Cambodia is set to officially break ground on the Funan Techo canal, a $1.7-billion major shipping canal project to connect the Mekong river to a Cambodian port on the Gulf of Thailand, and offer an alternative to transit via Vietnam. But for Cambodians living along the projected route, uncertainty around the project is agonising. "I am almost crying now because I worry about having no place to live," says Dem Mech, a villager in Prek Takeo who will lose the house he shares with eight relatives if the project proceeds. IMAGES AND SOUNDBITES ARRANGED IN SEQUENCES