Into the Shadows, I Ran : BookBaby : 9798350934571 : 07 Feb 2024 : "Into the Shadows, I Ran" begins with the Khmer Rouge's forced evacuation of Cambodia's cities immediately after the fall of Phnom Pen and Saigon in April of 1975. The story traces Tha Chhay's attempted escapes from the forced labor camps when he was a boy. After the Khmer Rouge fell from power, he traveled extensively around Cambodia as a boy merchant. After buying and selling goods in different markets across Cambodia, he saved enough gold to hire a guide to take him across the land-mine fields into a refugee camp in Thailand. He persevered in the refugee camp for six long years. In the camp's small library, he saw a picture of Neil Armstrong and Edwin "Buzz" Aldrin place the American flag on the moon. He knew that Cambodia wouldn't get their flag up there in a million years, and decided America was the best country to take him away from the political turmoil of his homeland. In the camp of 28,000 refugees, he was cho