Meeting Khmer Rouge Guerrillas Straight Out Of The Bush

 Interviewing newly arrived Khmer Rouge defectors up towards Phnom Kulen, Siem Reap 95. Pic by Liz Gilliland...Follows Crossing the Tonle Sap post

I
To put this in context, it was the day after the trip across Tonle Sap. Liz and I spent the night in the Grand Hotel. She probably would not have noticed but I was agitated. I didn't know what to do about the previous day as I felt we were being manipulated when the gov delegation went: "See there's no prison." And there's me thinking "Out here you don't need walls." But wire services weren't interested in me thinking, they just wanted my facts. So Liz and I go out for dinner. And we bump into the co-minister of defence and a whole load of gov officials. They were presiding over a kind of youth militia/boy scout like function. And there were about 200 kids there, all about 16. All were introduced to Liz and me. In groups of two.It took about half an hour and felt truly absurd. Less absurd was the news that a large group of Khmer Rouge guerrillas was defecting up towards Phnom Kulen the next day. Bingo. I could get a good story. So the gov delegation and armed escort were heading off at 6.30am and we were invited to join them. But nice hotel, heady fresh romance and 6.30am. One of these things is not like the others. So waltzing out of the hotel after 9, I start berating myself to dump the romance and don the professional head. Anyhow I find a driver. He is very shocked when he finds out the lovely couple don't want to see the temples. No they want to go up the mountains to meet the Khmer Rouge. After I wave dollars, promise the presence of government troops and swear to our safety, we take off. As we leave recognisable landmarks behind, it starts to feel a bit tense. The driver is looking rattled. Liz isn't. But there again she not travelled that much in guerrilla zones.. All I know is that there is safety somewhere ahead of us. But there were also a lot of Khmer Rouge in the area and not all of whom could be banked on as about to defect. Just as I was thinking maybe this is not a good idea, we pull into a military base about 11am. That's our white car in the pic. The gov group is really surprised to see us. They had written us off at 6.30am. They are now having lunch. They are knocking back the Johnny Walker. And they are laughing at the idiots who drove up without a military escort. Suddenly there's commotion. State tv cameras appear. The whiskey bottles are removed. The Khmer Rouge have arrived, fresh out of the jungle. Scary looking mofos. I hustle an interpreter. With some of them you don't need a translator. The look is clear. I would like to kill you slowly and do unspeakable things to that blonde in the mini skirt. Yeah. Got you guys. Thanks. Others testify to the simple truths of a decades old conflict. Why did you join the Khmer Rouge? Not a mention of Mao or agrarian reform. No, it was cos I came from this village, talking about somewhere deep in the boondocks. So deep that none seemed to have cigarettes. They were smoking ganja. They were tired of fighting. They were tired of the jungle. 
They wanted blondes in mini skirts.
Or a variant thereof.
One geezer with a very old rifle deserved a campaign medal or two. He had fought the French with the Khmer Issaraks in the 50s. The defection of this group of 150 didn't mean there were no Khmer Rouge left to hassle us on the way back so it was time to go. We had a two hour drive ahead of us. And the same rule applied that had applied to all conflicts in SE Asia over the past 50 years or more. Get off the road by dusk. By dusk we were in the Grand Hotel carpark dealing an irate driver. He was looking for some vast amount cos we had taken way way out of his comfort zone. He had a point. It was dodgy. And no-one else deserves to die for my ambition. As well as that I was looking forward to few beers with Liz as soon as I got my story out. So I paid him double. And strange for a feature like piece, it made the front page of Bangkok Post the next day. I was being congratulated so I was able to drop the issue of the secret prison. I just filed it in my memory as the best's day's tourism I had in my life. And it's still up there. Secret or otherwise.