Phnom Penh

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We arrived in Phnom Penh from Saigon after the 8 hour bus journey (mainly due to the lack of Cambodian roads!) and border crossing. The difference between Vietnam and Cambodia is stark, the level of development in Cambodia is relatively non-existant. There is good reason for this though, as we shall explain below.

We only really spent 2 full days in Phnom Penh, the first day we had a wander around the city and then went and had a look around the National Museum which was mainly full of Khmer art and sculpture from throughout the ages, particularly the glorious past of the Khmer Angkor Empire (9th - 15th centuries). After that, we walked around the Royal Palace, which is right up there alongside the Grand Palace of Bangkok for grandeur. Inside the Royal Palace complex we also saw the famous Silver Pagoda which houses a very important Bhudda image.

Our 2nd day was somewhat more depressing, as we first of all went to Tuol Sleng Prison Museum (formerly known as S-21) where Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge imprisoned and tortured 17,000 people between 1975 and 1978.

As mentioned above, one of the reasons for Cambodia's lack of development, is the Khmer Rouge regime. After it took power by force in 1975 it first of all executed all of the previous government in a matter of days, and then over the next 3 years, set about killing all intellectuals, engineers, architects, artists, soldiers, religious figures, doctors, lawyers and teachers (plus their whole families!), in order to remove any opposition to their revolution to take the country back to "Year Zero" and transform it into a Maoist, peasant-dominated agrarian cooperative. The cities were emptied within days of the takeover and everyone in the country was made to work the fields for 12-15 hours a day. In the latter stages the dominant Pol Pot faction of the Khmer Rouge even turned on other Khmer Rouge factions in a state of paranoia. It was a time of truly unbelievable insanity and cruelty, and in the 3 years the regime was in power between 2 and 3 million Cambodians were killed through famine, torture and mass extermination.

The prison museum was horrific but strange at the same time, as it was formerly a school (which it does look), it has a really nice court-yard and its in the middle of the city, we found it difficult for our minds to comprehend what went on here. When you get inside the rooms and cells there is much evidence though, with thousands of photos of the victims taken by the Khmer Rouge before their torture (sometimes before and after!).

The prison may have been strange and unbelievable but things hit us harder when we went to the Killing Fields at Choeung Ek 15km south of the city. This is where all the prisoners from S-21 and others from elsewhere were taken and executed. In total, the remains of 8,985 people have been found there, their executions were truly horrific, they were made to kneel on the edge of mass-grave pits, hands tied and blind-folded, they were then bludgeoned around the head with metal bars, bamboo sticks or axes, they were not shot as bullets were deemed too expensive. Many were not actually dead and were buried alive with smell-concealing acidic chemicals poured on the mass graves. When we arrived we first came to the large pagoda which houses the skulls of the nearly 9,000 victims exhumed. What we didn't realise is that there are still many remains in the actual killing fields behind the pagoda, and due to seasonal rains they are revealing themselves, clothes, bones and even teeth are visible everywhere coming up out of the ground. This place truly represents mankind's darkest hour! Unfortunately this is not the only killing field, there are many many others throughout the country.

In the afternoon, we had a quick look around the "Russian Market", then we went on to see the monkeys running around Wat Phnom, and finally we spent some time reflecting and watching the sun go down over Boeng Kak Lake.

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Photos

Prison Block
Men, women and even children were held and tortured at S-21.