Appalling camerawork

King Norodom Sihamoni personally thanks Sam Savin after the performance of Ynav & Bosseba, shown tonight on Apsara tv

It's day two of the water festival and by choice, I stayed at home today, a public holiday, catching up on a few things and watched some of the races on television, including one of the boats sinking mid-way through a race and its rowers scrambling for safety. In fact the tv coverage was appalling, the cameras were simply too far away from the action (the filming was clearly from the waters edge) and the same camera shot was used on all four of the local tv channels covering the races, at the same time. Obviously the commentary was in Khmer so that didn't help me but nonetheless I was less than enthused. A couple of friends who were at the riverside rang me to tell me not to go as there were simply too many people there and they didn't feel safe. Quite a few Khmer friends often tell me they don't feel comfortable in big crowds. Tonight, Apsara tv showed the complete performance of Ynav & Bosseba, which I attended at the Chaktomuk Theatre last week. Thankfully I didn't see myself wearing my suit for the first time in two years. Again however, the tv coverage was pretty amateurish and the stage lighting was equally appalling. I think I have been spoiled for too long by the superb craftsmanship you see on British tv and simply take for granted. The coverage did give a much closer view of the action than I saw on the night itself so that was a bonus to see my friend Sam Savin in action. I did emerge earlier in the evening to take dinner at a nearby Indian restaurant, and the number of people on the streets, and the increase in traffic, was incredible. I'm back at work tomorrow but I might just brave a visit to one of the free concerts near Wat Botum or even walk down to the riverside to see the madness that usually accompanies the water festival. Appologies for the quality of the screen-shots taken from the television this evening. They are as bad as the television coverage itself.

The main figure is Princess Bosseba but her maiden on the right is Sam Savin

This time its Vuth Chanmoly, one of the country's best dancers, that gets applause from the King

All the performers in the show take their bow alongside the King and Princess, including Sam Savin, 2nd from left at the front

Festivities ahoy

With the Water Festival (Bon Om Tuk in Khmer) just about to get underway here in Phnom Penh, there's a serious possibility of getting trampled underfoot as hundreds of thousands, possibly up to a million, Cambodians arrive in the capital from the surrounding provinces, to witness the boat racing as well as enjoying the free festivities and the chance to mingle in the capital. I was expecting Now to come down from Siem Reap for a few days break and to experience the capital in all its frenzy for the 1st time, but Eric's cracking the whip and his exhibition at Raffles has been extended for a week, so she'll try and make it next week instead. Its a time to be wary of your valuables as every expat I've spoken to (which is a handful) has suffered a robbery of some description around this time, so the key thing to remember is, don't carry anything you can't afford to lose. The streets will be jam-packed and I mean absolutely rammed over this weekend and into the early part of next week, so I might just stay at home and catch up on all those things that I've been putting off, which is a very long list. Meanwhile, the authorities have been clamping down on the city's prostitutes before the festival, they will be handing out up to 250,000 free condoms and have warned people to be wary of catching the H1N1 flu virus with a 'cover your cough' message. Its the Kings' Father's birthday tomorrow too, so another public holiday, it was Coronation Day yesterday and Water Festival is a public holiday for 3 days, though at Hanuman we're only off on Monday. And of course, football will take precedence next weekend, when the BIDC Cup begins a weeks' worth of football at Olympic Stadium involving the Cambodian national team, fresh from their training camp in Vietnam. I was gutted to read of a series of events at the EFEO HQ in Siem Reap this week which I will obviously miss. In English, the lectures will focus primarily on Angkor and will include speakers such as Christophe Pottier, Darryl Collins, Olivier Cunin, Martin Polkinghorne and Im Sokrithy. Damn and blast.
As part of the celebrations for Norodom Sihanouk's birthday tomorrow, TV3 hosted a program tonight of music and of course, classical Khmer dance. In the red costume on the far left of this screen-grab is my pal Sam Savin with fellow members of the royal ballet peforming a dance in honour of the King Father. Savin was also performing for the King earlier this week at Chaktomuk Theatre.

Sam Savin, far left in red costume, dancing on TV3 tonight