Advertisement
Published: December 24th 2006
Edit Blog Post
Killing Fields
Ghosts from the past Sadly, after an insufficient amount of time spent in Saigon I boarded a flight bound for
Phnom Penh, Cambodia. Not sadly, I had my dear pal Jimmie waiting on the other side to join me for the next few weeks in doing what we do best together, having a good time. Checking into the hotel in Phnom Penh five hours later than Jimmie, I was not surprised to be informed by the front desk staff that he was next door receiving a manicure and pedicure. Jimmie likes to travel brilliant far off lands around the world, and he likes to do it in style. After a warm embrace and getting caught up, it was time to explore Cambodia.
Cambodia is a country which differs from its neighbors in that the people and the psyche of a nation bear some of the deepest and most recent emotional scars. Horrific acts of genocide were perpetrated here, the scope of which I had not realized or understood until now. On May 1st, 1975 Cambodia’s people lifted up a new leader by allowing a man known throughout the world as
Pol Pot into power. Ironically, “Pol Pot” was supposed to stand for political potential.
For some reasons still unknown to many today, Pol Pot and his
Khmer Rouge regime summarily executed several hundred thousand of his own innocent people around the area of Phnom Penh. His brutal vision was to create a peasant dominated society of followers he could control and manipulate to achieve who knows what. Anyone randomly deemed to be a Peasant person (i.e. people with dirty hands) were shipped off to slave labor farms and put to work fifteen hours per day. Anyone who looked remotely well educated or smart were deemed a threat and were sent for detention and torture centers, and eventually execution at a place called the
Killing Fields. While not the most uplifting experience, a visit there was essential in learning about the history of the people and the country. I learned that the regime conducted these tortures and executions in hundreds of towns, leaving no part of the country untouched by its brutal rule. There were hundreds of detention and torture centers and genocidal "killing fields" locations throughout the country. The Killing Field location we visited is about 15 kilometers into the rural countryside outside of the city of Phnom Pehn. The location and the grounds
at site have no special significance until you imagine what was happening here less than thirty years ago. The “smart people” who were transferred here from the detention center of Tuol Sleng (more on that place later) were all eventually executed here, nearly two-hundred thousand in all at this site. (Over the course of the three year and eight month regime, the total number of deaths attributed to the Khmer Rouge reign is put at between one and two million). To drive home the sobering reality here, a tall glass memorial was erected in 1988 which houses the skulls of more than 8,000 of the victims found at this site, arranged by sex and age. Silence is not requested here, words are impossible to come by as you listen to the stories, survey the reminders and get a knot in your stomach thinking about it.
Our trip to the fields took up a few hours and on our way back into town we passed through some remote rural villages and beautiful watery green farm land. We had our driver stop so we could get a close up look and we ended up joking around with some of the locals
Tuol Sleng
Innocent lives lost and a bunch of kids. That evening, we enjoyed a good dinner at the FCC (Foreign Correspondents Club), basically an upscale restaurant and hotel catering to western tourists. It was a comfortable spot to reflect on the afternoon and watch the sunset over the temples behind the town.
The following day, we set out to explore another key historical piece of the Khmer Rouge puzzle, the former detention and torture prison of
Tuol Sleng, also known as S-21 (Security Office 21). Now converted to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, it was here that the Khmer Rouge sent all of the educated citizens of Cambodia for interrogations and torture before being sent on to the Killing Fields. Tuol Sleng was originally a high school and was converted by the Khmer Rouge in 1975. All of the classrooms were converted to prison cells, the windows sealed and covered with tangled barbed wire to prevent possible escape by prisoners. Our guide walked us across the grounds, through a peaceful courtyard within the confines of non-descript 60’s style buildings. The buildings remain very much the way they were during the Khmer Rouge reign, and the empty rooms still contain steel beds on which
Downtown Phnom Penh
French colonial architecture prisoners were detained and tortured. The rooms are stark and cold with chilling photos of dead prisoners hanging on the walls showing them as they were found here when the prison was finally liberated by the Vietnamese forces in 1978. The Khmer Rouge took photographs and kept detailed records on each prisoner, and many of these mug shots are on display within the buildings. Our Cambodian guide monotonously recounted in detail for us the conditions and types of torture prisoners went through. As we slowly walked through the halls, looking at the black and white photographs of the prisoners added a deeply personal feeling to the experience, one I will not soon forget.
After the Tuol Sleng visit, we headed over to the
National Museum to wander around and check out some of the ancient Cambodian artifacts, and then walked through the always interesting and vibrant local markets and art galleries. The evening was spent relaxing lazily along the banks of the Mekong river at one of the many local café’s, enjoying cheap Angkor beers and the always amazing local cuisine. Our visit to Phnom Penh had been an educating experience and on the surface, we found wonderful and
Killing Fields
Brutal Reminders friendly people eager to welcome their visitors. We both wanted another day here, but it was now time to move onto Cambodia’s main attraction and the temples at Siem Reap.
Advertisement
Tot: 0.078s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 9; qc: 23; dbt: 0.0288s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb
coco
non-member comment
Thank you for the incredible history lesson, reading about this tradgedy on Chritsmas eve I truly will be aware of our blessings and will now keep the millions of people who died in my thoughts on this holy holiday. have a Merry christmas my friend, stay safe during your travels. I love and miss you Coco