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Published: March 13th 2006
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Who knows why the capital of Cambodia gets such a bad name.....we loved it. Yes it's hot, dusty and busy. Yes, extremes of wealth and poverty are part of the daily diet. However, the desperate conditions of Cambodian life for many are the source of their hope for the future. This is a busy city with a great atmosphere and one of the favourites stop offs so far!
With Lara being poorly again we decided to ditch the dorms and check into a swanky hotel rather than head into the backpacker district next to the Lake. Swanky for us cost $6 and includes air con, an ensuite and sky TV - no doubt one of the reasons we regard the city so fondly. With a river to rival the Thames and riverside bars and restaurants to match those in Paris, you could be forgiven for thinking you were in Europe. So, about time we headed for a reality check into the history of Cambodia.......
The first stop for us was the Tuol Sleng museum or S-21 (Security Officee 21). Formerly a secondary school, Pol Pot turned it into a prison in 1975 surrounded by corragated iron and barbed wire.
With classrooms turned into cells and the grounds turned into torture areas, it soon became the largest detention and torture centre in Cambodia for thousands of workers, peasants, teachers, doctors, lawyers, and women and children. WIth only 14 survivors from the thousands who were held captive it is a harrowing and gut renching account of the genocide which killed almost 2 million Cambodians in the late 70's (a quarter of the Cambodian population).
The building has been preserved as was, including instruments of torture, dossiers and documents, lists and mugshot photo's of prisoners as well as patches of blood stained flooring and even skulls. We walked in silence between the rooms, staring at the photo's of faces on the wall. Its haunting but compelleing. Although gruesome the visit here for us was instrumental in learning about the crimes of the Khmer Rouge and another reinforcement in the understanding of how far Cambodia has stepped frowards from the abyss since those dark and horrific days.
Almost all of the people held at S-21 were later taken to the extermination camp at Choeung Ek or more commonly known as 'The Killing Fields'. It is true that every Cambodian you meet
has fallen victim to the Pol Pot regime and has an opinion. This was never more apparent to us than when we hired a guide to show us around. Although his family fled the city into hiding his parents were later captured and executed at the killing fields. In the early 80's before they disinterred over 16,000 bodies from the site, he slept rough there as he had nothing else to live for. Now he works as a guide and is outspoken in his passionate hatred for Pol Pot.
The most striking feature of the Kiling fields is the 18 storey high monument built as a memorial stupa and packed with skulls, bones and clothes recovered from the mass graves. You can see individual scaring on the skulls (arranged by sex and age) which tells us something about how the person died. Many were bludgeoned to death before having their throats cut or beheaded to save bullets. The more disturbing feature of the grounds is the fact that bones appear daily as the tourist trek wears the ground through even more. As we walked around he pointed out leg bones, bits of clothing and skulls which would be later
collected and added to the piles already in existence around the disinterred pits.
We ended up spending a little bit longer in Phnom Penh than planned as Lara voluntered in one of the city's orphanages. It is impossible not to feel touched by the children that you meet and their stories pull the strings of your heart...maybe I will do an Angelina Jolie and adopt me a Cambodian bubba. They are the most beatiful children you will ever see. It's their situations that are not so beautiful. It is not their fault that they are orphaned although sadly it is clear that the majority of these children will never feel love in a normal family setting.
On a lighter note we have had a great time socially in the city. We randomly bumped into a friend from home in an internet cafe. In fact Mrs Harvey, is it freaking you out that there is a photo of Fiona and me eating happy pizza together in Cambodia on here! The world is a tiny place and I am pretty sure that this will not be the last time we bump into someone we know. We have spent our evenings
imbibing in the local beer and "happy pizza's" (as well as trying to fight of the hordes of book selling children on our way). We have seen some beautiful Cambodian sunsets over the lake and tonight on our last night will be taking an early night in front of a movie before we head off to Saigon tomorrow.
We have truly enjoyed our time in Cambodia. It has been gut wrenching to see the poverty and to learn of their past but it is the spirit of these people which have made this trip for us. Sankota in Swahili means going towards the future but paying mind to the past. The future is waiting for Cambodia but the world must look at its past to help them prosper in the future. It is frightening that the events which ruined this country were only 30 years ago, and it went relatively unoticed by the west. In fact, having learned about the history and future of landmines for this country it is startling that the west leave this country in a pretty poor state, with the USA continuing to sell mines which they know destroy so many lives. Hopefully with the
number of backpackers who are making these stops on their travels the corruption will decrease, the wealth will increase and the living conditions of this country will improve. I can say with some certainty that visiting Cambodia has shown me the best and worst sides to human nature!
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