The Escape

My guess is that I lived around 1-3 months in Oddar Meachey before

the Khmer Rouge captured Battambong. I don't know if there were

any communication links between Oddar Meanchey and Battambong.

I had my doubts if there were, other than mail by air or jungle trek.

At this time Oun Iem was back in Battambong. I'm sure people

were keenly aware and keeping post of any report of impending

Khmer Rouge activity heading our way by the way we came in.

Our first report came as a false report; nevertheless, we took no

chances of being caught by them. We loaded up our possessions that

were valuable to us and prepared to leave and barred up the

rest in the apartment. I was at the farm and someone was sent to

get me. We ended up not leaving at that time.

The people that I was with were well-to-do people. I just don't know

what their rank and file were to the Cambodian government, if any.

Or if they knew the Khmer Rouge ideology and what they

would do once they took control of the country. So to flee from being

under their tyrany was the smartest thing to do to save their lives.

Because what the Khmer Rouge did once they got control of the

country was to kill all the intellectuals and tried to re-educate the

peasants to do what they thought would make Cambodia like its

glorious past.

About a week later, the news came again. And this time it was real.

Again I was at the farm. It was getting to be toward the end of the

day and I decided to leave the farm and head home by taking a

shortcut through the woods instead of using the main road. When

I got home, here they had already loaded and were ready to roll toward

Thailand. Their plan was to pick me up on the way out since that

was enroute. Maybe it was in haste to get out that they didn't have

time to send for me. I can't remember what we had going. I was

riding in a tractor wagon. There might have been two tractor wagons
and a car.

The scenario could have been like this:

They could have left, heading in the direction of the farm. Once

they reached the road that runs to the farm, someone would

have been dispatched to get me while the rest were waiting at the main

road for our return. From there we would be on our way out of the country.

What if that was off timing? I would have left the farm and took the

short-cut (which I did and came out to the main road that came

from Oddar Mancheay to Thailand). And they would have already gone

past the exit point of the short-cut. I would be continuing on my way

home and they on their way to Thailand. Of course, the neigbhors

would let me know that they had left and I would reverse my course

to try to catch up with them. And the one that was

sent for me would have had to figure out where I was. Since I wouldn't be

at the farm there would be only one option, that I probably had gone home
and taken the short-cut since they didn't see me on the main road.
He would search the short-cut and hope to track me down before I went

all the way home. There are at least 3-5 miles between the farm and home.

In my haste to catch up I could have passed the exit of the short-cut,

and he would have been bewildered whether or not to go all the way home

since I was not found on the trail. Since time was of the essence, any

delay was compounded by fear that the Khmer Rouge could be

on our trail too. But I'm glad that the timing was not off, but almost

perfect.