Page 356 - Xuan Giap Thin 2024 FINAL 2

At dawn, we arrived at the tax station located deep in the interior of Cambodia for about

5 kilometers and took another ferry upstream to Luong Hole. Luong Pit is an important

station. Onshore bus station. The pier is under the river, bustling. Here, people exchange
goods, many contrabands, and currency between two countries, Vietnam, and

Cambodia. The tax station works busily and rigorously. This is the last station where
traders still speak to each other in Vietnamese. We disguised ourselves as Cambodians

and took the bus ticket to Nam Vang. All of these trips were within a pre-arranged second

line. The atmosphere of war enveloped this hot capital.

Vietnamese and native soldiers strolled the sidewalks with guns over their shoulders.

State agencies have strong defensive fortifications with barbed wire fences; guards are
confidential. The house that used to be the American embassy still stands on the

sidewalk, lonely and cold, with patchy white walls and shattered glass doors. Houses on

both sides of the street were closed. Eateries and cafes are scattered on the sparse
sidewalks, making the face of the city more somber. The houses whose owners were

driven out of the city in March 1975 were occupied by soldiers from the countryside in a

wild, liberal manner that made the capital even more chaotic. The Tower Pagoda was a
famous landmark in the past, but now it is also ruined. The tourists were completely

absent, and a few, most of them Vietnamese exiles, prayed for Mr. Ta Do to prosper in
the foreign land. But few were satisfied because the Communists had blessed him on

behalf of Tao. The Black King remains open to visitors, but precious belongings are gone.

The Golden Pagoda, the Silver Pagoda, was closed because a bodice of the Buddha's
robes at the Golden Pagoda had been stolen. Most temples are cold and smoky, no

believers come to visit the scene, worship the Buddha.

Christian churches were demolished and razed. When passing by, no one notices a

single ruin, even a small one, to prove there was once a church. Independence Park lacks

care, and grass withers in the afternoon sun. Vietnamese troops heavily guarded Heng
Samrin's residence. At the train station, many Cambodians lay in disarray. They were

waiting for the train to proceed. They were taken to clear the border forest. Many did not
return. Or they fled into refugee camps on Thai soil. Or they died because of Khmer

Rouge attacks. Or they left their bodies in the sacred forest of poisonous water because

of disease and hunger. Early in the morning of December 25, 1984, the day of Christ's
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