In early 1992, a good friend of mine accepted an offer to teach English in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  While there, he met and fell in love with a young Cambodian woman, and the two of them married in March, 1993.  I was honored to be invited to the wedding, and serve as the best man during the two day wedding festivities.

Over the next several weeks, I will enter a series of posts re-living my time in that fascinating country.  Today’s installment will simply show some everyday street scenes from the capital, Phnom Penh.  To add context to the pictures, I offer a brief outline of the country’s tragic history during the 25 years preceding my visit.

As is well known, the United States began a clandestine bombing mission in the late 1960’s in an attempt to destroy Vietcong bases hidden inside Cambodia.  The destruction caused by these bombing raids was immense, and probably counterproductive.  Many speculate that the raids fostered widespread resentment among rural Khmers against the United States and the US-supported government in Phnom Penh.  The American bombs likely strengthened and radicalized the nascent Khmer Rouge guerilla movement in the countryside.

Eventually, what started out as a small rural insurgency escalated into all out civil war.   US bombing missions continued until 1973, during which time the rural population more and more turned against the regime in Phnom Penh.  In April, 1975, the government collapsed and the powerful Khmer Rouge entered the city with virtually no resistance.  Many urban residents welcomed the rural insurgents initially, glad that the long period of civil war seemed to be drawing to a close.  Their hopes were quickly dashed, however, when the brutal, mostly uneducated soldiers began forcing the inhabitants of the city into the countryside, summarily killing anyone who offered resistance, or simply appeared to be educated.  Even the act of wearing glasses could be fatal.  The era of the Killing Fields had begun.  The Khmer Rouge declared it “Year 0”.

During the next 3 years, it is estimated that a million people died in Cambodia from execution, famine, or disease.  Significantly more than that may have perished.  The exact number is unknown, since few outsiders were allowed inside the country, and the government kept no statistics on its victims.

In late 1978, Vietnam invaded Cambodia and overthrew the Khmer Rouge government.  The Vietnamese hoped to stop frequent border incursions by the Khmer army, and to halt the flow of refugees into Vietnam.  The Vietnamese army easily took control of the capital, and installed a puppet government.  The leaders of the Khmer Rouge fled back into the countryside.  Throughout the next 10 years, violent warfare raged between the new regime, and the Khmer Rouge and its nationalist sympathizers.  During this period, Phnom Penh was repopulated as those who had been forced out in 1975 began to return to the empty, decaying city.  

A cease fire was reached in 1991 between Vietnam and the insurgents.  A peace keeping force under the auspices of the United Nations was deployed to enforce the agreement, resettle refugees, and disarm the warring parties.  Non-government aid organizations (NGO’s) were allowed into the country for the first time in nearly two decades to restore the physical and educational infrastructure of a country utterly wrecked by war.

I arrived in Phnom Penh about two years after the peace agreement.  I discovered a city with a vibrant urban life.  Its people were obviously hard-working, and there was a sense of optimism that the country was finally headed in the right direction.  There were troubling signs, too.  The city streets were very dangerous after dark.  I heard machine gun fire every night.  Many who had once taken arms to wage war were now using their weapons in acts of violent thievery and murderous retribution.  Prostitutes, including children just entering puberty, were far too easy to find and purchase.  Electricity was a luxury; 3 or 4 hours a day with lights and fans were about as much as one could expect.   Still, despite the lack of current running through the wires, the atmosphere was electric with excitement that a new future was dawning.  That excitement, I think, is evident in the scenes of daily life I captured in March, 1993.

Behind the wall is the Royal Palace.  It was in a state of disrepair in 1993.  Since then, it has been restored so that its exterior is much more opulent, and the grounds far better manicured than in 1993.

Often, it is only when you get away from the monumental thoroughfares and palaces, onto the side streets where people live and work that you see the real life of a city.   This was certainly true of Phnom Penh.

 The Central Market, built in 1937, truly a grand bazaar.

I never ceased to be amazed at the strength of the cyclo peddlers...

...never.

Anyone who was ever nervous driving on the "roundabouts" in the UK needs to experience the Phnom Penh equivalent.  Truly an amazing, if scary, thing to behold.

The Buddhist monk or student carrying a pale of meals were never far from sight.  Buddhism was nearly wiped out during the Khmer Rouge era.  It is estimated 50,000 monks were executed, and nearly all others went into exile.  The Christian and Moslem minorities were likewise targeted.  By 1993, temples, mosques, and churches were often hidden behind scaffolding, as the damage from the Khmer Rouge was being repaired.

These children would now be in their late teens and early 20's.  Will they be leaders of a new period of peace in this war-torn country?