Land of temples

Cambodia is the home of the Khmer people, who dominated much of Indochina Peninsula between the 8th and 12th centuries. Over the next 750 years, however, the country was ravaged by foreign occupation, civil war and dictatorship. It has yet to recover. 

In 1863, the French made Cambodia part of its French Indochina colonies, which included Laos and Vietnam, eventually ceding control less than a decade after the Second World War. In those 90 years of rule, France protected the country from the Thais and Vietnamese, who both vied for control of their neighbor. Cambodia finally became a sovereign state in November 1953, when King Norodom Sihanouk, who had himself been installed by the French, declared independence. But the country’s troubles were just beginning.

During the Vietnam War, King Sihanouk was sympathetic to the Vietnamese Communists and allowed NVA and Vietcong forces to operate from Cambodia, a move that was unpopular with his subjects. While King Sihanouk was visiting Beijing in 1970, Prime Minister General Lon Nol and the king’s cousin Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak ousted him in a right-wing coup. In exile, he encouraged loyalists to overthrow rise up against the new government amidst an escalating war between the Cambodian Army and government and Vietnamese forces attempting to regain their supply lines and bases from which to launch attacks on the Vietnamese Republic in the south. 

Eventually, Cambodian Communists, known as the Khmer Rouge, began to seize control of Cambodian territory retaken by their Vietnamese counterparts. An unsuccessful bombing campaign by the US and South Vietnam ensued attempted to rout Communist insurgents.

The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot, eventually took the entire country. They took the capital Phnom Penh and turned schools into prisons where they tortured citizens fearing they would stage a counter revolution. Pol Pot's regime committed unspeakable acts of violence against the Cambodian people, causing the deaths of 2 million people from execution, overwork, starvation and disease. The death toll equated to 25% of the entire population at the time.

The Killing Fields: The Khmer Rouge was responsible for killing millions of Cambodians whose bodies have been found in shallow graves around the country.

The skulls of the Khmer Rouge's enemies.

The Cambodians built a memorial (above) in which they stored the skulls

and bones of the dead. A large area in an old Chinese cemetery is dedicated 

to the memory of all who died. Thousands of Cambodians visit it and look at

the clothing that is displayed to see if one of their family was among the dead.

In response to border raids by the Cambodians, the Vietnamese took control of the country between 1979 and 1989 with support from Russia. During the glasnost era, ushered in by Mikhail Gorbachev, Vietnam withdrew and King Sihanouk returned to power until his death at 91 in 2012. He is still much loved and pictures of him and his wife still hang in many government offices and public plazas.

The first free elections were held in 1993 under UN supervision. The fairness of the result is doubted by the man on the street, including our guide Veng, who highlighted corruption, illegal immigration, nepotism and an ailing justice system. Cambodia's present king is Sihanouk's son Norodom Sihamoni.

Despite all their hardships, Cambodians are gentle, friendly and are happy to see foreigners whom they swarm around trying to sell post cards, books on Cambodia and small trinkets. The main mode of transportation is the “tut tut,” an open carriage pulled by a motorcycle. For $2, they will take you from one end of the city to the next (dollars and riel accepted). Locals pile in several at a time onto mopeds to get from around. But you take your life in your hands to cross the street – no one stops for you and no one pays attention to traffic lights.