preliminary races by the long boats, they gather again in front of the pavilion for the “lighting of the floats” which is a historical tradition. In Phnom Penh, this is performed by the King. This year, fireworks followed at around 6.30 pm, launched from the west side of Tep Vong St bridge, and best viewed from the northern bridge on NR 6 bridge or along the east side of the river near the pavilion noted earlier.
On the next day, boat racing started early, running from 8.30 am until around 10 am. Racing started again at 3 pm and continued until around 5.30 pm. That was followed by the closing ceremony, more fireworks at 6.30 pm, and the Sampeas Preah Khe and Ok Ambok ceremony held at the Royal Gardens. A magical sight to see is the people releasing floating lanterns from either side of the river near the NR 6 bridge. Fireworks took place again around midnight as a grand finale to the main activities.
In between all those main activities, there’s a big concert in the Royal Gardens area, another on the west side of the river near Tep Vong St bridge, food stalls everywhere, boat rides on the river near the Pub Street area, and traditional games by the old Angkor Trade Centre.
One of the local highlights is the Khmer musicians that set up a tent on the west side of the river fronting the Electricity Ministry offices (opposite the Royal Gardens). Here you’ll find people joining in mass circle dancing (Romvong) to the rational Khmer drum beat and the wailing sound of the Khmer fiddle (Tro). This year, several of these Romvong bands popped up along the east side of the river at night. Also on the east side, there was a small theatre with traditional Khmer folk performances between 8 pm and 10 pm.
