by Guest9999 » Sat Dec 03, 2022 3:51 am
L.L. thanks for finding and linking that.
I had a long chat with a Khmer current Cambodian government official who arrived back at P.P. from the countryside in early January 1980. He said he stayed at the Monyvong bridge roundabout for 3-4 months and was only allowed, escorted, into the city a few times during that interval, before eventually being given a job. On those first visits, he said, the city seemed totally empty. Of course, before he arrived, the DK government and presumably most city workers ran away to escape the invading Vietnamese, but he did make it sound like an abandoned ghost town.
On several occasions, different Cambodians have told me that the end of DK country rule for them didn't happen till March/April 1980, as they were housed in central Pursat - perhaps Veal Veng area? - and the Vietnamese military took a while to get there. Sorry, too lazy to research myself, do you know when the Vietnamese took Koh Kong?
One interior Pursat trip with Ray, perhaps 2005?, I saw a huge pile of anti-tank mines (more than 30) in Tmar Da (Thai border) perhaps 1 km up onto the Cardamomoms above the bridge towards the pass. They told us they were from Vietnamese/Khmer fighting and at the time I thought it might be some crazy mid-1980's southward extension on the K5 line. Now it occurs to me that they more likely were placed in 1980, defensively by the DK, still in the mountains, as Vietnamese tanks moved up along the Thai border from Koh Kong into SW Pursat. I can't imagine many tanks trying the route over the pass, even with the new Chinese road! Any thoughts?
To me as an expat motorbiking around in the sticks, the Tmar Da area always had a weird feel to it, different to other Khmer Rouge areas like Anlong Veng, Bueng Trakoun & Oh Bei Chon (North of Poipet), Pailin or Samlout in the later 90's, and different again from my first Veal Veng trip in 2000. Perhaps because the Vietnamese occasionally pushed up there from the south making it more politically messy?
L.L. thanks for finding and linking that.
I had a long chat with a Khmer current Cambodian government official who arrived back at P.P. from the countryside in early January 1980. He said he stayed at the Monyvong bridge roundabout for 3-4 months and was only allowed, escorted, into the city a few times during that interval, before eventually being given a job. On those first visits, he said, the city seemed totally empty. Of course, before he arrived, the DK government and presumably most city workers ran away to escape the invading Vietnamese, but he did make it sound like an abandoned ghost town.
On several occasions, different Cambodians have told me that the end of DK country rule for them didn't happen till March/April 1980, as they were housed in central Pursat - perhaps Veal Veng area? - and the Vietnamese military took a while to get there. Sorry, too lazy to research myself, do you know when the Vietnamese took Koh Kong?
One interior Pursat trip with Ray, perhaps 2005?, I saw a huge pile of anti-tank mines (more than 30) in Tmar Da (Thai border) perhaps 1 km up onto the Cardamomoms above the bridge towards the pass. They told us they were from Vietnamese/Khmer fighting and at the time I thought it might be some crazy mid-1980's southward extension on the K5 line. Now it occurs to me that they more likely were placed in 1980, defensively by the DK, still in the mountains, as Vietnamese tanks moved up along the Thai border from Koh Kong into SW Pursat. I can't imagine many tanks trying the route over the pass, even with the new Chinese road! Any thoughts?
To me as an expat motorbiking around in the sticks, the Tmar Da area always had a weird feel to it, different to other Khmer Rouge areas like Anlong Veng, Bueng Trakoun & Oh Bei Chon (North of Poipet), Pailin or Samlout in the later 90's, and different again from my first Veal Veng trip in 2000. Perhaps because the Vietnamese occasionally pushed up there from the south making it more politically messy?