The Water Festival

Wow, what a weekend.

The water festival is the second biggest festival in Cambodia, after new years. The rivers crowd with Khmer families, wooden stalls on wheels strolling the streets with all kinds of strange things to eat, children with balloons, colourful long boats filled with men and women racing down the river, strange Khmer bands playing, dodgy looking fairground rides and bamboo rafts with candles and incense floating down the river.

As my children in the orphanage house seem to stay at home a lot I decided that I would take them to the festival for the day. I assumed their 'dad' would accompany me but when I arrived to collect the children, he waved them and me goodbye. So there I was, with 16 children, off to the busiest festival of the year! I loved the feeling of responsibility and I am glad that I was on my own with them, it meant that I could have lots of fun and be silly with them with no one watching and judging the teacher in me.

The river is an hour walk from their house so we started walking...it was the hottest part of the day so as soon as I saw 3 tuk tuks, I sorted a price and the kids jumped in. They were all so excited...'char...tuktuk?!!' with gleaming smiles. They rarely go in tuk tuks as they are seem as 'expensive' for locals. Some of the children had never been in one before so they were just excited and amazed!! We found a grassy spot next to the river and settled down to watch the boats race down the river....the colours are just amazing here, so vibrant and the boats were painted all different colours, filled with men and women wearing their teams colours. The racers have been practising for weeks and weeks before the festival as the winners go to the capital Phnom Penh for the 3rd day of the festival to race their winners. The kids were excitable, clapping as the boats rushed past us.

After a while it got very crowded and a little claustrophobic sitting on the bank so I suggested going for a walk around the river. The children all followed me, I had one of either hand and the others followed. I was called the pied piper by a western guy and I really did feel like it, char followed by her 16 kiddies through the busy riverside streets. They even called me mum which was amusing and kind of sweet, when we left the house they said 'char we're your children for the day, you're our mum.... '. I spotted an ice cream stall and it was the mans lucky day when I ordered ' sohm dop bram bpee' (17 please in Khmer). The children were so appreciative and all came to me one by one when they received their ice cream with sweet rice, nuts and syrup in a plastic cup to thank me. It was lovely as there was no one there to tell them to thank me, they just did on their own accord.

We wandered some more, the children bought fruit with salt and chilli to dip and shared it with each other and me, I bought some spring rolls from another stall which they enjoyed. There is al this amazing foo everywhere, served in banana leaves or on wooden sticks. The drinks here come in little plastic bags with a straw, or a whole coconut to sip the milk juice out of...

We found a 'fairground' with a very rickety looking ferris wheel, the children looked intrigued so I got 17 tickets...actually 14 as I had lost...umm yeah....a few kids on the way. (They are old enough to look after themselves so I wasn't too worried and the children here in Cambodia wander the busy roads and streets with no parents most of the time. So no panicking from moi, that's what I kept telling myself.... The only panic was when I realised I had bought myself a ticket for this dodgeyyyy ferris wheel! 'Charrr charr, come on!!' They wanted me to go on with them but I had to tell them that char was far too scared and gave my ticket to Hout who went on a second time. The ferris wheel was manned by a man on what looked like a car motor and a steering wheel. They all pushed past others to get onto a few of the 'boxes' and were waving down at me. One child looked so sick...probably my fault for giving them ice cream and then tickets for this but the others came off laughing and jumping about with excitement and adrenaline!

We then went to throw some darts at balloons and two of the children won prizes which they shared with the others. Time flies when you're having fun and t was almost 5.30 so we said our goodbyes and they said their thank yous and off they went back to their house. I went and sat by the river with a beer and thought about how amazing it was to be able to do this for these lovely children who have so little and have been through so much. Just the smiles on their faces to have a cup of ricey ice cream and how they all get on so well with each other and were just so so well behaved. It is going to be so so hard when I have to say my goodbyes for them but for the time being I just have to love every moment I have teaching, chatting, laughing and playing with them. Hopefully I will take them out another weekend as it leaves me with a fantastic feeling and they just loved it all.

I met the others who had made rafts from bamboo, flowers, candles and insence to float down the river. At the end of every water festival everyone floats some form of raft down the river and wishes for good luck. Nina had made us a joint one which was sweet as I had been with my children. We lit the insense and candle and a Khmer boy took it from us, got into the river wearing his clothes and waded to the middle to let it float downstream. It was such a special moment, all these candles floating down and the smell of insence here really gives you a feeling....I can't describe what. They use it a lot to wish for good luck and I guess it is very spiritual here...