Made it to Cambodia!

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We had one day in Phnom Penh before proceeding to Siem Riep and the temples of the Khmer empire. More recent Cambodian history was to dominate our day today. We started by meeting our tuk tuk driver Tha outside our hotel. Tha drove tuk tuk for friends of ours who were in Cambodia last year so I had his number and called him the night before. First we went to the Tuol Sleng Museum. Up until 1975 this was a high school but then the Khmer Rouge turned it into their security prison S-21 where they detained and tortured over 17,000 prisoners including children before sending them to their deaths at killing fields outside of the city. The place was depressing and unsettling (we saw many pictures of the victims, paintings portraying what occured there, the instruments of torture, blood splatter stains an the walls and much more) even more so for the kids who couldn’t take too much of what there was to see there. From there we went outside the city to the killing field of Choeung Ek where the prisoners from S-21 and others where executed and buried in mass graves. There is a monument there containing the skulls of 8000 victims.

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Photos

Building C
here prisoners were tourtured. The kids are sad.

The killing field
Pits remain from excavation of the victims.

Rambo
AK47 and M16

Tha
Tha the tuk tuk driver

Comments

[Lee]

If I had a rocket launcher...
What? No hand granades? You are having so much more fun than me.

[ETEJC]

Rocketman
Hi Lee, I didnt see hand granades or rocket launcher on "the menu" but money talks here and I am sure if I had asked they could have provided. I decided not to since the boys didnt mention it and it seemed a bit much after the mornings sights. The guns were fun though!

[Derek Schlosser]

Holy Rednecks!
Jasmine, I didn't realize that being from Whitecourt had rubbed off on you so much! I love reading this material! Keep it up, and don't forget to hug your parents and thank them everyday for giving you this education in life! Peace! Mr. S