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Published: October 10th 2013
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Okay I am back from Cambodia and time to do some catching up on the ol’ blog. I suppose the beginning is as good a place to start as any. On Friday the 27
thmy buddy Bryan flew into Singapore for a holiday. Most of the time we had decided to spend in Cambodia. Bryan’s plane got in about midnight and we were to fly to Phnom Penh, Cambodia at 7:00am the following morning. I, being the nice friend I am, decided I would catch the last train to the Changi airport Friday night to meet Bryan and we’d just hang out until our flight Saturday morning.
Our departure from Singapore and arrival in Phnom Penh was uneventful. The hostel we booked with had a tuk-tuk driver meet us at the airport, which was very convenient. For those unaware, a tuk-tuk is a small taxi made from a scooter with sort of a carriage in tow. I knew full well from reading various travel blogs what Phnom Penh would be like, but coming from Singapore it was still a bit overwhelming at first. Cars and scooters flying in all directions, thick exhaust, horns blaring. Lanes of travel are merely a suggestion and sidewalks
are fair game. Amidst the chaos one can glimpse some sort of organization to it. I suppose it’s like anything, you just need to know the rules. I was hooked.
We arrived at the hostel about 9am or so and they tell us we won’t be able to check in until early afternoon. No bother though, as we simply decided to do our meanderings then rather than in the afternoon. We decided we’d go see the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. “Enjoyable” may not be the right word to describe visiting, but for me it was a must see.
A brief history of Cambodia’s genocide, although I encourage people to dig a little deeper: From 75-79 Cambodia was ruled by the Khmer Rouge, originally a communist offshoot of the Vietnam People’s Party from North Vietnam. During their regime they implemented radical social reform aimed at making the country a completely agrarian society. All the major cities were emptied and people were put to work in labor camps. Many thousands died from exhaustion, starvation, or disease.
In an attempt to rid the country of classes any intellectuals, teachers, doctors, engineers, or otherwise well educated were murdered. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
was originally a high school. During the Khmer Rouge it was converted to an “interrogation center”. Those who confessed or were found guilty were then taken to the Killing Fields and executed. The overwhelming majority of confessions were false and came from innocent people. People were simply tortured until they confessed to whatever crimes they were accused of. They would sign confession papers and list names of other “guilty” people, again completely innocent, and the cycle would continue.
The museum has been left essentially as it was found by the invading Vietnamese in 1979. In many of the rooms is a framed picture of exactly what the Vietnamese found in that room: mutilated bodies chained to a bed frame with various tools around. The frames, shackles, and tools rest where they were found. The regime documented everything and the museum displays hundreds of photos taken like mug shots. Most of the faces don’t show fear or desperation but rather an even more disturbing look of acceptance, all hope gone and with it any chance of mercy. Blank.
After the regime got their confessions the people were taken a little ways outside of town to one of the numerous Killing Fields dotted around
the country. This is where Bryan and I headed to next. It was very tranquil and quiet. Few people talked. In the center stands a memorial stupa filled with the skulls of victims. Many of the mass graves have now been exhumed, but we were told that during heavy rains it’s still common to see bits of cloth, bone, or teeth surface. In an attempt to save ammunition executions were carried out with whatever was available. Hoes, shovels, rocks. Infants were merely swung against a tree. All the while classical music was blaring to cover up the sounds.
I don’t think I will ever understand how the world constantly says “never again” yet it continues to happen.
The rest of Saturday afternoon was spent wandering the streets around the hostel trying to raise our spirits. Walked through Wat Phnom, an interesting temple a few blocks from our hostel. We ordered some tasty street kabobs for dinner and upon closer inspection discovered that a few of the kabobs we thought were chopped chicken were actually grilled heart and lungs (from chicken I think so I guess it’s still technically chicken). They too were tasty.
We’d both been up more than 24 hours so it
came as no surprise that we both fell asleep at like 9. I had a rather comical jolt back to reality at about 10:30. I woke up and we had the lights on and the blinds closed so I couldn’t tell if it was day or night. I asked what time it was and was told that it’s 10:30am and that we’d slept late and missed our Sunday morning bus. After a minute or two of angry confusion we looked outside and were pleasantly surprised to see it was 10:30 Saturday night still.
Sunday morning we were off to Siem Reap to see the great temples of Angkor!
PS We were back in Phnom Penh on the following Saturday before flying home so I will include that quick report and pics with this segment. Not super exciting but we checked out the National Museum of Phnom Penh which was nice. While sitting in our hostel bar Saturday afternoon we saw a bunch of monkeys climbing down the electrical wires and get into a scuffle on one of the poles. Hilarious
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Terri
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Cambodia
Wow, excellent post, Ben, as well as disturbing photos and history! Visiting the museum and Killing Fields must have been a powerful and sobering experience. You are right - unbelievable that humans are capable of such atrocities, and yet we see versions of this repeated over and over throughout history and even today. We must remember them, in the hopes that they will not be repeated. Hope you will soon be writing of your other experiences in Cambodia that I'm sure were more positive!!