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Published: April 12th 2009
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Memorial for the people
This stupa is filled with the skulls of 9,000 victims of Pol Pots regime Another bus journey (we’re getting used to these now) and we’re back where we started in Phnom Penh. There were two things that we wanted to see in Phnom Penh, firstly, Tuol Sleng Museum and secondly, The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, both places have links to the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pots cruel regime. We both read a book a couple of years ago called “First they killed my Father”, the author Luong Ung lived through the atrocities of the regime and managed to rebuild her life just as many Cambodians that we’ve come across here have done. If you don’t know anything about what happened in Cambodia during the mid 70’s read the book it’s very enlightening and it was because of this book that we wanted to visit these places.
Tuol Sleng was formerly a school until Pol Pot turned it into a security prison (S-21) in 1975, it became the largest prison in the country, the people held here ranged from small children to the older generation, during their time at S21 the people were tortured and later killed at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Not happy places to visit but the Cambodians urge tourists
Tuol Sleng School
S-21 a place of torture and misery for millions of Cambodian people to go there so that the victims are never forgotten….how anyone could forget what Pol Pot did is beyond us.
S-21:
As you approach through the streets of the capital there is no indication of the horrors that took place in the walls of what, even now, looks like a school that was used only yesterday. You are advised to catch a movie at 10 am that tells a moving story of the lives of two Cambodians before, and during the Khmer Rouge regime, the story is recounted by the living Grandmother, as in almost all cases involving detainees at S-21 the story ends in the torture and murder of the husband and wife by misguided guards (at its liberation there were only 7 prisoners found alive in S-21). As you walk around each of the buildings within the prison there is a sense of disbelief at the sheer barbarity and senseless waste of human life imposed by a nation upon itself. The faces of the unfortunate are mounted in frames throughout one of the buildings and it is hard to believe that the images of these children staring back at you could ever be deemed to be a
Corridor of horrors
The classrooms were converted into cell blocks and torture rooms threat to any army (the images of the corpses mixed into the display show the unimaginable suffering these poor people had to endure and how death would have been a welcome release for all of them).
During our time in Cambodia the former Khmer Rouge member Duch, who ran the S21 prison stood trial for his part in the atrocities, Pol Pot maintained right up to his death that he was unaware what went on at these places…….lies til the death!!!!
The Killing Fields:
14km from the city are the infamous Killing Fields of Choeung Ek where the body count to date is in excess of 17,00 people, with over 70 known mass graves still to be excavated this number will undoubtedly go much higher. It is here where the prisoners from S-21 and other surrounding prisons were brought in the middle of the night to be executed, mostly by being smashed with large metal or bamboo poles before having their throats cut and rolled into mass graves, left to die on top of previous victims, perhaps even a relative. The Khmer Rouge was at one point executing so many of their compatriots that they had to build
Faces of the innocent
The Khmer Rouge kept precise records of those that they were about to torture and kill holding cells at the fields to keep up with their believed extermination of capitalism from their motherland. As a visitor to the fields its hard to grasp just what was done here, as you walk around it appears to be just a mass of land with craters everywhere, this is until you notice the first scrap of clothing half buried, then you realise that you are actually standing on the bones of people strewn throughout the path slowly being unearthed by the footsteps of curious tourists.
To ensure they are never forgotten, a large memorial holding the skulls of over 9,000 of the victims that were excavated has been erected as a place for all to pay their respects, be that family members or tourists, it has a certain calmness that radiates across the killing fields and stays with you as you make your way back to the city.
Its hard to believe that what you experience as you have a glimpse into the nightmare that was the Khmer Rouge is not ancient history, but took place in our lifetime, as we were having Silver Jubilee street parties and trying to figure out our new fangled Betamax video recorders,
Cell for high ranking prisoners
Government officials etc were kept in cells like this one. The picture above the bed is an actual photograph of a corpse taken by Vietnamese liberators at the end of the regime the people who were believed to be enemies of Angkor (Khmer Rouge), were being brutally and systematically eradicated for crimes such as having soft hands, wearing spectacles, speaking a foreign language and other such “dangerous” activities.
After returning from our day of reflection into the Khmer Rouge, we planned to have a nice quiet night by the riverside, famous for its seafood restaurants and girlie bars, all did not go to plan, whilst strolling between bars (not girlie ones!!) we bumped into Lindsey, Pete and Paul, three mates from Goa who used to frequent Shooters Quiz and won almost every week!!! To many of you reading this Blog you will know them better by their quiz team name - ‘The Lazy Lifers’………ring any bells???? Needless to say we had a great night catching up with all the gossip and passing on travel tips, in fact we had to be kicked out of “Bojangles” one of the riverside bars at 1am when the staff sleepily closed up for the night.
Cambodia is a wonderful place with such a sad recent history, it evokes many emotions as you travel across its lands; the people are welcoming, warm and always have
Mass Exodus
The Khmer Rouge told the people that they were being evacuated for a few days because the US were coming to bomb....the first lie in a long line (Photo displayed at S-21) a smile for you. The country on a whole has a great deal to offer the majority of travellers, during our time here we have barely scratched the surface but we’re glad we made the effort, and in a small way contributed to the future of the people and the land.
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John Redmond
non-member comment
Beautiful place-cause of past problems?
Hi2U2!!! Nice scenery! Shame about the past! Have you noticed there is conflict everywhere when the place has beauty,oil,gold etc? Maybe we have to accept it? Keep trekking and I will try to think of another word with two 'Ks' while you are enjoying the world!!! Keep safe! JohnX