Bon Om Touk (Water Festival) – Boat Races & Fireworks – Cambodia’s most vibrant celebration of rivers, rhythm, and renewal.

Each November, when the Mekong reverses its flow, Cambodia bursts into celebration. Bon Om Touk, the Water Festival, marks this natural wonder—a time when rivers mirror both moonlight and music. In Phnom Penh, the Tonlé Sap glitters under thousands of lanterns. Longboats painted in bright hues line the riverbanks, each one crewed by dozens of rowers whose oars rise and fall in perfect unison. The races begin with drumbeats that echo like thunder, crowds cheering as colour and spray explode together. When night falls, the sky blooms with fireworks, and boats adorned with lights drift like constellations upon the water. Vendors sell sweet rice cakes and lotus tea; monks chant blessings for safe voyages and bountiful rains. You sit by the river, watching the reflections dance—a festival where water itself becomes joy, memory, and renewal. To witness Bon Om Touk is to see Cambodia’s heart revealed—where devotion meets delight, and every ripple carries a story of gratitude.