Tonle Bassac Commune

After achieving independence in late 1953, Cambodia was faced with some serious problems in terms of transportation, the lack of a practical port that could handle large vessels.
In the period prior to the French protectorate, King Ang Duong had a very good and straight road built between the-then capital, Oudong, and Kampot which is on a river adjacent to the south coast and the sea. In more ancient times a route had existed between the Mekong delta and the various capitals which came in to being further inland in the Khmer Empire. Obviously this route still exists, but even when ostensibly under Khmer control in the 17th century, Portuguese missionaries noted that it was far from safe, and the mouth of the river was apparently controlled by a treacherous Indian pirate. With control of the delta area shifting to the ever south-spreading Vietnamese in the late 18th century, things became more difficult so the port at Kampot was developed.
During the near-century of the French protectorate, and colonization of adjacent Vietnam and Laos, most trade went through Saigon, Cambodia remained a backwater during the period and saw relatively little progress in terms of development compared to its eastern neighbor.
After independence, which it has to be said was a very gentle transition in contrast to events in nearby Vietnam, Cambodia managed to remain on good terms with the French. As the route from the delta to the Phnom Penh port went through an often volatile South Vietnam, and relations were not always as good as often reported, the new government needed a new route for exports and imports that was not so dependent on external events. The idea of using the Phnom Penh to Bangkok railway, which did actually run a straight-through route for a couple of brief periods, was entertained, but this didn’t get away from the problem of dependence on other countries.
The solution that was eventually put into place was the port at Sihanoukville, built with French aid, and the Khmer-American Friendship highway which linked this once-remote area with Phnom Penh. A railway was later built with Chinese aid, but that’s another story. In the meantime, before the new port and links to the capital were finished, something else needed to be done.
The port on the river in Phnom Penh had only been able to handle relatively small ships, so an Office of Dredging was set up. Their mission was to constantly dredge the Tonle Sap River, both at the port and the area down-river. One of the perhaps unplanned results of this was the creation of 700 hectares of land around Phnom Penh, some previously swampy or flood-prone land, but much of it where there was once a river. Sothearous Boulevard used to run along the river front, if you look at it now its hundreds of meters from any large body of water. All the land to the east of Sothearous Boulevard was actually river up until the late 1950s.
If you study the old maps it also appears that Koh Pich or Diamond Island, was not originally an island at all. It is also land reclaimed from the Bassac River. What happened was that as the Bassac River was filled in to create the land where the parks, casino and new National assembly and Australian embassy now stand, a channel was left between this reclaimed land and the other part. The main course of the Bassac River was changed and cut through the top of the peninsula where Chhba Ampul, across the Monivong Bridge is now. At the northern part of this peninsula you can see evidence of this where roads which were once much longer now suddenly stop and drop into the river.
Part of what was prime, flat, reclaimed land with an unbroken view and breeze coming off the nearby rivers was developed in the early 1960s. It was built around the same time as Olympic Stadium, and designed by the same architect, Van Molyvann. At first it was planned as housing for visiting athletes for the 1966 Ganefo Games, a short-lived Asian alternative to the Olympics,
but ended up more as affordable housing for civil servants. There were two parallel long blocks of five-story apartments. They looked very smart and had nice open spaces with trees around them. Nowadays it is hard to imagine what they originally looked like.
Most current residents would recognize the scruffy-looking White Building, or Boudeng as it’s often called by locals. What many people don’t realize is that the nearby, modern-looking Phnom Penh Center was once its sister Gray Building. Ironically the white building is now gray through neglect, while the gray one is now painted white. Quite different in its original construction, the Gray Building was rebuilt in the early 1990s into the more regular square-shaped office block shape we know today. Pictures from that time show the area having still having many open spaces. By the end of that 1990s this was not the case, and a giant shanty-town had spread out between all around the buildings and adjacent areas. No-one really cared about this land for a long time, it was a dirty lawless slum and continued to be till fairly recently. The area was staunchly pro-ruling party, in a city that wasn’t always reliable in that regard. Any sign of trouble and the Tonle Bassac crew could be relied on to lend a hand. This became less important over the years though, and as investment mushroomed in Cambodia, land became hugely valuable. At the same time I’d imagine that there were decisions made to get rid of many of the slums around town, perhaps because besides being eyesores they were lawless places which a lot of crime in the city emanated from.
The triangular patch of slum between Boudeng and Sothearous Boulevard went up in flames sometime in 2003, in rather suspicious circumstances. Not in any way related was the statement later in the year by the city governor that arson was no longer an acceptable way to deal with disputes over property. The slums around there weren’t actually as bad as they often initially appeared. They had streets, barbers, grocery shops, cafes and all sorts of other businesses going on, and were very vibrant rather than in any way threatening during the day. I only ever went there at night with friends who lived there and wouldn’t have ever wandered in there alone. No big deal, the most obvious difference was the amount of kids sniffing glue around the alleyways; I guess they’d spent all day out strolling in the traffic in town.
It’s all completely gone now, the inhabitants have been moved to districts on the edge of the city, sometimes given plots of land and/or compensation, other times not, especially for those who tried to hang in too long and push for too much compensation, or those who couldn’t for one reason or another prove they had any right to live there. There were promises made to the occupants of this area and other places around the country concerning ownership or rights to stay in homes they had occupied for more than a certain number of years, but these promises later turned out to be empty.
The development of the area has been slow. The adjoining Koh Pich has seen a lot of construction, but other than the new Australian Embassy, not much other than a few new roads have been built on where all those slums once were. Little other than green metal-fences can be seen, with attendant security guards.

The picture of the village militia training in 1993 is by Roland Neveu.
The Cambodian Living Arts picture, one of my favorite pictures ever, is by Isabelle Lesser.

Olympic Stadium.

This was designed by eminent Cambodian architect Van Molyvann and completed in 1964. The first few pictures show the huge pond which was originally in front of it, and crowds at its inauguration.
One picture shows the stadium in around 1974, when it was used as a camp for republican soldiers and their families.
The black and white ones show Khmer Rouge troops parading in front of the stadium after their victory, Pol Pot in one picture and then Nuon Chea and Ieng Sary, members of the Khmer Rouge leadership.
Another picture shows Raoul Jenner, a political analyst on the terraces of a rather run-down stadium in the early 1990s. The last picture shows the stadium dressed up for the 2009 World Disabled Volleyball Cup. In recent years the stadium has been painted and kept fairly well, although it's not difficult to see where improvements could be made.

The Old Stadium.

The Old Stadium, also known as the RCAF (Royal Cambodian Armed Forces) Stadium, or Stad Cha to the locals, is located just north of the Chruoy Chanva Bridge roundabout in Russei Keo district. The French embassy and former Funcinpec headquarters are just a couple of the notable structures/former structures in the area.
Its distinctive brick lighting towers can still be spotted from far away. The area around the stadium was sold off some years back, and has since been developed. The older picture isn’t quite as old as it looks. The green oil tanker gives it a 1950s look, along with the tint. However the 4WD behind it looks distinctly like a 1998 Land-cruiser, and the billboards look even more modern, so I’d guess it was taken around 2003 or so.
It was in some ways a very pretty picture, compared to the more built up look it has now, with a big development ringing the whole stadium, and all the surrounding streets built up to some extent too. Overall though, it’s still a dog-rough neighborhood, I’ve worked in it plenty of times. The whole now built-up street on the east of the stadium is taken up by auto-parts businesses. Greasy - pavements with grease-monkeys chucking oily chunks of metal about in a whole stinking carnage of sump-smoke, busted valves and burnt-out radiators. It’s a great place when you need some spares, but no place to go looking for coffee or pretty much anything else. The road used to continue north from here, and was the actual national route, but there’s no way through now north of the stadium. What used to be a thoroughfare is now a T-junction with a row of bog-standard Chinese-style shop-houses blocking the way. There isn’t really any way around it either, I’ve been through the back-lanes beyond with local and foreign friends but none of the tracks go anywhere anymore except deep into small neighborhoods, with their shop-houses striking up in the middle of all sorts of traditional houses, shacks and lean-tos. The main road now follows the river a few hundred meters to the east.
Anyway, the pictures are both taken from around the same spot, perhaps ten years apart, the differences are remarkable. You have the same bushes, light patches on the paving, and the lighting towers are still standing proud. Besides that, everything has changed, and the big mature trees in the foreground along with the parkland are now just more shop-houses.

Unchanged

Although most places around town have changed a lot in the last few decades, the view from Wat Phnom towards the park at 108 street hasn't changed much at all in the last 50 years, nor has this building just off Pasteur. The new pictures were taken at Khmer New Year when the streets are nearly empty.

Cambodian Cars

Back in the early part of the 20th century, Cambodia was a French protectorate, which in reality meant a colony. As could be imagined, most cars were imported from France, Citroens being the most common. Very few of these remain, the climate is not kind to body-work or steel, and unless kept in a good shelter and maintained machines decay very fast. One friend of mine owned a late 1930s Citroen, which was lovely to be driven around in. It had an engine from a modern Toyota, and odd-looking chrome hubcaps, but otherwise was an original colonial-era ride.
In the late days of the French era, a couple of assembly plants were set up in Cambodia, one at the new Sihanoukville port, and another on street 80 near the Phnom Penh Port. The Sihanoukville one assembled a box-van variant of the well-known 2CV model. The 2CV’s name came from French, the Deux Chevalle, or two horse power, and was a very low-powered but affordable little workhorse, born from the austerity of the post WWII years. As you can see from the pictures, it had a pick-up back with a canvas covering. The Citroen showroom which is shown in one picture was on Norodom Boulevard.
After independence, there were some notable achievements in creating industry in Cambodia. The SONATRAC (Societe National Des Tracteurs) plant in Sihanoukville fabricated and manufactured trucks, tractors, motorcycles and also motors for other industrial uses. Later, after the refusal of U.S. aid, a local style jeep was also manufactured. I have only seen pictures of these, I’m not sure I’ve ever seen any surviving models.
The first picture is of a Citroen at Angkor Wat in 1910, and the next shows the Postal Car that ran the route between Phnom Penh and Saigon in the late 1920s, the picture looks like it was taken in Saigon. The next three are of the assembly plant and publicity shots of the Cambodian 2CV variant in the 1950s. The seventh picture is a Citroen sign on a wall above the old plant on street 80. Second last is the Citroen showroom on Norodom Boulevard, and the last is of a burnt out Simca in the early 1970s war.

Oudong

Oudong.
I first visited Oudong, which is only forty or so kilometers north of the Capital in 2005. Oudong was the capital of Cambodia at various times between 1618 and 1866, but not much remains that would remind a visitor of this historical detail. Amongst all the decaying, renovated and newer stupas on the hills one site in particular stood out.
All that remained of this temple was a few walls and some giant stumps of columns, with the almost unrecognizable plinth and crossed legs of a formerly enormous Buddha statue. The columns brought the massive temple of Karnak in Luxor, Egypt to mind. In both places the columns seemed to stand strangely against the sky, with little hint that any had actually served a practical purpose of holding up a roof at some forgotten time before.

Although it looked somehow ancient, the Vihear Preah Ath Roes or “Vihara of the 18 cubit Buddha”, was actually only finished and dedicated in 1911 during King Sisowath’s reign. The area around Oudong mountain suffered heavy aerial bombardment during the 1970-75 civil war, from Cambodian Republican Forces and the US B52s and F16s that backed them up. Although at first I came to believe that this bombing had caused the destruction of the temple, after discussing the situation with locals I changed my mind. What they told me was that the pagoda at the bottom of the hill, close to the current car-park and restaurant area had been flattened by bombing. The temple with the big lonely columns had been dynamited by the Khmer Rouge forces later, in 1977.

Returning to the mountain in 2009, I was aware that some reconstruction had been going on. I braved the mid-April heat and wandered up to have a look. The 18 cubit Buddha had been completely rebuilt, a lot of work had been put into the walls, and the basic framework for a roof was up. I have to admit I preferred it the way it had been, but that is understandably not a sentiment shared by many people here. I may find derelict houses and rustic war ruins attractive, but others don’t need reminding. I’ll try and drop up to Oudong again soon and see how it is all progressing.

Monorom Hotel

This was one of the first large modern hotels built in Phnom Penh. It stands on Monivong Boulevard, not far from Central Market and the railway station. At the time it went up there was little development along what was to become one of the city’s most metropolitan and built up streets.

The photo of the “Khmer Rouge” troops passing by the hotel on April 17^th 1975 poses some questions. The ”Artful Dodger” character out front is wearing some strange-looking bandoliers and has a certain jolly expression which seems very exaggerated. He certainly doesn’t have the usual stoic and mean expression that you usually see in pictures of KR soldiers, and the people in the truck look to me to be civilians. The flag flying from the truck is one which has often been identified as a Democratic Kampuchea flag, but I have rarely seen pictures of it actually being used.

The crowd to the left of the truck are mainly dressed in camouflage military fatigues, of the type worn by Lon Nol’s Republican forces. I understand that there was a certain amount of jubilance at first on the streets of Phnom Penh, but I ‘m surprised to see Republican soldiers celebrating. I thought they would have been too busy getting rid of their uniforms first, as they were the number one target for execution in days to come. .

When the capital was finally taken, it wasn’t by one unified army, but by several allied groups from almost autonomous zones of the country. Some confusion, and even a certain amount of fighting erupted between the various groups at first. In the first few hours of confusion, one particularly strange event occurred. Some people, perhaps students or military decided to join in. They dressed up as Khmer Rouge combatants, and paraded through the streets on trucks proclaiming victory. It’s not clear what their motives were, perhaps they thought they would just blend in and get on with things, but I doubt any of them got very far.

The first picture shows the Monorom in the early 1960s, the B&W is from April 17th 1975. The bottom two are more recent, as you can see it hasn't changed a lot other than the awning along the front.