Pub crawls, street parties and a costume contest marked Halloween

Photo by: Bina Hanley

Partygoers enjoy Halloween in Siem Reap.

SIEM Reap boisterously kicked off party season on the eve of All Hallows' Day. Expatriates exuded creativity at the annual Halloween festivities in the Pub Street precinct, and considering there is no fancy-dress shop in Siem Reap, the costumes were imaginative - Hindu princesses, cartoon characters, movie stars, sporting personalities and blokes just being blokes.

The Angkor What? bar's annual pub crawl attracted attention, with tourists and locals watching as about 50 people bar-hopped from the X Bar to Molly Malone's, the Red Piano and finally revelling into the early hours at Angkor What?  

One street away, the Linga Bar staged its annual "Linga-ween" street party, and this year twice as many partygoers turned up.

Linga Bar proprietor Martin Dishman said that because Halloween fell on a Friday this year he wanted to take Linga-ween to a new level, with a street party, an outdoor bar and big-screen projections.

"A rain deluge kept the party indoors, but thankfully that was after the bar was already packed", he said.

Dishman awarded Tania Palmer, from the Green Gecko Project, with the best costume honour - she sported a giant pumpkin headdress fashioned from two enormous orange-coloured vegetable strainers.

"It was a nice mix of tourists, expats and locals that just danced and partied all night," Dishman said.

He hopes to top the night with the Linga Bar's fourth birthday party November 15.  

Meanwhile, on the other side of town, the Halloween party opening night of Pyramid Mega Entertainment Club was literally a traffic-stopper.

General manager Ray Kirin was overwhelmed and had to hang the "house full" sign relatively early in the evening.

This didn't stop the curious from turning up just to look, and at one stage traffic outside the club on the highway to Phnom Penh was snarled.