Phnom Penh

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We arrived in Phnom Penh after a 5 hour bus journey from Battambang; the journey was pretty uneventful as the road is in good condition and was much quicker than our long boat journey the day before! We spent the first afternoon walking the city and getting our bearings. We stopped for a drink at the Foreign Correspondence Club, famous for dispatches during the war, and strolled along the promenade of the Mekong River before grabbing some dinner at one of the numerous river front cafes and restaurants.

The next morning we set off early with a tuk-tuk driver to see the Khmer Rouge killing fields of Choeung Ek and S-21, the former school turned into a security jail, which is now a genocide museum. During the period of the Khmer Rouge one quarter of the Cambodian population was killed, either through murder, starvation or disease.

The killing fields are where 17,000 men, woman and children were executed between 1975 and 1978 and are buried in 129 mass graves. A white stupa has been erected which encases some of the skulls as well as other human bones and pieces of clothing found at the site. As we walked among the mass graves some human bones and cloth were visible in the ground, they have been exposed as the dirt is washed away with the rain. Not all the graves have been excavated but maps and mounds and dips in the ground indicate where they lie. It was an eerie and saddening experience to think this happened within our lifetimes. We watched a short film on the Khmer Rouge and how they managed to rise to power.
We have both read a book written by Loung Ung called ‘First they killed my father.’ Loung was only 5 when the Khmer Rouge took over power of Cambodia forcing her and her family to leave their home in Phnom Penh. It is the most moving book I have ever read so if anyone wants to understand a bit more of the personal experiences people lived through I’d recommend reading it.

At S-21 the site has been pretty much left as it was after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown. The classrooms where thousands of men and woman were tortured, to extract confessions (all false) against the Khmer Rouge, and killed still house the metal beds and implements used with only a graphic black and white photo on the wall. Every man, woman and child who passed through S-21 were photographed and documentation kept on them. Hundreds of these photos are displayed making a silent but striking memorial to those killed. Only a handful of people survived once they were brought to the S-21 prison.

We were feeling a little flat after seeing the horrors of the killing fields and S-21 so we jumped back into the tuk-tuk and headed for the Russian Market for some lunch and look around. We enjoyed a noodle dish cooked up at one of the little stalls; the best food (and by far the cheapest) we eat always seems to be from the markets!

We headed back to the guest house buying provisions on our way for the 9 hour journey we have the next day which will take us north to the border town of Stung Treng where we will spend the night before crossing into Laos. We have enjoyed Cambodia and all the experiences we have encountered; especially the people and their positive out-look on life after all they have been through.

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Photos

Promenade
Mekong river front...

Foreign Correspondence Club
Nice place for a beer overlooking the river...

Palace
Sunset

Stupa
The stupa contains 9,000 human skulls, other bones, and clothing found at the site...

Bones
These bones were visible on the walking tracks between the exhumed mass grave sites.

S-21
The former school used as a torture and prison by the Khumer Rouge...