Word: mekong
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Dates: during 1980-1989
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They have known almost nothing but war. For a generation men have fought over the fabled ruins of Angkor Wat, the colonial palaces of Phnom Penh, and the rich rice paddies along the Mekong River, leaving more than a million Cambodians dead and their land in ruins. But at long last the shell-shocked country had something to cheer. Cambodians crowded the streets last week to hail the withdrawal of the last of the 200,000 Vietnamese troops who had occupied their country for nearly eleven years. Across the eastern border in Viet Nam, there was also celebration. Senior officials...
...such metropolitan diversions tend to escape to Chiangmai, the cool northern town in the hills with something of the impenetrable allure of old China. Here one imagines the ghosts of opium warlords in the nearby Golden Triangle, or catches the sense of Viet Nam as one floats along the Mekong. Other, less adventurous souls simply sink into one of Thailand's seaside dreams: Pattaya, the "sea, sand and sin" city just 90 minutes from Bangkok; or Phuket, a Tahitian strip of bungalows along the emerald-green Andaman Sea that is home to Club Med and a host of other beach...
...late afternoon many head for the riverbank to watch the sunset and the men building fishing boats, still the town's main industry. It is peaceful by the Mekong. The water provides relief from the scorching heat of the day. Electric power is available only between 6 p.m. and 9 p.m., when a few lights come on and residents gather to watch a video in a public hall. Then a curfew clamps down, and like a jungle mist, stillness descends again...
...from Viet Nam, is already a U.S. citizen, and he too did well with a restaurant, the Mekong, at the intersection of Broadway and Argyle Street in Chicago. "When I first moved in here, I swept the sidewalk after we closed," he recalls. "People thought I was strange, but now everyone does the same." Lam Ton's newest project is to build an arch over Argyle Street in honor of the immigrants who live and work there. "I will call it Freedom Gate," he says, "and it will have ocean waves with hands holding a freedom torch...
Each year during the dry season, small islands and shallows appear in the Mekong River, which forms the border between Thailand and Laos. Normally it is a time for Thais and Laotians to compete in dragon-boat races, attend temple fairs and visit relatives on both sides. This year the ebbing of the great river brought instead an increase in tensions between the two countries. Vietnamese troops stationed in Laos sporadically opened fire on Thai fishermen, causing four deaths. The Thais not only shot back but lodged sharp protests with the Laotian government over the Vietnamese military presence. Underlying...