From far yon country blows.

                    What are those blue remembered hills,

                         What spires, what farms are those?

                    That is the land of lost content,

                         I see it shining plain,

                    The happy highways where I went

                         And cannot come again.

                                                                        A. E. Houseman

This is the second in a series of blog entries about a trip to Cambodia I took in the spring of 1993.  The first post included a brief historical outline of Cambodia during the traumatic period from about 1969 through the peace accords of 1991.  You can read that here.  In addition to historical information, that post featured everyday street scenes from the capital, Phnom Penh.

My trip to Cambodia occurred just two years after most fighting had come to an end in the country’s long war between Maoist Khmer Rouge guerillas, royalists, nationalists, and the Vietnamese supported government.   Only after the 1991 peace accords went into effect did the country truly open up to the outside world.  By 1993, a very shaky peace existed in most (but not all) of the country, but its recent history was sadly noticeable wherever one went. 

A generation of genocide and warfare leaves scars that cannot be portrayed adequately by photographs.  Pictures can't show how young the Cambodian population was in 1993.  It was striking how few people, especially men, there were in their 40's and 50's and 60's.  Another alarming reality was the large number of beggars, often missing one or more extremities, the lasting result of war and torture, and of the scourge of landmines.  Finally, pictures cannot show psychological scars.  One can't help but wonder how great a toll has been inflicted on the Cambodian nation by suicide and depression.  Like a missing leg or blinded eye, those are consequences that last long after the guns have fallen silent.

My pictures, therefore, show only a small part of Cambodia's recent war-torn history. 

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In the distance is the old bridge crossing the Tonle Sap, a tributary of the Mekong River.  The bridge was destroyed in 1973, during fighting between the government of Lon Nol and the Khmer Rouge guerillas.  The bridge was one of two major approaches to Phnom Penh from the east.  There is some dispute as to who was responsible for the bridge'e destruction.  Some say the Khmer Rouge blew it up.  Others say the government destroyed it to prevent the Khmer Rouge from being able to enter the city in 1973.  Of course, two years later they entered the city almost unhindered.  The bridge was repaired several years after my visit.

The peace agreement of 1991 called for the Red Cross to provide humanitarian assistance to the war torn country.  I have always held that organization in high esteem.   After my trip to Cambodia, my admiration grew even more.

This was a common sight throughout Phnom Penh:  White vehicles sporting a large, black "UN".  The United Nations maintained a very visible presence in the capital during the early 1990's.  Its task was to keep the various factions from reverting to the civil war that had raged since 1979, following the collapse of the Khmer Rouge.

About 40 km outside of Phnom Penh is the old Khmer capital of Oudong.  In 1993 it was in an obvious state of neglect and damage from the war.  Guidebooks published in the early 1990's warned tourists to Oudong not to venture off the trails due to the likely presence of landmines, buried there since the 1970's.

This is the remains of what was once the largest temple in Oudong.  It used to house a huge statue of the Buddha, its head as tall as a grown man.  The temple was damaged badly by American bombs in the early 1970's.  After the Khmer Rouge took over, the damaged temple was blown to bits as part of the regime's attempt to wipe out all traces of Cambodia's religious traditions.  Although much of Oudong has been restored, this temple remains in ruins.

Whether in Phnom Penh, or in the countryside, one did not have to go far to see a ruined temple, mosque, or church, sheathed in scaffolding as workers attempted to restore the damage inflicted on houses of worship by the Khmer Rouge so many years before.

What were once stately colonial mansions along Phnom Penh's major boulevards were only empty shells in 1993, plundered and decaying, their formerly manicured lawns a wild, unkempt tangle of tropical foliage.  Many of these old buildings have been torn down to make room for upscale hotels and guesthouses during the past several years.

Among the saddest remnants of the war that I saw were the posters scattered throughout Phnom Penh, put up by the Red Cross to advise residents how to track down family members missing following nearly 20 years of brutal repression and civil war.  By 1993, most of these posters were tattered and faded.  Did they achieve their purpose?  One wonders how many were reunited with long lost loved ones. and how many learned a sadly tragic truth of a missing loved one's fate.