How to Celebrate Khmer New Year

April brings the third and final New Year on the Cambodia calendar. This...is the big one. Possibly the only one that matters. And in a dramatic televised program on Cambodian cable, the "princess from the sky" comes down and takes the tiger back with her, leaving us the rabbit behind (it's the year of the rabbit).

This...is Khmer New Year.

Khmer New Year is without a doubt the largest holiday on the calendar. It's a three day event and I was never completely successful on nailing down exactly which day is officially "the new year" (silly details). Everyone must go home to their province and hometown for the holidays and Phnom Penh empties out like a ghost town. In the province people visit friends, stay with family, even give gifts. But above all else, people enjoy eating over Khmer New Year. You venture from one home to another, many traditions, many new year games to play, but it's about food.

In the days leading up to Khmer New Year, work noticeably slacked off, there were parties and shopping adventures to the markets. The only thing to compare it to is Christmas. It seriously felt like Christmas! It was an interesting combination of attitudes.

The most legendary tradition is throwing water on people. The water is typically followed baby powder or flour. Technically it's illegal because it used to be quite popular to throw water on passing motos causing accidents. But teen-aged boys don't really care about that sort of thing. Bangkok (Thailand shares the same New Year) is epically infamous for it's water-throwing. This is why I was given a Cambodian peace t-shirt that says "This New Year, Throw Water, Not Bombs" in protest of boarder skirmishes with Thailand.

For my Khmer New Year, I went to Koh Kong with friends from work, and one adorable baby. Koh Kong is near the Thai boarder and famous for it's biodiversity and beautiful beaches. We went swimming, hiked over waterfalls, laid on the beach, and took a traumatizing boat ride to explore the stunning Koh Kong Island. Everyone needs time away from life, everyone needs to see green trees, and Khmer New Year is a perfect time to eat Thai food and get sunburned.

And yes, I was watered, and powdered.