evidence: In this context, Stung Treng Province in northeastern Cambodia can be thought of as liminal region. It is often regarded as ‘Lao’ in terms of history and culture; Lao are perhaps the largest ethnic group and the area is part of a former Lao kingdom ceded by the French to Cambodia in 1904. Yet, the post-independence Cambodian and Lao states have been making the border into a physical and social reality through administrative, developmental and political interventions [Figure 3]. The border was also clearly marked by recent wars. The Lao government has been a close political ally of the Vietnamese since the socialist revolution in 1975. Because of this, Laos offered safe haven for Khmer citizens from the stridently anti-Vietnamese Khmer Rouge. Many people from Stung Treng Province – perhaps half the population – fled to southern Laos during the 1970s, some settling permanently there and others returning to Cambodia after the Vietnamese invasion in 1979 that forced out the Khmer Rouge.