A Look Into Cambodia


From high atop a hill in Chau Doc, sitting on the Chau Phu temple steps, one can easily see into Cambodia. There is only a canal that serves to irrigate the rice field on either side that marks the border. The fields are beautifully green and plush on both sides. There is no distinction between the land on the Vietnam side and the land on the Cambodian side. Even the houses are identical.

Yet these are called the Killing Fields, where thousands or perhaps tens of thousands were killed before, during and after the Second Indochina War ("our" war with Vietnam.) Over the centuries, that number is probably hundreds of thousands.

The first picture looks almost north, with Cambodia on the left.

A turn of 90-degrees to the left and the view westward, showing Cambodia on the right and Vietnam on the left. If it hadn't been pointed out, only the natural divisions would have seemed trivial marking on the country side.


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