A New Year surprise in Siem Reap
on Phnom Penh Pal (Cambodia), 13/Jan/2013 06:08, 34 days ago
I had heard about Pub Street in Siem Reap before seeing it and it evoked hazy memories of alcohol soaked holidays in Gran Canaria and Crete when I was 20. I feared that I when I saw it in its (drunken, pink) flesh, it could be enough to make me ashamed of my own kind.It isn't subtle and certainly is full of tourists wanting a drink, but it is more a street of restaurants and bars where you can sit and relax than pubs full of ripened Westerners belching lager. But this was in August, and we were going there for Hogmanay (New Year's Eve to non-Scottish readers), so any kind of transformation could occur.Pub (St)reet, Siem Reap. There is also one on the road next to it with flashing neon arrows pointing the way just in case you were drunk enough not to find it. Apart from wealthier people in Phnom Penh and Siem Reap, Cambodian youth are usually home by 9pm, the family reins proving strong. The importance of the family also means that traditional celebrations take place at the family home rather than out in the streets. Maybe it is because "International New Year", Khmer New Year is in April, is not a traditional holiday that the celebrations for this holiday weren't traditional either.We came out of the Old Market at 10pm and to witness a mass of Cambodians standing, dancing and singing in a main street. Occasional waves of cheers and screams rose up over our heads for no obvious reason. Maybe the crescendos were acting like valves releasing the swelling excitement of a public party that Cambodians didn't know how to control.And this isn't even Pub Street! The view from Blue Pumpkin CafeWe squirmed into the upstairs of Blue Pumpkin Cafe for ice cream (I had beer) and heard the screams and cheers rising again, prompting us to rush to the window in case they were for Psy performing Gangnam Style live, only to see that nothing had changed. They were just cheering because they wanted to.And it was this transformation that was astounding. Cambodian behaviour could be stereotyped by rigid rules, family first and no public displays of emotion but here were hundreds of kids aged 16 - 25 whose kindred spirits might be those who danced to Bill Haley and the Comets in the 1950s. Home by 9? These kids were rocking round the clock past midnight.Check out the 20 sec video that I took: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9h91X3kB0hcEasing through the excitement, we turned the corner into Pub Street to be met by a wall of people and noise. Cambodians were hanging over balconies, standing on pavement-bar tables and jumping up and down to the music. Then we were soaked, proof that young Cambodians knew that some traditions, throwing water during celebrations, were worth keeping.The Cambodian youngsters in Siem Reap were probably ones who had gone to Siem Reap for the holiday meaning they are wealthier ones and more likely to be exposed to Western ways. Rigid rules are relaxed somewhat when you are not playing in your own town where it can reflect on your family. But this wasn't just a party of wealthy Cambodian tourists, I saw parents with children, very likely from Siem Reap, standing there taking it all in too.Cambodians had retaken Pub Street, found their own expression of partying and made it a New Year to remember.From L to R: Khmer guy in hooped polo shirt, Claire (co-author of this wonderful blog), Trish (or Pat, my Mum's cousin who was beginning a cycle ride from Siem Reap to Sihanoukville the next morning at 8am...), Alison (Trish's/Pat's friend - also doing the cycle), Sam (VSO vol and author ofHand-painted signs of Kratie), Gilly (VSO vol, muse for Sam's book), Owen (Sam's brother who was visiting). Gordon took the pic.Sua s'dey ch'nam tmey (hello new year - what Cambodians say instead of Happy New Year)Gordon