The Khmer Rouge's never-operational Kompong Chhnang airport, built between 1977 and 1978 by slave labour, was probably intended to serve as a base for launching air attacks against Vietnam. Cement of such high quality was used that even today the 2440m runway and access roads look like they were paved last week. The site is 12km west of town. Take NH5 towards Battambang for 7km and turn left onto a concrete road.
Chinese engineers here oversaw the work of tens of thousands of Cambodians suspected of disloyalty to the Khmer Rouge. Anyone unable to work was killed, often with a blow to the head delivered with a bamboo rod. In early 1979, as Vietnamese forces approached, almost the entire workforce was executed. Estimates of the number of victims, buried nearby in mass graves, range from 10,000 to 50,000.
In the late 1990s, a plan to turn the airport into a cargo hub for air-courier companies came to nought. These days, local teenagers come out here to tool around on their motorbikes, do doughnuts and drag race, while cows graze between the taxiway and the runway. On sunny days the sun creates convincing mirages.
On an anonymous slope a few kilometres away, the Khmer Rouge dug a cave – said to be 3km deep – apparently for the purpose of storing weapons flown in from China. Now home to swirling bats, it can be explored with a torch (flashlight) – but lacking ventilation it gets very hot and humid.
On a hillside near a cluster of bullet-pocked cement barracks, stripped of anything of value, is a massive cement water tank. Inside it’s a remarkable echo chamber.
