CAMBODIA

 Cambodia, formally known as Kampuchea and also the Khmer republic, is a country in south east Asia with its capital city as Phenom Penh. In 1863, the king put the country under French Protection and in 1887 became part of French Indochina. It was occupied by the Japanese during WWII and in 1953 gained independence from France.

In 1975 the Communist Khmer Rouge, took control of the country and under its leader Pol Pot, at least, 1.5 million Cambodians  died of starvation , forced labour or were executed. At the end of 1978, a Vietnamese invasion overthrew the Khmer Rouge and started a 10 year Vietnamese occupation  of the country.1993 saw UN sponsored elections and in 2004 King Sihanouk abdicated in favour of his son Prince Norodom Sihamoni

The two notes above are quite large notes, the first being a 1972 1000 riels, depicting school children on the front and the head of Locecvara at Ta Som .
The second is a 1975, 500 Riels note with a girl carrying a container on her head on the front and a rice field on the reverse.

Above is a 1972 , 100 Riels note with the statue of the head of Locecvara (Buddha of compassion, also called Avalokitesvara and Chenrizig [tibetan]). The reverse has a central picture of a longboat. 

This one is a 0.5 Riel or 5 kak note from 1979. A train  is depicted on the front and fishermen with boats and nets on the reverse.This particular note in my collection, i have my doubts about. the printing looks fine and the colours are correct, even the serial number is raised slightly but the paper is awfully shiny. now that might be as the Vietnamese invasion was happening then and paper may have been scarce, so I'll keep it for now until I can do more research.

These two notes above are from the 2001 / 2002 issue. first , the  100 Riels with wonderful purple monuments- on the back is a school and the front the Independence monument in the middle
The second one is the 50 Riels ,this time the back has a depiction of a dam, whereas the front has the Preah Vihear Temple which is, unlike all the other ones featured, not  Buddhist  but a Hindu temple dedicated to Lord Shiva.