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Published: September 6th 2006
A little history on Cambodia so our entry makes some sense. As mentioned in our previous blog, Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Regime, which in its early days was a successful empire, spreading into Thailand and Laos. In the 1500's, the Thai invaded Angkor and the latter years would be considered Cambodia's Dark Ages. Soon after, the capital was moved to Phnom Penh, where several rivers connected and new trading channels were opened. In the 1800's, the French established a protectorate and ruled for 90 years. In 1953, sly Cambodian leader Sihanouk was able to assist his country in gaining independence. Not much later, Sihanouk granted the Northern Vietnamese army passage through Cambodia in order to flank the Southern Vietnamese. The Southern Vietnamese' allies, USA, quickly started mass bombings and infesting the land with mines. It is assumed that there are six to ten million mines strewn throughout Cambodia's countryside today. In 1996, demining groups estimated that it will take nearly 300 years to clear the fields of mines. Clearly, it is easy to understand how people continue to die everyday from land mines. Unfortunately, mines weren't all Cambodia had to be concerned about. In the 1970's, the Khmer Rouge
Clothes and Bones
These bones and clothing were unearthed from the last couple rain falls.Party began to rise to power, led by the notorious Pol Pot. In 1975, after a coup, Pol Pot marched into Phnom Penh and claimed power. The next three years proved to be disaterous, with mass genocide. The Khmer Rouge Party, under Pol Pot's rule, killed millions (about 1.7) of Cambodians, whether they were with the revolution or not. It wasn't until 1978, when Pol Pot entered Vietnam and continued on his killing spree, that the Vietnamese intervened and slowly assisted with the decline of the powerful Khmer nation. Pol Pot and his Khmer followers weren't completely abolished until his death in 1998. On a positive note, since 2004, Cambodia's tourism industry has grown quite dramatically and has hence enhanced the country's economy.
Now back to our journey... After a smoother bus ride, we arrived in Phnom Penh on a rainy, but humid evening. We were greeted by a multitude of tuk tuk drivers, all pushing their services upon us. We decided to go with the guy who spoke English (a rare commodity) and checked into a decent hotel. That night, we walked around a bit of the city and ate at a restaurant called Friends, which helps troubled
youths off the streets by taking them in and teaching them about Western society and basically giving them opportunities they would otherwise never see. It was quite a lively restaurant with a great ambiance and an even friendlier staff. The next morning we were greeted at 9am by our tuk tuk driver from the day before. We hired him to be our tour guide for the day and take us around the city. We somberly began our tour of Phnom Penh with the Killing Fields. On our way to the Killing Fields, we drove through a bit of the countryside. We were disgusted at the amounts of trash that occupied every inch of the ground and the people's disinterest in their surroundings. People were literally sitting on top of mounds of trash. As we neared the fields, our tuk tuk driver pulled over on the side of the road and told us that we had to get out and walk because the road had given out from the rain. So, we got out, took our sandals off and made our way through the slimy, gushy mud. At one point, we had to wade through a flowing river. The mud was
Mass Graves
Every hole in the ground was once a mass grave. really slippery and although a kid was helping her get across, Meghan lost her balance and fell into the murky water. Although a bit muddy, she said it cooled her down from the heat. On the other side of the road, we jumped on the back of mopeds and drove the rest of the way to the fields. The Killing Fields, 17km outside the city, were the main execution grounds for the Khmer Regime. More than 40,000 victims were slaughtered here under Pol Pot's reign of terror. As we first entered the grounds, we came upon a memorial that housed a 17 level display case full of over 8000 human skulls. It was utterly disturbing, especially seeing the skulls of the children. We walked around the fields and were amazed at all of the mass graves, all so close together. As we were walking around these graves, we stumbled (literally) upon clothing and bones that were protruding from the ground. It was insane to imagine that we were standing on top of actual remains of human beings. There were signs posted throughout the fields that pointed out where the torturing occured: a tree where children were beaten, an area where
women were raped and tortured and a tree which played loud music to drown out the shrill screams of the victims. We learned that the torturers used primitive weapons when beating their victims: such as sticks, gardening hoes, shovels and so forth.
After rightfully being depressed, we left the Killing Fields and headed to a more upbeat location: the shooting range. Only a third world country that suffered through so much bloodshed and tragedy would incorporate a shooting range with a history of genocide. And it wasn't any old shooting range. The range is located in the middle of a paratrooper base and offers a wide range of weapons. If you have enough money, you can shoot a tank, blow up a cow with a rocket launcher or kill every fish in a lake with a grenade. But on the budget that we are on, Mike was limited to what he could shoot (Meghan opted out, she hates guns). First, he shot a fully automatic AK-47, then switched to a smaller handgun, a 9mm. After all of the bullets had been fired, we departed for the Genocide Museum.
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was a former high school
in Southern Phnom Penh, funded by the US, that was converted by the Khmer Rouge into a torture camp. The Khmer used this location to interrogate, torture and even kill thousands of people. If you weren't killed here, then you were sent to the killing fields. The whole museum is rather haunting, as it was left as it was found in 1979. You are permitted to walk freely through detention cells and torture chambers and can see the actual tools that were used to beat the victims. The one-time school has three buildings, all of which have three levels. The buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, classrooms were converted into prison cells and the windows were covered with iron bars to prevent escaping. The first building housed the interrogations. There were metal beds still in the room where victims were tied to and beaten, while being interrogated about whether they were for the revolution or against it. Not only Cambodians were taken into imprisonment, but Americans, New Zealanders, Australians, Vietnamese, Laoations, etc. as well. The most surprising thing was that many of the victims were former Khmer soldiers and members who were accused of treason. Between two of the
buildings, where kids once playfully swung on rings, people were hung upside down until they lost consciousness and then were dunked into a vat of fesces to be awoken. This torturous technique, along with many cruel others, was used during the interrogation process. The second building held all of the confinement cells. The first floor was made into individual cells. The walls between the classrooms were knocked out, forming a long hallway where the guards could monitor thier inmates. The single cells were constructed from wood and had no room for any activity but sitting. It was errie to walk into the cells and see the ankle chains that once held prisoners captive, still there and very much still in tact. The second and third floors were large mass cells where prisoners were collectively shackled to long iron bars. As we learned, life in these cells was not easy. Every action, from urinating to speaking, had to be approved by the guards. If any of the strict regulations were disobeyed, heavy beatings were incurred. The third building was a photo exhibit of the 20,000 people who had passed through Tuol Sleng. Upon entering the prison, inmates were photographed and required
Toul Sleng 2nd floor
There was barbwire put around the openings of the second floor to prevent prisoners from committing suicide to give biographical information. Many of these original pictures, along with gruesome photos of the tortured victims' bodies are observable.
With an unforgettable and dismal day of sightseeing behind us, we headed back to our hotel. That evening we walked along the Tonle Sap River and had a scrumptous dinner at an authentic Khmer cusine restaurant.
The next morning we walked through the city of Phnom Penh and visited two markets: the Russian Market and the New Market. Both these markets had more things than you could possibly imagine, from household products to touristy souvenirs. There were also stands that were selling fried insects; the biggest fried spiders and scorpions we had ever seen. We opted not to try them, but wish that we got a picture of them. In the markets, there were meat stands where slabs of raw meat dangled from hooks and more that lay on bare wood tables. Flies on the meat were as common and plentiful as the trash on the ground. We also saw piles of live chickens who were awaiting to be bought. Once they were bought, their necks were snapped and some of their feathers plucked...right there in the markets.
It was so gross. One could definitely imagine how easily the bird flu, or any animal borne disease, could be spread. After this and seeing chickens eating trash everyday, we decided we should stay away from consuming chicken. Throughout the day, we noticed many people with missing limbs. Some of them were begging for money and informing us that they lost their limbs from land mines. It was crazy to see so many people with missing arms or legs. On a lighter note, we also saw naked little kids running around everywhere. They were really funny and cute and loved playing in the rain. After a few touristy purchases from the markets, we booked a boat ticket for the next morning down the Mekong River, heading into Vietnam.
We boarded a bus at 7am the next morning and rode through the countryside of Cambodia for a few hours. At some little town on the river of Cambodia, we jumped onto a little blue boat and were off down the Mekong. We were the only tourists on the boat and felt rather welcomed. The Mekong River is a murky, brown, wide spanned body of water. When we reached the border
of Vietnam, we got out of the boat, went through customs and then boarded a different boat. This second boat was much bigger than the first and had a rooftop deck, which we were on the majority of the time. As it is low season in Asia, we were the only people, besides the crew, on the boat. We quickly began talking to Viet, a 23 year old man from Vietnam, who was working as a boat guide. He was a very pleasant man and appeased our uneasy feelings about the treatment we, as Americans, would receive from the Vietnamese. Surprisingly, he also told us that he loved George Bush, something we aren't accustomed to hearing. On the rooftop deck, we took in the beautiful scenery that the Mekong had to offer. Now that we were in Vietnam, we were amused to see everyone wearing their traditional rice paddy hats (those pointy, bamboo-woven hats that look like lampshades) and in their canoes tending to the rice paddies. Along the journey, every little boy and girl that saw us yelled "hello" as they waved and laughed. The adults were equally as friendly when we waved or said hello. The houses all
along the river are built on stilts and are half in the water and half on land. Some of the houses are even completely on water, hence floating houses. After a four hour journey on the Mekong, we arrived in a town called Chau Doc. This little town wasn't too advanced and relied on bicycles and boats. There are many floating markets and floating homes in this town. After we checked into our hotel, we hopped into the back of two tin tins (a bike with a carriage) and made our way to Sam Mountain. We made it to the top of the mountain after a very strenuous, forty minute hike straight up. Along the way, we were once again bothered to see endless amounts of trash spoiling a beautiful mountain. There were however, some spectacular views of the Vietnamese country, bordering Cambodia and endless rice paddies. From the top, we could see Tuc Dup Hill, or more commonly known as the "Two Million Dollar Hill," which is where the US spent two million dollars on weapons to secure the hill and still failed to capture the area from the Vietnamese. After an easier walk down the hill, we stopped
The Market
This was one of the markets in Phnom Penh that was outside our hotel window. into a couple buddhist pagodas. After a quick dinner, we went back to our hotel and passed out.
Early the following morning, we jumped on a crowded local bus and headed to a coastal town called Rach Gia in order to catch a boat to the Vietnamese Island, Phu Quoc.
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Mom Schafer
non-member comment
Yuk
Great time to lose a few lbs - who would want to eat! Sure hope you're taking your maleria pills. But another great history lesson and pics awesome. Love you guys.