Being another weekend and with no interest to do anything touristy, I wandered down to the waterfront to see how the preparation for the water festival was going. This is a 3-day long public holiday on Tue-Thurs of next week, where lots of boat teams come from all over the country to have races, they have illuminated boats at night, etc. It is to celebrate the reversing of the direction of flow of the Tonle Sap river, as it goes from filling Tonle Sap lake by a rainy-season-enlarged Mekong, to draining back into the Mekong (which is happening at present). It’s a big thing here – they are expecting 4 million – yes million – people to attend this year. As such, the city is very crowded, all the riverside roads are closed to traffic, and a lot of regular residents leave town for the week to avoid it all. Incidentally, it also means another week-long public holiday – they slip in Cambodia’s Independence Day around the same time.
Being such a big deal, I figured there would be some preparation at the waterfront, and wasn’t wrong. There were also Independence Day preparations, and already some road closures for wreath-laying at the national monument.
Being such a big deal, I figured there would be some preparation at the waterfront, and wasn’t wrong. There were also Independence Day preparations, and already some road closures for wreath-laying at the national monument.
Lovely traffic-free roads
Independence Day balloons by the river
Royal palace, where the VIPs had been for the Independence Day parade
Public toliets Khmer style - 2 per hut, with tiled floors and porcelain throne
Royal palace again
The blue flag in the middle is for the Asian Development Bank - not a country last time I checked
Lots of flags
More portapotties - where to drain them? - oh look, there's a drain - you can guess where it goes being a riverside road
The Foreigh Correspondant's Club (FCC) balconies
To-be-illuminated barge for the water festival
Another barge
Australia's flag appears right after Cambodia's - presumably because it is a lageish donor, and also because the country;s name starts with A (the order is Cambodia, large donors, the rest)
Barge - this one is the royal emblem
Barge
Barge - this one can be seen in daylight too
Wanna have a wedding, funeral or other religious ceremony? Just set up a tent in the street - quite common
Signboards for Independence Day I think
National Monument dressed up 
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