Holiday Orphans

‘Tis the season!  First, let me say for a Buddhist country, Phnom Penh *really* likes Christmas decor.  It’s one of the funnier aspects of celebrating Western holidays here–there are Santa suits and Christmas trees galore in the shops.  In one store, walking in was an assault on the senses–just all the dancing Santas, blinking lights, and multiple objects playing different Christmas songs at the same time.

For those of us in Phnom Penh, the holiday season was kicked off by Water Festival, a three-day holiday that marks the end of the rainy season and the reverse in flow of the Mekong River.  Unlike all the other Cambodian holidays where the expectation is go back home to the provinces, leaving Phnom Penh an empty husk of  a city, the flow is reversed (pun intended) and Phnom Penh becomes a crazy city full of activity and even more traffic.  It was actually insane–certain intersections took over 30 minutes to navigate, and all of the ride-sharing apps (like Grab) were surcharging (which almost never happens).  As a result, I also saw way more people walking in the streets.

The Water Festival also features boat racing, which I was able to capture from a rooftop bar.

The boat in the middle is the new Guinness World Record holder for longest wooden racing boat.  I think there were over 120 people who were on it rowing.

There was a nightly show of barges with the different Ministry emblems. (I don’t remember which Ministry this was.)

Water festival kicked off on Wednesday the 21st, so many of us who stayed in Phnom Penh did WF-related activities, and then switched to Thanksgiving the following day.  Thanksgiving is an American holiday, celebrated in Canada in mid-October and the United States in mid-November.  There were a few different dinners organized across the city, and Bestie and I were able to attend two that day, one hosted by a Nerd Night friend and the other hosted by the Phnom Penh Players folks.  It was a mild surprise to celebrate with so many people for whom this was their first Thanksgiving.  It allowed me to see the holiday through new eyes as people inquired about the conversational obsessing over the turkey, stuffing/dressing, and copious dessert options.  It was also nice to be amongst people who marveled at the “I’m thankful for…” prompt, where I’ve been at plenty of dinners where folks eye-roll (good-naturedly) when it kicks off.  Overall, though it was amazing to feel like I was part of a big village, traveling from place to place and breaking bread with new friends I’ve gotten to know over the past year!

Dinner with Phnom Penh Players

Expressing gratitude with a great cross-section of people in PP! Also, rooftop decor was DOPE.

And of course we just wrapped up Christmas!  Bestie isn’t terribly into holidays (and for that matter, neither am I, but I still enjoy the pomp and circumstance) we had to find our footing in how we would celebrate the holiday.  In fact there was plenty to do.  I ended up enthusiastically singing Christmas carols with a large group of people on Monday, which I was really happy about because it has been years since I was amongst people who actually enjoyed belting out perennial favorites such as “Rockin’ around the Christmas tree” or “O Holy Night”.  Bestie had a private gig on December 24th, so I accompanied him to enjoy the view and free food and drink.  The next day, we went to a friend’s house for Christmas lunch.  The courtyard was absolutely lovely, and I got a chance to see some favorite people as well as meet some new ones.  It was a perfect experience.  Bestie and I went home and watched one of Netflix’s oh-so-bad-but-why-can’t-we-stop-watching holiday movies, The Holiday Calendar, which we criticized the entire time but made it to the end.  We rallied to go to one more party where we ate, drank, and danced, but I will admit I was exhausted by that point and wasn’t great chatting company with some of my other favorite people there.  Still it was yet again lovely to feel a part of something bigger and to come together when we weren’t able to be with our friends and family back home.

Even though this year has seen the departure of a number of amazing people from Phnom Penh, I am glad that the village exists, expanding, contracting but always nurturing to those within its embrace.