Phnom Penh Before The Fall: 

Snapshots from a Besieged City

 

Phnom Penh in 1974 was like a bubble cut off from the rest of the world. The roads out of the city had been destroyed or taken by the Khmer Rouge, the river link to Vietnam was impassable, and air access was sporadic as the KR rocketed the airport. Parts of the city were under bombardment and refugees from the countryside were pouring in.

Yet even after several years of being under siege, many people carried on with their daily lives as if it were just normal. These images from Phnom Penh and the surrounding countryside convey the dichotomy of that strange period before the fall.