ising up towards the remote border regions that buffer Vietnam and Laos, the mountainous provinces of Mondulkiri and Ratanakiri have long been a world apart from the rice paddies and sugar palms that define the rest of Cambodia. However, it is a difference that goes far beyond just geography. The region is home to cultures who inhabit distinctive dwellings that mark their territory, and who elevate animism and spirit worship above Buddhism. Known as the ‘Khmer Loeu’ (Upper Khmer), these peoples were exploited as slaves and soldiers for a long time by the dominant ethnicities in the region – the Khmer, Vietnamese and Thai. It
