It’s a little late, but this was our New Year’s Eve:
It’s New Year’s Eve in Phnom Penh. In Cambodia, there are at least three New Year celebrations – (World) New Year (Jan. 1), Chinese New Year (Feb. 14) and Khmer New Year (Apr. 14).
I remember in 2006 in Battambang, we had people over to our house to play games and ring in the new year. I’m not sure we actually made it to midnight, we should have had some high school students over.
Anyhow, then, we were the only ones in town celebrating the new year. Our neighbors were all sleeping long before the clock struck 12.
Not so this year in Phnom Penh. I just took a photo of the traffic outside our apartment – people heading to Wat Phnom, Phnom Penh’s version of Times Square. It’s near our apartment and our neighbors have been talking about the celebration there all week.
It’s interesting to see, at least in this city, Cambodians racing to connect with the wider world.
-
- The spotlights beckon the crowds to Wat Phnom
-
- And the crowds showed up.
-
- …big time
-
- Then, our neighbors took us to join the crowds.
-
- And we saw Cambodian rock stars.
-
- And we were glad we could walk home.
