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The further east you travel from the Mekong to the Vietnamese border, the poorer the people and the more basic the infrastructure. The Mekong River is the overland gateway to this region, punctuated by the three very different towns of Kompong Cham , Kratie and Stung Treng . Travellers are beginning to make the journey here and beyond to the remote hilly provinces of Ratanakiri and Mondolkiri , populated by hilltribes and dotted with spectacular waterfalls. During the American War , the eastern provinces were heavily bombed by the Americans in their attempt to flush out the Vietcong from the Ho Chi Minh Trail. These attempts proved largely unsuccessful, however, and thousands of Cambodian civilians were killed, wounded or left homeless by these attacks. It was during this period that the Khmer Rouge began gathering strength and momentum in the area. Pol Pot was using the remote northeastern provinces to hide from Sihanouk's troops, while receiving support from his communist brothers in the Vietcong. Recruiting countrymen for the cause was not difficult - they were happy to join the fight against the systematic destruction of the region. Nowadays, the Mekong towns, Kompong Cham in particular, are forward-looking and relatively prosperous, having integrated well with modern-day Cambodia. But striking off eastwards, you'll see a different story, as the remote uplands remain stuck in their own isolated world, largely untouched by the march of modernization and development
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