The Cambodian new year began at 1:36 am on April 14. The day before, Cambodian families prepared tables with fruit, incense and candle offerings. They put out plates of mangoes, bananas, lychees, and longans, added a bag of sand with decorative paper figures planted with sticks, and put up lights and other shiny decorations. The very devout (and the curious) got up in the middle of the night to light incense and watch the live TV broadcast of the gods accepting the people's offerings (though ours, despite this acceptance, were still on the table 3 days later).
(It looks even more festive if your hand slips while you're shooting.)
Khmer new year is a time of revelry and relaxation, characterized by small trips to mountains and lakes, the throwing of water balloons at motorists, and the generous powdering of people's faces (did I mention beer? I'll get to that). Luckily, the Cambodian zodiac closely mirrors the Chinese one, so we have just entered the year of the ox and everybody is now one year older than they were in early April. I think this means I'm supposed to tell people I'm 29 now even though I'm just shy of my 28th birthday.
My host family's house was a pretty central beer-drinking locale, collecting various neighbors, cousins, and even some local officials (since my host uncle is an official himself). The boys filled up an entire go-yu-an (open-bed "truck") with empty Black Panther cans. Sadly enough, I was not a big help in this endeavor; Black Panther upsets my tummy.
Our town used enough electricity every day so that the supply station was out before 9 o'clock every night. This made it mercifully hard to have karaoke parties in the late night and early morning, which made for the best sleep I've had all year. Thank you, Khmer new year, for your generous gift of slumber. I hope it will be a happy and prosperous year for Cambodia.
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