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Cambodia's Water Festival ends with great pleasure: PM

Xinhua, November 16, 2016 Adjust font size:

Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Techo Hun Sen said Tuesday that the three-day celebration of the Water Festival has come to an end with great pleasure.

The prime minister said he accompanied King Norodom Sihamoni to watch a regatta on the final day of the festival and presented awards to winning teams in the boat races over the Tonle Sap River in front of the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh on Tuesday afternoon.

"The Water Festival, which has been celebrated for the past three days, has provided great pleasure to people from across the country," he wrote on his official Facebook page.

"This festival also shows local young people and foreign tourists about our nation's beautiful culture and tradition."

He also blessed all boat racers and visitors to return their hometowns safely.

Water Festival is the biggest annual festival in the Southeast Asian nation. Besides viewing the regatta at daytimes, visitors can enjoy procession of illuminated floats and fireworks over the river at nighttimes.

A total of 257 dragon boats with about 17,750 racers from across the kingdom took part in the competition this year, according to Bou Chumserey, vice-chairman of the boat-racing technical control committee.

Phnom Penh Municipal Governor Pa Socheatvong estimated last week that some two million Cambodians, mostly rural dwellers, came to see the festival.

Water Festival is a traditional event that marks the end of the rainy season and the reversing course of the Tonle Sap River that connects the Tonle Sap Lake with the Mekong River, according to the Tourism Ministry's website.

The regatta marks the strength of the powerful Khmer marine forces during the ancient Khmer Empire, the website said.

This year was the second celebration held in six years, following a tragedy on the final day of the 2010 festival in which 353 people were trampled to death or suffocated in a stampede on a bridge connecting the mainland to the Diamond Island. Enditem