Celebrating The New Year In Siem Reap

We have been in Siem Reap for a few days and had already made good use of Pub Street while our Stray Asia friends were passing through.  We have toured the floating village, the temples of Angkor, played mini golf, eaten at countless restaurants, cycled through the country side to look at cows, and haggled at both the day and night markets.  But now, it was New Years Eve and we knew there was to be a big party on Pub Street.  We walked through the area during the day and there were large speakers being set up all over the place and many beverage supply trucks making deliveries.  Barricades had also been set up outside of pub street (Pub Street area is walking only and about about 2 blocks long) and they extended the area to about 8 square blocks.  I would not have liked to be driving that day, that's for sure.

Perpendicular to Pub Street pre-party.

Set up on Pub Street.

Street side service.

Being on a budget, and with our to do list checked off, it was a lot of clock watching until we felt like heading out of the hotel to see how all the setup effort had paid off for the city, and of course enjoy the night ourselves.  At about 10 o'clock we headed out for a late snack (after some Shisha, that's flavoured tobacco FYI) at a fancy foreigner owned pizza place.  It was super busy all over the city.  The business comes as expected to those who grew up using this night as a time to let loose, but the number of locals is what really caught our attention.  It was not a tourist party.  The area that had been created for tourists to have a Western style restaurant experience, and one or two backpacker bars, had been taken back over by the local party animals.  We thought the number of service staff we talked to throughout the day had been asking us about heading to pub street as polite conversation and easy small talk.  Taking part in the New Years' celebrations actually means a lot to the locals.  I probably need it explained to me again, hopefully this is correct,  but the locals use this time to celebrate a collective birthday.  We got both 'Happy New Year' and a few 'Happy Birthday's' during the day. Maybe a way to celebrate the unknown birthdays that came as a result of the Khmer Rouge, who knows.

Looking great at dinner

Yummy!  Eating fish amok, a national Cambodian dish

So the pizza place closed early so the staff could get to the celebration in time, along with a few others I'm sure.  We walked around the party and found it very hard to move as so many people were having a good time.  Aside from the largest party going on in the main area micro parties were popping up in front of any bar/store that decided to put out their own stereo system for the night.  Being brave I guided Christina right into the middle of the party which was of course just a sea of people.  Being at the front of the stage of a rock show would be the best way to describe it.  No one was getting rough but you were definitely sharing cologne.  We also found out that the locals love to shake a beer and open it into the crowd anytime they feel like, smiling and dancing the whole time of course.

Shisha lounge.  The cheapest shisha we had on the trip!

Needing to be a few drinks deeper than we were to stay in the heart of the party we opted to try the narrow alleys that you can use to access pub street.  This gave us a refuge from the party animals but still allowed us to have a good time and join in with the count down.  There were locals standing on tables, people on the second floor of restraunts and bars taking in the view, and me buying beer out of some kids back pack.   That's the best thing about beer, it always comes sealed and if it isn't sealed when you get it its really easy to tell right away.  There were drink stations setup all over the street,  no need to actually go into a bar, and of course there were many deals available when you bought those wonderful buckets.

Happy New Year!!!!

We left the party at around 1 am and there were no signs of not just the main party slowing down, but the rest of the city as well.  There were no fights, no fires, no police in riot gear, no crying babies, no random acts of vandalism and looting that we noticed.  Leaving at 1 am, we definitely did not shut the party down but the next morning the street looked almost back to normal as a confirmation that as young and rowdy as the kids (16 would be a good average age estimate) were, violence and destruction did not appear to be on there to do list.  A little more digging would be needed to confirm our impression but my point is that if the same 'drinking rules' were applied to New Years party on Granville street I doubt I could say the same thing.  This is definitely a debatable topic but I'll leave it alone :)

The next day, as I said before, the city was back to normal with a bit more to clean up but nothing that stopped anyone from getting around.  The front desk staff at our hotel were understandably a little slow in the morning as well.  One of the girls said that she got home at 4 am only to have to work at 5 am.   I'm sure most of you remember that feeling.

It was a great time anyway you look at it.  With a little more drinking effort on our part we could have definitely gotten a little wild, but is possible to have a great time without blacking out too.  Highly recommended to others to time your travel through Siem Reap during New Years if you are looking to let lose.  If you are looking to be a fly on the wall just make sure you get to the second floor of a restaurant/bar early.