Travel Channel

Bun Om Tuk (Water Festival)

Boat Races on the Tonle Sap

Sisowath Quay
Phnom Penh,

Phone: +855 23 21 3911 (Cambodia Tourism)

Fax: +855 23 42 6364 (Cambodia Tourism)

This annual festival is held in November to celebrate the remarkable fact that the flow of the Tonle Sap River changes direction at about this time. The level of the Mekong rises so much at the end of the rainy season that water from this river is forced up into the Tonle Sap Lake some 100 kilometers inland from Phnom Penh. The festival itself has religious elements, but centers around three days of fireworks displays and traditional boat races on the river.