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Published: July 22nd 2007
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July 17 boat to Phnom Penh down the Tonle Sap
July 17 - 23
We left Siem Reap and took a boat down the Tonle Sap, the largest lake in Asia which grows from 3000 sq km to 13,000 sq km during the rainy season. The lake turns into a river which flows to the capital city of Phnom Penh where it joins the Mekong river. We arrived during the hot afternoon, the eager tuk tuk drivers screaming at us from the jetty, even knocking over a little boy to get first dibs at the tourists exiting the flimsy boat. To avoid the annoying tuk tuk drivers, we immediately head to a nearby restaurant to get a cold soda and take a look at our guide books. Much like our experiences in India, we again have new names - "Lady Tuk Tuk," or "Yes, tuk tuk honey."
We found a driver to take us around to find a guest house and eventually settled in at Happy Guest House by the lake, which is a little street of backpackers' cheap accommodations. After having hiked around so much the previous few days, we decide to take it easy and stay
in - the guesthouse is built on stilts over the lake. The next day we visited the National Museum and Royal Palace - these were beautiful displays of Khmer and Angkorian art.
The Dark History of Cambodia
The following day was much heavier as we visited the genocide museum at Tuol Sleng, which was the former Khmer Rouge S-21 prison, and the Killing Fields at Choeng Ek. The S-21 prison was originally the Tuol Svay Prey High School which the Khmer Rouge converted into the largest prison and torture center in Cambodia. Most of the thousands of prisoners held here between 1975 and 1979 were eventually executed at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Many died as result of the cruel torture they conducted here.
The museum screens a film twice a day which tells the story of a husband and wife who perished here. There was also an interview with one prisoner who survived. Strangely they singled him out to paint - many of his paintings were on display at the museum depicting the horrible torture scenes. When we exited the film, we were surprised to see this white haired man there, answering questions from a
group in the courtyard. We sat and listened in. It's hard to imagine the horrors he witnessed. As we learned, many of the perpetrators never were tried. Many former Khmer Rouge are still living in Phnom Penh, including some who commited crimes of torture and murder.
The museum was quite graphic - across the country, within those 4 years, the Khmer Rouge murdered masses Cambodians in their attempt to create a communist agrarian society of peasants. During this time, all educated people, teachers, doctors, lawyers, anyone who spoke a foreign language or even wore glasses were considered traitors. Many were put into prisons, such as S-21 and eventually executed at places like the Killing Fields Choeung Ek. All were considered guilty - the conditions at the prison were beyond any kind of hell you could imagine. Many more who fled to the countryside died of malnutrition and disease. All in all over these 4 years, about 2 million Cambodians died as a result of the Khmer Rouge.
When we visited the Killing Fields, our guide was still clearly very emotional over the horrors that happened there. He was there in 1980 when they began disinterring the mass graves
there. He said the stench was awful. There were 129 mass graves, 43 of which still hold the remains of thousands of people. In the middle of the site there is a huge memorial dedicated to the 17,000 people who were murdered here. It contains the skulls of 8,000 men, women and children, even babies. It turns your stomach to see this. Our guide was vague about a lot of things and even told us that he could not comment on many things, indicating that there is still a lot happening under the surface. I do not even pretend to understand what is happening with Cambodian politics. I asked him what he thought about the fact that in 2005 the Cambodian government sold the killing fields to a Japanese company that maintains the genocide museum there and collects admissions. He even refused to comment on that, but from what I've read it has enraged many Cambodians whose relatives perished here. I felt bad for this man - he avoided our questions as to what he was doing during this time - I can't help but wonder what his role was during the time of the Khmer Rouge. But he seemed
to be living it over every day of his life, guiding tourists through the museum.
On the ground, there are still many bone fragments and teeth on the lush green earth. I hadn't imagined that the Killing Fields would be this green for some reason - I had pictured a dry barren landscape without many trees. There are old rags of clothes on the ground around the enormous graves. The guide showed us a palm tree, its edges were rough and sharp, and he told us that many were executed slowly by slicing their necks against the tree. There was another large tree near the graves where the Khmer Rouge hung large speakers to drown out the sounds of the victims. We were feeling quite sickened by all this - you can't help but feel beyond depressed after visiting this place - this day was shocking and we were left speechless on the ride back to town.
It was hard for me to imagine that this happened during my lifetime - the Khmer Rouge recruited many young peasant boys and girls to become soldiers and brainwashed them - they were considered superior because they were too young to
know the past. In the museum at S-21, there are walls of photos, mostly of the mugshots of the victims, but many of the young faces of the children who were recruited by this brutal regime. It struck me to see some of the faces of the young boys who were smirking or even smiling. It really sickened me. Some of the graphic pictures depicted the aftermath of torture - it was really nauseating.
It was even harder to imagine that the UN recognized the Khmer Rouge after it was overthrown by the Vietnamese in 1979 - it actually was granted the Cambodian seat in the UN until 1991. Throughout the 1980's it continued to wage a guerilla war against the Vietnamese backed governement - this was, at least indirectly supported by the US. It was also sad to think the Khmer Rouge was able to gain the kind of momentum it did in the early 70s as a direct result of the US bombings of suspected communist camps in Cambodia, which killed many civilians. I know that the history is complicated, but it's hard to see a country that is still struggling today - the educated people had
fled or were killed and over 30 years later, the country is still recovering.
***
Seeing that side of Phnom Penh was beyond depressing, but Phnom Penh really is a beautiful city, and the people have been so friendly and welcoming. What I find interesting is that for people that have so little, they keep everything so clean - in huge contrast to much of India where people just throw trash out of the train window onto the tracks or burn piles of garbage on the side of the street. Driving around town, it's certainly dirty and many people still wear masks to avoid breathing the fumes, but I can't say it's dirtier than New York city or Bangkok. We've been here for about a week and it's been great - the other day we went to the market - it's so funny to be here and paying for everything in US dollars. We splurged a bit one day and spent the afternoon at the Phnom Penh hotel pool - so refreshing as it's been incredibly hot here when it's not raining.
We're leaving Phnom Penh tomorrow to head down to Kampot and the Elephant mountains, then
over to Vietnam and the Mekong Delta...
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