The Water Festival ended on Friday. Probably yesterday (Saturday) crews started to take down the special structures and get things back to normal but they were still hard at it this morning as I went across town to mass.
A crew with pressure hoses were cleaning up an area of a park along the river.A woman working for Cintri, the garbage collection agency of Phnom Penh, uses a more traditional tool to sweep the street along the river.More Cintri workers load a garbage truck near the VIP viewing stands.Inside the viewing stands workers take down the scaffolding that held awnings for protection against the sun.Across the street from the viewing stand, the large photos of the royal family and signs with festival slogans have been taken down.Just a block farther down the street, the large colored light displays erected on barges that paraded on the river at night are being disassembled also.A display of colored lights is laid out on the sidewalk waiting for a truck and a crew to collect it.Even farther along the street, this crew is hosing down the many trash receptacles that were set out throughout the area during the holiday.Most poignant of all (and hardest to see) is the loading of the large racing boats on to trucks to be taken back to the provinces and stored to race again next year. The boat on the left, behind the line of people, is about 25 meters long and it took two of the large cranes to lift it on to a truck.The holiday is over and now the tourists return to the more traditional attractions. These people are exiting their buses parked at the Royal Palace.
