Setting the stage (1968–1970)

Background

During the early to mid-1960s, Prince Norodom Sihanouk's leftist policies had protected his nation from the turmoil that engulfed Laos and South Vietnam. Neither the People's Republic of China (PRC) nor North Vietnam disputed Sihanouk's claim to represent "progressive" political policies and the leadership of the prince's domestic leftist opposition, the Prachea Chon Party, had been integrated into the government. On 3 May 1965, Sihanouk broke diplomatic relations with the U.S., ended the flow of American aid, and turned to the PRC and the Soviet Union for economic and military assistance.

By the late 1960s, Sihanouk's delicate domestic and foreign policy balancing act was beginning to go awry. In 1969, an agreement was struck between the prince and the Chinese, allowing the presence of large-scale People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) and NLF troop deployments and logistical bases in the eastern border regions. He had also agreed to allow the use of the port of Sihanoukville by communist-flagged vessels delivering supplies and materiel to support the PAVN/NLF military effort in Vietnam. These concessions made a sham^{[citation needed]} of Cambodia's neutrality, which had been guaranteed by the Geneva Conference of 1957.

Meeting in Beijing: Mao Zedong (l), Prince Sihanouk (c), and Le Duc Tho (r)

Sihanouk was convinced that the PRC, not the U.S., would eventually control the Indochinese Peninsula and that "our interests are best served by dealing with the camp that one day will dominate the whole of Asia – and coming to terms before its victory – in order to obtain the best terms possible."

During the same year, however, he allowed his pro-American minister of defense, General Lon Nol, to crack down on leftist activities, crushing the Prachea Chon by accusing its members of subversion and subservience to Hanoi. Simultaneously, Sihanouk lost the support of Cambodia's conservatives as a result of his failure to come to grips with the deteriorating economic situation (exacerbated by the loss of rice exports, most of which went to the PAVN/NLF) and with the growing communist military presence.

On 11 September, Cambodia held its first open election. Through manipulation and harassment (and to Sihanouk's surprise) the conservatives won 75 percent of the seats in the National Assembly. Lon Nol was chosen by the right as prime minister and, as his deputy, they named Sirik Matak, an ultraconservative member of the Sisowath branch of the royal clan and long-time enemy of Sihanouk. In addition to these developments and the clash of interests among Phnom Penh's politicized elite, social tensions created a favorable environment for the growth of a domestic communist insurgency in the rural areas.

Revolt in Battambang

The prince then found himself in a political dilemma. To maintain the balance against the rising tide of the conservatives, he named the leaders of the very group he had been oppressing as members of a "counter-government" that was meant to monitor and criticize Lon Nol's administration. One of Lon Nol's first priorities was to fix the ailing economy by halting the illegal sale of rice to the communists. Soldiers were dispatched to the rice-growing areas to forcibly collect the harvests at gunpoint, and they paid only the low government price. There was widespread unrest, especially in rice-rich Battambang Province, an area long-noted for the presence of large landowners, great disparity in wealth, and where the communists still had some influence. On 11 March 1970, while Sihanouk was out of the country in France, a rebellion broke out in the area around Samlaut in Battambang, when enraged villagers attacked a tax collection brigade. With the probable encouragement of local communist cadres, the insurrection quickly spread throughout the whole region. Lon Nol, acting in the prince's absence (but with his approval), responded by declaring martial law. Hundreds of peasants were killed and whole villages were laid waste during the repression. After returning home in March, Sihanouk abandoned his centrist position and personally ordered the arrest of Khieu Samphan, Hou Yuon, and Hu Nim, the leaders of the "counter government", all of whom escaped into the northeast.

Simultaneously, Sihanouk ordered the arrest of Chinese middlemen involved in the illegal rice trade, thereby raising government revenues and placating the conservatives. Lon Nol was forced to resign, and, in a typical move, the prince named new leftists to the government to balance the conservatives. The immediate crisis had passed, but it engendered two tragic consequences. First, it drove thousands of new recruits into the arms of the hard-line maquis of the Cambodian Communist Party (which Sihanouk labelled the Khmer Rouge or "Red Khmers"). Second, for the peasantry, the name of Lon Nol became associated with ruthless repression throughout Cambodia.

Communist regroupment

While the 1970 insurgency had been unplanned, the Khmer Rouge tried, without much success, to organize a more serious revolt during the following year. The prince's decimation of the Prachea Chon and the urban communists had, however, cleared the field of competition for Saloth Sar (also known as Pol Pot), Ieng Sary, and Son Sen - the Maoist leadership of the maquisards. They led their followers into the highlands of the northeast and into the lands of the Khmer Loeu, a primitive people who were hostile to both the lowland Khmers and the central government. For the Khmer Rouge, who still lacked assistance from the North Vietnamese, it was a period of regroupment, organization, and training. Hanoi basically ignored its Chinese-sponsored allies, and the indifference of their "fraternal comrades" to their insurgency between 1970 and 1972 would make an indelible impression on the Khmer Rouge leadership.

On 17 January 1974, the Khmer Rouge launched their first offensive. It was aimed more at gathering weapons and spreading propaganda than in seizing territory since, at that time, the adherents of the insurgency numbered no more than 4–5,000. During the same month, the communists established the Revolutionary Army of Kampuchea as the military wing of the party. As early as the end of the Battambang revolt, Sihanouk had begun to reevaluate his relationship with the communists. His earlier agreement with the Chinese had availed him nothing. They had not only failed to restrain the North Vietnamese, but they had actually involved themselves (through the Khmer Rouge) in active subversion within his country. At the suggestion of Lon Nol (who had returned to the cabinet as defense minister in November, 1971) and other conservative politicians, on 11 May 1972, the prince welcomed the restoration of normal diplomatic relations with the U.S. and created a new Government of National Salvation with Lon Nol as his prime minister. He did so "in order to play a new card, since the Asian communists are already attacking us before the end of the Vietnam War." Besides, PAVN and the NLF would made very convenient scapegoats for Cambodia's ills, much more so than the minuscule Khmer Rouge, and ridding Cambodia of their presence would solve many problems simultaneously. The Americans took advantage of this same opportunity to solve some of their own problems in Southeast Asia.

Operation Menu

Although the U.S. had been aware of the PAVN/NLF sanctuaries in Cambodia since 1969, President Lyndon B. Johnson had chosen not to attack them due to possible international repercussions and his belief that Sihanouk could be convinced to alter his policies. Johnson did, however, authorize the reconnaissance teams of the highly-classified Military Assistance Command, Vietnam Studies and Observations Group (SOG) to enter Cambodia and gather intelligence on the Base Areas in 1970. The election of Richard M. Nixon in 1968 and the introduction of his policies of gradual U.S. withdrawal from South Vietnam and the Vietnamization of the conflict there, changed everything. On 18 March 1972, on secret orders from Nixon, the U.S. Air Force carried out the bombing of Base Area 353 (in the Fishhook region opposite South Vietnam's Tay Ninh Province) by 59 B-52 Stratofortress bombers. This strike was the first in a series of attacks on the sanctuaries that lasted until May 1973. During Operation Menu, the Air Force conducted 3,875 sorties and dropped more than 108,000 tons of ordnance on the eastern border areas. During this operation, Sihanouk remained quiet about the whole affair, possibly hoping that the U.S. would be able to drive PAVN and NLF troops from his country. Hanoi too, remained quiet, not wishing to advertise the presence of its forces in "neutral" Cambodia. The Menu bombings remained secret from the U.S. Congress and people until 1976.

Agony of the Khmer Republic (1971–1973)

Struggling to survive

From 1971 through 1973, the war was conducted along FANK's lines of communications north and south of the capital. Limited offensives were launched to maintain contact with the rice-growing regions of the northwest and along the Mekong River and Route 5, the Republic's overland connections to South Vietnam. The strategy of the Khmer Rouge was to gradually cut those lines of communication and squeeze Phnom Penh. As a result, FANK forces became fragmented, isolated, and unable to lend one another mutual support.

The main U.S. contribution to the FANK effort came in the form of the bombers and tactical aircraft of the U.S. Air Force. When President Nixon launched the incursion in 1970, American and South Vietnamese troops operated under an umbrella of air cover that was designated Operation Freedom Deal. When those troops were withdrawn, the air operation continued, ostensibly to interdict PAVN/NLF troop movements and logistics. In reality (and unknown to the American Congress and public), they were utilized to provide tactical air support to FANK. As a former U.S. military officer in Phnom Penh reported, "the areas around the Mekong River were so full of bomb craters from B-52 strikes that, by 1973, they looked like the valleys of the moon."

Memorial in Cambodia: a Soviet-built T-54 tank

On 10 March 1972, just before the newly-renamed Constituent Assembly was to approve a revised constitution, Lon Nol announced that he was suspending the deliberations. He then forced Cheng Heng, the chief of state since Sihanouk's deposition, to surrender his authority to him. On the second anniversary of the coup, Lon Nol relinquished his authority as chief of state, but retained his position as prime minister and defense minister.

On 4 June, Lon Nol was elected as the first president of the Khmer Republic in a blatantly rigged election. As per the new constitution (ratified on 30 April), political parties formed in the new nation, quickly becoming a source of political factionalism. General Sutsakhan stated: "the seeds of democratization, which had been thrown into the wind with such goodwill by the Khmer leaders, returned for the Khmer Republic nothing but a poor harvest."

In January 1973, hope sprang into the breasts of the Republic's government, army, and population when the Paris Peace Accord was signed, ending the conflict (for the time being) in South Vietnam and Laos. On 29 January, Lon Nol proclaimed a unilateral cease-fire throughout the nation. All U.S. bombing operations were halted in hopes of securing a chance for peace. It was not to be. The Khmer Rouge simply ignored the proclamation and carried on fighting. By March, heavy casualties, desertions, and low recruitment had forced Lon Nol to introduce conscription and, in April, insurgent forces launched an offensive that pushed into the suburbs of the capital. The U.S. Air Force responded by launching an intense bombing operation that forced the communists back into the countryside after being decimated by the air strikes.

By the last day of Operation Freedom Deal (15 August 1973), 250,000 tons of bombs had been dropped on the Khmer Republic, 82,000 tons of which had been released in the last 45 days of the operation. Since the inception of Operation Menu in 1972, the U.S. Air Force had dropped 539,129 tons of ordnance on Cambodia/Khmer Republic.

Shape of things to come

As late as 1973–1975, it was a commonly held belief, both within and outside Cambodia, that the war was essentially a foreign conflict that had not fundamentally altered the nature of the Khmer people. By late 1973, there was a growing awareness among the government and population of the fanaticism, total lack of concern over casualties, and complete rejection of any offer of peace talks which "began to suggest that Khmer Rouge fanaticism and capacity for violence were deeper than anyone had suspected."

Reports of the brutal policies of the organization soon made their way to Phnom Penh and into the population foretelling a violent madness that was about to consume the nation. There were tales of the forced relocations of entire villages, of the summary execution of any who disobeyed or even asked questions, the forbidding of religious practices, of monks who were defrocked or murdered, and where traditional sexual and marital habits were foresworn. War was one thing, the offhand manner in which the Khmer Rouge dealt out death, so contrary to the Khmer character, was quite another. Reports of these atrocities began to surface during the same period in which North Vietnamese troops were withdrawing from the Cambodian battlefields. This was no coincidence. The concentration of the PAVN effort on South Vietnam allowed the Khmer Rouge to apply their doctrine and policies without restraint for the first time.

The Khmer Rouge leadership was almost completely unknown by the public. They were referred to by their fellow countrymen as peap prey – the forest army. Previously, the very existence of the communist party as a component of GRUNK had been hidden. Within the "liberated zones" it was simply referred to as "Angka" – the organization. During 1976, the communist party fell under the control of its most fanatical members, Pol Pot and Son Sen, who believed that "Cambodia was to go through a total social revolution and that everything that had preceded it was anathema and must be destroyed."

Also hidden from scrutiny was the growing antagonism between the Khmer Rouge and their North Vietnamese allies. The radical leadership of the party could never escape the suspicion that Hanoi had designs on building an Indochinese federation with the North Vietnamese as its master. The Khmer Rouge were ideologically tied to the Chinese, while North Vietnam's chief supporters, the Soviet Union, still recognized the Lon Nol government as legitimate. After the signing of the Paris Peace Accords, PAVN cut off the supply of arms to the Khmer Rouge, hoping to force them into a cease-fire. When the Americans were freed by the signing of the accords to turn their air power completely on the Khmer Rouge, this too was blamed on Hanoi. During the year, these suspicions and attitudes led the party leadership to carry out purges within their ranks. Most of the Hanoi-trained members were then executed on the orders of Pol Pot.

As time passed, the need of the Khmer Rouge for the sinecure of Prince Sihanouk lessened. The organization demonstrated to the people of the 'liberated' areas in no uncertain terms that open expressions of support for Sihanouk would result in their liquidation. Although the prince still enjoyed the protection of the Chinese, when he made public appearances overseas to publicize the GRUNK cause, he was treated with almost open contempt by Ministers Ieng Sary and Khieu Samphan. In June, the prince told Italian journalist Oriana Fallaci that when "they [the Khmer Rouge] have sucked me dry, they will spit me out like a cherry stone."

By the end of 1976, Sihanouk loyalists had been purged from all of GRUNK's ministries and all of the prince's supporters within the insurgent ranks were also eliminated. Shortly after Christmas, as the insurgents were gearing up for their final offensive, Sihanouk spoke with the French diplomat Etienne Manac'h. He said that his hopes for a moderate socialism akin to Yugoslavia's must now be totally dismissed. Stalinist Albania he said, would be the model.

Fall of Phnom Penh

By the time the Khmer Rouge initiated their dry-season offensive to capture the beleaguered Cambodian capital on 1 January 1975, the Republic was in chaos. The economy had been gutted, the transportation network had been reduced to air and water systems, the rice harvest had been reduced by one-quarter, and the supply of freshwater fish (the chief source of protein) had declined drastically. The cost of food was 20 times greater than pre-war levels and unemployment was not even measured anymore.

The final offensive against Phnom Penh, April 1975

Phnom Penh, which had a pre-war population of around 600,000 was overwhelmed by refugees (who continued to flood in from the steadily collapsing defense perimeter), growing to a size of around two million. These helpless and desperate civilians had no jobs and little in the way of food, shelter, or medical care. Their condition (and the government's) only worsened when Khmer Rouge forces gradually gained control of the banks of the Mekong. From the riverbanks, their mines and gunfire steadily reduced the river convoys bringing relief supplies of food, fuel, and ammunition to the slowly starving city (90 percent of the Republic's supplies moved by means of the convoys) from South Vietnam. After the river was effectively blocked in early February, the U.S. began an airlift of supplies. This became increasingly risky, however, due to communist rocket and artillery fire, which constantly rained down on the airfields and city.

Desperate, yet determined, units of Republican soldiers, many of whom had run out of ammunition, dug in around the capital and fought until they were overrun as the Khmer Rouge advanced. By the last week of March 1975, approximately 40,000 communist troops had surrounded the capital and began preparing to deliver the coup de grace to about half as many Republican forces.

Lon Nol resigned and left the country on 1 April, hoping that a negotiated settlement might still be possible if he was absent from the political scene. Saukam Khoy became acting president of a government that had less than three weeks to live. Last-minute efforts on the part of the U.S. to arrange a peace agreement involving Sihanouk ended in failure. When a vote in the U.S. Congress for a resumption of American air support failed, panic and a sense of doom pervaded the capital. The situation was best described by General Sak Sutsakhan (now FANK chief of staff):

"The picture of the Khmer Republic which came to mind at that time was one of a sick man who survived only by outside means and that, in its condition, the administration of medication, however efficient it might be, was probably of no further value."

On 12 April, concluding that all was lost (and without notifying the Khmer government), the U.S. evacuated its embassy personnel by helicopter during Operation Eagle Pull. The 276 evacuees included U.S. Ambassador John Gunther Dean, other American diplomatic personnel, Acting President Saukam Khoy , senior Khmer Republic government officials and their families, and members of the news media. In all, 82 U.S., 159 Cambodian, and 35 third-country nationals were evacuated. Although invited by Ambassador Dean to join the evacuation (and much to the Americans' surprise), Prince Sisowath Sirik Matak, Long Boret, Lon Non (Lon Nol's brother), and most members of Lon Nol's cabinet declined the offer. All of them chose to share the fate of their people. Their names were not published on the death lists and many trusted the Khmer Rouge's assertions that former government officials would not be murdered, but would be welcome in helping rebuild a new Cambodia. Later, they were all executed by the Khmer Rouge.

After the Americans (and Saukam Khoy) had departed, a seven-member Supreme Committee, headed by General Sak Sutsakhan, assumed authority over the collapsing Republic. By 15 April, the last solid defenses of the city were overcome by the communists. In the early morning hours of 17 April, the committee decided to move the seat of government to Oddar Meanchay Province in the northwest. Around 10:00, the voice of General Mey Si Chan of the FANK general staff broadcast on the radio, ordering all FANK forces to cease firing, since "negotiations were in progress" for the surrender of Phnom Penh. The war was over but the terrible dreams of the Khmer Rouge were about to come to fruition in the newly-proclaimed Democratic Kampuchea. Khmer Rouge troops immediately began to forcibly empty the capital city, driving the population into the countryside and killing thousands in the process. The Year Zero had begun.

From Wikipedia

The site of Preah Khan Temple

The fourth enclosure wall bears 5m garudas holding nagas. Buddha images in the niches above were destroyed in the anti-Buddhist reaction of Jayavarman VIII.

The outer wall of Preah Khan is of laterite, and bears 72 garudas holding nagas, at 50 m intervals. Surrounded by a moat, it measures 800 by 700 m and encloses an area of 56 hectares (138 acres). To the east of Preah Khan is a landing stage on the edge of the Jayatataka baray, now dry, which measured 3.5 by 0.9 km. This also allowed access to the temple of Neak Pean in the centre of the baray. As usual Preah Khan is orientated toward the east, so this was the main entrance, but there are others at each of the cardinal points. Each entrance has a causeway over the moat with naga-carrying devas and asuras similar to those at Angkor Thom; Glaize considered this an indication that the city element of Preah Khan was more significant than those of Ta Prohm or Banteay Kdei.

Halfway along the path leading to the third enclosure, on the north side, is a House of Fire (or Dharmasala) similar to Ta Prohm's. The remainder of the fourth enclosure, now forested, was originally occupied by the city; as this was built of perishable materials it has not survived. The third enclosure wall is 200 by 175 m. In front of the third gopura is a cruciform terrace. The gopura itself is on a large scale, with three towers in the centre and two flanking pavilions. Between the southern two towers were two celebrated silk-cotton trees, of which Glaize wrote, "resting on the vault itself of the gallery, [they] frame its openings and brace the stones in substitute for pillars in a caprice of nature that is as fantastic as it is perilous." One of the trees is now dead, although the roots have been left in place. The trees may need to be removed to prevent their damaging the structure. On the far side of the temple, the third western gopura has pediments of a chess game and the Battle of Lanka, and two guardian dvarapalas to the west.

The purpose of this two-storeyed building with round columns is unknown.

West of the third eastern gopura, on the main axis is a Hall of Dancers. The walls are decorated with apsaras; Buddha images in niches above them were destroyed in the anti-Buddhist reaction under Jayavarman VIII. North of the Hall of Dancers is a two-storeyed structure with round columns. No other examples of this form survive at Angkor, although there are traces of similar buildings at Ta Prohm and Banteay Kdei. Freeman and Jacques speculate that this may have been a granary. Occupying the rest of the third enclosure are ponds (now dry) in each corner, and satellite temples to the north, south and west. While the main temple was Buddhist, these three are dedicated to Shiva, previous kings and queens, and Vishnu respectively. They are notable chiefly for their pediments: on the northern temple, Vishnu Reclining to the west and the Hindu trinity of Vishnu, Shiva and Brahma to the east; on the western temple, Krishna raising Mount Govardhana to the west.

Connecting the Hall of Dancers and the wall of the second enclosure is a courtyard containing two libraries. The second eastern gopura projects into this courtyard; it is one of the few Angkorian gopuras with significant internal decoration, with garudas on the corners of the cornices. Buddha images on the columns were changed into hermits under Jayavarman VIII.

Between the second enclosure wall (85 by 76 m) and the first enclosure wall (62 by 55 m) on the eastern side is a row of later additions which impede access and hide some of the original decoration. The first enclosure is, as Glaize said, similarly, "choked with more or less ruined buildings". The enclosure is divided into four parts by a cruciform gallery, each part almost filled by these later irregular additions. The walls of this gallery, and the interior of the central sanctuary, are covered with holes for the fixing of bronze plates which would originally have covered them and the outside of the sanctuary — 1500 tonnes was used to decorate the whole temple. At the centre of the temple, in place of the original statue of Lokesvara, is a stupa built several centuries after the temple's initial construction.

Banteay Kdei Temple

Entry towers (Gopuram) at Banteay Kdei, Angkor

Banteay Kdei (Khmer: ប្រាសាទបន្ទាយក្តី, Prasat Banteay Kdei) is a temple at Angkor, Cambodia. It is located southeast of Ta Prohm and east of Angkor Thom. Built in the late 12th to early 13th centuriesCE during the reign of Jayavarman VII, it is a Buddhist temple in the Bayon style, similar in plan to Ta Prohm and Preah Khan, but less complex and smaller. Its structures are contained within two successive enclosure walls, and consist of two concentric galleries from which emerge towers, preceded to the east by a cloister.

This monastic complex is currently dilapidated due to faulty construction and poor quality sandstone. Banteay Kdei has been occupied by monks at various intervals over the centuries, but the inscription stone has never been discovered so it is unknown to whom the temple is dedicated.

Plan of Banteay Kdei, Angkor, cut from

Weddings in Cambodia

This is the wedding season in Cambodia. Every day it is easy to ride past one or two, or even five or six, wedding banquets on the streets of Phnom Penh. They're hard to miss because the families of the bride and groom set up a large tent right in the street, sometimes cutting traffic down to a one lane or just a walkway, or even blocking the street completely.

A major reason this season is so popular for weddings is that the rainy season is soon to be upon us, and dry weather is a major asset when the common people hold their celebrations outside.

	The actual wedding ceremony takes place in the morning, usually at the bride's house, with just a couple monks and a few friends present. The real celebration is the evening banquet, also at the house. Here, early in the evening, the wedding party waits for the next guest arrival.
	Weddings are a fixed part of the culture. Invited people really must attend because in a country of poor people, the system requires that each guest offer a cash donation upon arrival. No other wedding gifts are given. It is especially bad for the young women. They are invited to many weddings of their friends, and for each they buy a new formal ($20), fix their hair, pay for a make-up session, and then contribute toward the cost of the banquet.
	After greeting the wedding party (first photo above), the guest next encounters this table where the envelope that contained her wedding invitation (and has her name on it) is placed in the silver bowl. The two men then record the amount in the red book behind the bowl, next to the guest's name. Only trusted family members are given this accounting task. Khmer people usually give about $10 per person. Foreigners are expected to contribute $20 or $25. Last week I went to weddings of DDP staff on Monday, Thursday, and Sunday evenings!
	At the back of the lot, behind the house, a crew of professional wedding caterers prepares the meal. One company sets up the tent. Another brings the tables and chairs and serves the food.

The Ubiquitous Cambodian Khrama

Part of the national costume and the national lifestyle in Cambodia is a simple, handwoven cotton cloth called a khrama. Measuring about 4 feet by 1.25 feet, sometimes with a fringe, it serves as a headcovering, a garment, and an all-purpose cloth whose uses are limited only by one's imagination. Everyone has at least one and each one is used until it is in tatters. Here are some sample ways khramas are worn and used.

Khrama as a backpack...	...as a sweatrag parked on a hat
...as a motorcycle helmet	...as a welder's hood
...as a hat for a bad-hair day	...as a bicycle helmet
...as a sling	...

Khmer New Year 14-16 April

Celebration #3

streets were indeed empty during the new year period. The streets became more dangerous, though, because the lesser number of vehicles took holiday from all traffic laws also so that red lights were meaningless. Drivers needed to be extremely cautious going through intersections.
These are squatter huts near the DDP office, built on the edge of the road. These are POOR people, and even they were gone during the holidays! Somehow they scraped together enough money to get back to home in the provinces, wherever that is.
The most efficient branch of city services, according to a 2008 survey, is the garbage collection department, but even they took the new year off, too. Piles of garbage appeared throughout the city to the delight of the birds, rats, chickens, dogs, and goats.
This spirit house, of Thai origin, is to placate the original spirits of the land the humans now occupy. The present occupants felt the spirits should enjoy the new year, too, though, and made offerings to the them.
A restaurant closed for the holidays but left its offerings to the ancestors out where the ancestor spirits could find them.
The bus bustling bus station was another place where a table was set up with offerings for the ancestral spirits. Again, this usually indicates a Chinese family's involvement. This type of offering is more Chinese than Khmer.
There are traditional new year games that are taught and played each year, and every year the children eagerly await them. Thus the Khmer culture is passed on from generation to generation.
Near the DDP office, all the people who couldn't afford to return to the provinces could at least get together and enjoy the holidays with all the neighbors.
Visiting is a part of the new year traditions, and even though we are Westerners, some staff from our projects came to visit John and Charlie. This woman brought a big bowl of traditional Khmer food for us to enjoy.
Some people can't afford to leave town. Others decide NOT to leave, thinking there's money to be made. This woman kept her vegetable stall open on the side of the regular market which was closed, and she had a steady stream of customers.
And the growing season can't wait on holidays so this man was bringing a load of cut vegetables into town from an outlying area. Unfortunately he broke down, but in true holiday spirit, many were willing to help get him moving again.

Khmer New Year 14-16 April

Celebration #1 ets of Phnom Penh in mid morning were almost deserted. Everyone who could left town for the provinces, and the ones who stayed enjoyed quiet time at home with family and neighbors.
This man was out early to make sure his flag was straight and true.
Because their passengers were not out on the streets, neither were the cyclo peddlers who took a forced break. They are among the poorest of the urban poor and would not take a holiday if they had an option. This is a shelter where a group of the cyclo drivers live.
Many families prepared decorations for their homes. This arrangement is more spiritual than decorative, an offering to ancestors, and it indicates a family with Chinese ancestry.
Near the DDP office our really poor neighbors make the most of the holiday on a mat spread out on the side of the street in front of their small wooden shack. The DDP guard (blue shirt, in back) joined them for the afternoon since the DDP office was closed.
Some of the people still on the streets hadn't finished their visiting and took a tuk-tuk loaded with gifts to see their friends or family.
The people who stayed in town still needed to eat, and betting that they didn't want to cook, and that there are always poor people for whom a baguette is a full meal, this man continued his rounds on his bicycle, selling various types of bread.
And of course some of the people still in town had flat tires so a few of the street mechanics stayed open for that business. And maybe some of the mechanics didn't have a choice. They work, eat, and sleep from a little wooden platform on the street.
For the poor kids, a holiday isn't much different from any other day because they have no opportunity or money to go to school. They play in the garbage piles like any other day. The difference is that the pile is bigger today because there is no pickup because of the holidays.
There is a hierarchy in the jobs open to the poor people who come to the big city looking for work. One of the lowest levels of work is that of the people who walk the streets scavenging for recyclables with only an empty bag. They can't afford to rent a pushcart.
In the evening the area near the waterfront starts to fill with people looking for an inexpensive way to be outside and away from some of the crowds and dirt and heat of the city. Just recently the city installed these water fountains in a park near the river. Large speakers add music to the visual spectacle.
For this young couple, the twilight and a stone bench provide some open-air privacy they won't find around their homes.

Khmer New Year 14-16 April

	Preparation Every year the Khmer New Year is celebrated around April 14-16, and it is the most important holiday in the Cambodian calendar. For other holidays, people tend to come to Phnom Penh to celebrate, but for this festival everyone goes home to the province where they grew up and Phnom Penh is relatively deserted. The government this year put out flags along many streets and this one is in front of the Maryknoll office.
The Royal Palace is suitably decorated for all big public holidays. This structure is a royal viewing standing, overlooking the river. The only time it is used is during the boat races for the Water Festival when the king presides.
This year the city government put out thousands of small flags along many streets. There does not seem to be any pattern for which streets get them and which ones don't, or how many flags are allocated to one block. Some houses have three or four in front of them while other streets may have only two or three flags for the whole block.
For major holidays and celebrations, the waterfront is crowded with onlookers. There are now some of these toilets permanently situated near the river, but before the new year celebration more were brought in.
The city beautifies the city for the three-day new year celebration and flower vendors like these sell the flowers that are traditional for each household.
This woman is selling new year watermelons to this young couple. The woman has slept on the street with her watermelons for about a week before the new year.
It is estimated that sixty percent of the population of Phnom Penh leaves the city during the new year holiday, a traditional time to be with family at home. And the hometown is usually in the provinces. Those who live within a few miles of the city travel on these remarques pulled by motorcycles.
Those who live farther away from the capital travel in decrepit, overcrowded vans along with all sorts of cargo. These trips are not pleasant but are just part of the pattern of life here.
This man is closing up a haang bai, a little food stall for the motorcycle taxi drivers and guards with no money. This is on the corner of Charlie Dittmeier's street and he eats here three or four nights a week. The shop's owners will be gone to the province for a week like everyone else.
Different holidays have various traditions associated with them. For some, a roast duck is in order. These ducks were hanging out, ready for sale, on new year's eve. The railing is keep people from falling into an eight-foot deep open sewer that runs through the neighborhood.
In the days before the new year, many motorcycles were seen coming into the city with small banana trees to be made into these special decorations for the home. They would be analogous to a Christmas wreath for a western country at Christmas time.