CAMBODIA and The Killing Fields

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12/11 Phnom Penh, Cambodia

Took a motorbike this morning (heart attack and a half) to our bus that is going to the capital of Cambodia, Phnom Penh...about a 6hr trip. Crossing the Vietnam/Cambodian border was organized chaos but we entered safely (Linda you are here in spirit!!). Cambodia by far is the biggest culture shock thus far. The immense poverty is everywhere with half naked children begging for money and/or water. At one bus stop I saw two little girls just picking bugs out of each others hair. Just telling you the facts.

4 hours into Cambodia and the only real "houses"and/or buildings were seen in the small city of Phnom Penh. Ironically, Tara and I took a Tuk Tuk to the Colonial Mansion, where we will be sleeping for the night. It is one of our JSM Indochina buildings that Tung arranged for us prior to arrival. A big THANK YOU for the generous accomodation.

We check in, drop our bags off quickly and take a taxi straight to the "Killing Fields."
WEAK STOMACHS NEED NOT READ FURTHER

Located 20 minutes outside the city lies the site of the 1980's genocide by the Khmer Rouge. The ground is covered with craters that once stood as massive graves for those massacred during the government rule of Pol Pot, which targeted professors, doctors, lawyers among their families and 9 other foreigners/journalists. As I walked along the footpaths I could still see the victims clothing littered about. An even closer look reveals the disturbing remains of bones and teeth stuck in the ground. There is an enormous temple that houses over 9,000 of the victims skulls...a far cry from the over 20,000 people killed here. I can't help but compare this to my visit at Dachau Concentration Camp outside of Munich, Germany. Obviously, a holocaust on any scale is horrific enough...but the brutality at the Killing Fields seems to be on a different level.

There were no gas chambers, bullets or crematoriums. Here, babies were held by their feet and beaten against "The Killing Tree." Men and women were struck by axes, bamboo sticks/spears, shovels and tortured by other farming equipment. Soldiers that disobeyed any orders were decapitated by the sharp edges of palm tree branches used as saws. Others were just buried alive. To think this all only happend 30 years ago is beyond belief and still, such atrocities are being committed today in places like Sudan and The Congo in Africa.

On our way back to Phnom Penh, Tara and I stop at the central market, Phsar Temei and head down to the Tonlai Sap River for dinner at "The Titanic Restaurant" (comforting), where we catch an authentic cambodian dance show. We take a refreshing dip in the pool back at our place before hitting the sack.

***Current City: Siem Reap, Cambodia heading to Bangkok, Thailand tomorrow...happier stories to follow***

P.S. I'm getting a lot of messages to post pictures but I don't have a private computer to do so...yet. Hopefully in Malaysia. Until then, there are a few on facebook.com just enter my name! Missing you all and sending my love~*

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