This Expat Life: Month 16
After moving abroad I started compiling monthly roundup posts about life as an expat in Southeast Asia and all the nitty gritty that goes on behind the scenes here at Travel Lush. Head here to read Month 13, Month 14 & Month 15.
It’s hard to believe that it’s December already. But I guess that’s life in the tropics for you! Despite the fact that it’s fall and much of the world is now blanketed with snow and fallen leaves, the skies here in Phnom Penh are still consistently blue and the days are exceedingly warm. Sometimes it’s easy to forget that it’s almost winter!
Expat Life in Phnom Penh
Life in Phnom Penh was relatively simple and low key last month. But I will say that there were two things that made the month of November especially memorable – Thanksgiving and the Water Festival.
The Water Festival (Bon Om Touk) is one of the biggest holidays in Cambodia and it just so happened to fall over the Thanksgiving holiday. The Water Festival is supposed to be off-the-hook crazy and it was something I was really excited to experience when I first found out I’d be moving to Phnom Penh.
The Water Festival is held every year in Cambodia to celebrate the end of the rainy season. Phnom Penh is an especially popular place to experience the festival and its famous boat races. It’s not uncommon for thousands of tourists and locals to flock to the capital city to partake in the festivities and watch elaborately decorated boats race along the Mekong River.
Sounds pretty amazing, right?
Well as luck would have it, the festival was officially canceled this year. Just a few weeks before the holiday the government issued a statement and banned all official boat races. Supposedly the rivers surrounding Phnom Penh were at dangerously low levels due to the sparse rainfall this year.
Despite the official cancellation of the festival and the races, I heard rumors that it would still be party central here in Phnom Penh. So instead of traveling somewhere else during the holiday, I chose to stay in the city and see what this whole Water Festival thing was all about.
Honestly, it was kind of insane. During the days leading up to the festivities I noticed that more and more people were filing into the city and that workers were constructing a giant stage near the Independence Monument, which is right down the street from my apartment. At the time this seemed like great news. But once sound check started the day before the festival, I knew I was in for three days of absolute craziness.
For anyone who has traveled to Southeast Asia, you know that things can get pretty loud. But this particular three-day-long concert was something special! During the day, they would intermittently blast music and it was so loud it literally rattled my apartment. And every night, from 6pm until 11pm, the actual concert was held.
Ugh…
There was a mix of techno, rock, pop and traditional Cambodian music and I can’t even convey how loud it was inside my apartment. It was so ridiculous that it was almost comical. Almost.
Maybe having the concert so close to my place wasn’t so great after all…
Because it was so insane inside my apartment I really had no choice but to venture outside, which was fine. I will say that experiencing the mayhem of the Water Festival was pretty fun. There were so, so many people around the Independence Monument, the Royal Palace and the whole Riverside area. They even went so far as to shut down most of the main roads downtown because of the sheer number of people! Being able to walk across the street without the fear of being hit by a motorbike or tuk tuk was exhilarating!
During the day there were vendors everywhere selling grilled corn, pink cotton candy and fertilized duck embryos (a common snack in Cambodia). Cambodian families gathered near the river, kids ran around with balloons and chased flocks of pigeons, and teenagers gathered in groups taking selfies.
At sunset the Riverside was packed with people. On the last night of the festival we decided to head down to the river to see the nightly fireworks show. Seeing the full, blood orange moon rising over the Mekong was amazing and it seriously made for the most magical setting for a fireworks show.
Given the fact that we couldn’t really hang out in our apartment during the festival, Aaron and I decided to postpone Thanksgiving until after the festivities. But that Friday we did manage to cook up a pretty tasty vegetarian Thanksgiving meal.
All in all the Water Festival was a little hectic but looking back it was definitely one of those living abroad moments I will never forget.
Travel:
November was the first month since I moved to Cambodia that I didn’t travel outside of Phnom Penh. While my travel life hasn’t been too exciting as of late, I will say that I have some exciting and very unexpected travel plans coming up. I’m not quite ready to reveal them, so that’s all I’m going to say for now. I know, I know…I’m a travel tease!
Most Popular Posts in November:
9 Fun & Weird Things to do in Jakarta – Still the reigning champ!
6 Kickass Places to Visit in Bali!
What I Wrote in November:
Phnom Penh’s Booming Street Art Scene
Most Popular Instagram:
How did your November shape up?
The water festival does sound fun, though the super loud concert less so. There is a really big electronic music festival held in Playa next month and we have heard that the city just gets absolutely overrun by trance chasers… we are thinking we may use it as an excuse to get out of town and take a mini-break somewhere else so that we don’t have to deal with all the people. The city is already getting busy now that the winter snowbirds from the U.S. and Canada are here, so I am dreading even more people showing up for a festival!
Also, I can’t believe we’re 2 weeks from Christmas. They have decorations up and carols playing at the grocery stores here, but yeah, it just doesn’t feel like the year is almost over. Whenever I put on Christmas tunes here at home, it feels like I’m getting ready to celebrate Xmas in July!
Excited to hear about your upcoming travel plans… don’t be such a tease!
Steph (@ 20 Years Hence) recently posted…A New Look and More Content
Ha, getting out of town for that festival sounds like a brilliant idea. We should have actually taken the holiday to visit other areas of Cambodia, but oh well. We made the most of it! I keep forgetting it’s actually Christmas. I have zero decorations up and zero plans for the holiday. We’ll probably actually do a little traveling.
Being in Asian countries during Christmas is so funny because Christmas is just starting to become trendy here. Cambodians seem to really like dressing up in Santa costumes. It seems like they’re selling them everywhere…for both adults and children. It’s so funny 🙂 I should probably buy one…
Great post. I love that people kept the festive atmosphere going, despite the cancellations! Can’t wait to visit PP – looks like timing it during festival time is a good plan. 🙂
Paul recently posted…Month 1 Photo Roundup – Temples and Buddhas of Thailand
Yeah, despite the cancellation there were still tons and tons of people. I only wish I could have experienced the boat races. I’m super bummed I missed out on that part of the holiday. Oh well!
Oh man, I can only imagine how loud it was! Seems like it was a blessing and a curse at the same time to have the festival in Phnom Penh.
Tell me where you’re headed soon! I won’t tell anyone 😉 Home for the holidays perhaps?!
Chantae recently posted…The Abandonment and Rediscovery of the Temples of Angkor
It was INSANE! I mean, I’m glad I got to experience it but the fact that the stage was so close to my apartment did put a damper on things. Thankfully Cambodians don’t seem to party super late and the music stopped at 11pm every night. Ha, I’m not quite ready to announce my plans publicly. But I will say that they are really unexpected and I’m definitely not headed home for the holidays 🙂
Ahhh that gravy looks amazing! Where did you find the ingredients? I was craving stuffing so bad this year, but got none in Ecuador. (I did manage to buy beers and chips and watch NFL football though.) That concert sounds ridiculous – it looks like it might as well be IN your apartment. I’m guessing that earplugs didn’t do a thing!
Rachel recently posted…How to Book a Last Minute Galapagos Cruise from Quito – Agonizing, Anticipation, and ATMs
Mmm, the gravy was really good. It was a very simple recipe so the ingredients weren’t hard to find 🙂 Ah, nice that you were able to watch some football. We were able to watch football on Christmas and it definitely made it feel a little bit more like a holiday. I miss watching sports so much!! Ugh, there is another concert going on right now for New Year’s…it’s been going on for days!
It seems like you’re settling in much better now. I feel like a month in the place you live, without leaving it, can be good for us sometimes. It helps us stay connected to what’s around us. 🙂
Are you staying in Cambodia over the holidays or travelling home?
Ceri recently posted…My All-Time Top 10 Favourite Christmas Songs
Sorry for the delayed response! We ended up just staying in Phnom Penh for the holidays. How about you?