Brontekst bekijken van Cambodia Celebrates Water Festival With Boat Races

Around 270 boats competed along a stretch of the Tonle Sap river<br><br>Tens of thousands of spectators flocked to the riverfront in the [http://Sportsrants.com/?s=Cambodian%20capital Cambodian capital] Phnom Penh on Thursday for an annual boat race -- the centrepiece of the kingdom's water festival.<br><br>Around 270 boats, their crew dressed in bright T-shirts, began competing along a stretch of the Tonle Sap river that runs in front of  [http://www.mekongrustic.com mekong homestay tour mango homestay mekong] the royal palace.<br><br>Concerts and fireworks are also part of the three-day festival, which celebrates the reversal of the flow, a phenomenon that occurs when monsoon rains bloat the [http://www.mekongrustic.com homestay mekong delta] river, pushing the waters of the smaller Tonle Sap in the other direction.<br><br>The two rivers intersect in the capital, where Cambodian King Norodom Sihamoni, Prime Minister Hun Sen and senior government officials looked on as the yearly extravaganza began.<br><br>"The water festival is important for all Cambodian people, it is the festival for the king, for our king," spectator Bun Narath, 51, told AFP.<br><br>The three-day festival celebrates the reversal of the river's flow<br><br>"We celebrate the water festival to thank ancestors who won the fight with enemies and to thank rivers that provide water for all people," he added.<br><br>On the last day of the water festival in 2010, more than 350 people were killed in a stampede on an overcrowded bridge after panic spread over rumours it was about to collapse.<br><br>Hun Sen described the disaster as Cambodia's worst tragedy since the Khmer Rouge's 1975-1979 reign of terror, which killed up to a quarter of the population.