23) Cambodia in Three Acts. Act 2) New Years with a Genocide Chaser

The Cambodian New Year is significantly more badass than ours. First of all it lasts for 3 days, Secondly, instead of watching a ball drop- can you think of a more boring way to act festively?- the tradition is to engage in city-wide water fights followed by random acts of slapping each other in the face with baby powder. It’s a bit like the old tar-and-feather routine but without the 3^rd degree burns. I spent it in the capital, Phnom Penh.

4/14

This traditional dance placed boys in one line…

Ladies in the other…

And of course a dude hitting the ground with a birch branch in the middle.

It reminded me of middle school but with more wood and less Stairway to Heaven.










And this was a human tug of war (also boys vs. girls) where people grabbed each other’s waists and pulled like mad. The ladies won three straight.

You go girls

Pardon me, I mean Freshie Girls. This is what it would look like if hippies opened a brothel.

4/15

New Years festivities in full swing

I said full swing. Full. That’s right.

PS- I moonlight as a Khmer crossing guard for extra cash on this trip. I forgot to take off my garb for this shot but now that I see it I might just wear it always. Women love a man in uniform.











And just when you thought you’d seen all the balloon animals out there… a caterpillar! Wonders will never cease.

They also stock the streets with monkeys for New Years like we stock trout at the beginning of fishing season. Could you imagine this going down in the States? I would spend NYE in any city that just let monkeys run loose for the delight of the masses. I’m looking at you, Cleveland. Make it happen.

Yes!

Yes! Yes!

Yes! Yes! Yes!

Aren’t these guys supposed to be covering their ears, eyes and mouths? Whatever, I love them anyway.

4/16

Oh captain, my captain

You would think there was ecstasy in this chicken by the looks of me.












Not so much on our friend here, though. In the words of the late, great Colonel Sanders, “I’m too drunk to taste this chicken.”

What do you wash down some original recipe with?

How about a trip to a mass grave? Makes sense to me.

The Khmer Rouge killing fields.
Pol Pot killed 3 million people (nearly ¼ of the entire population of Cambodia) in the 1970’s!
It’s truly mind blowing to think about.

Is nothing sacred?

The Killing Fields, brought to you by Angkor Beer, the official beer of genocide.