A city with a chilling history

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Day 377: Saturday 11 July - A dull day

Today is a fairly dull travel day. The bus journey to Phnom Penh is 6-7 hours and isn’t memorable save a stop near the capital where a girl is trying to sell me a tarantula. I have read that it is a local delicacy, but I’m not sure how you eat them, certainly not while they’re still alive that’s for sure. The girl sat next to me on the bus buys one which makes me feel a bit uncomfortable as she holds it next to me.

Phnom Penh is a busy city. It’s a direct contrast to the peace and calm of Laos’ villages and small towns. Mike, Trudi and I walk up to the Boeng Kak lakefront to find a guesthouse which turns out to be a prolonged affair as the options aren’t great. We finally decide on Grand View guesthouse, which I then fall about laughing when shown the room which has a far from grand view (see picture)! We have an all you can eat Indian buffet for $2 (yes two dollars - BARGAIN!!) which we can’t even manage to finish. In the evening our guesthouse is showing the movie ‘Killing Fields’ about a US journalist and his friendship with his Cambodian assistant, the story of the Khmer Rouge takeover, the anguish of a ruined country and of one man’s will to live. I’ve just finished reading the book and the film is excellent too. Aching after the bus journey and a long walk through the city with a heavy backpack I decide to finish the day with a massage at the seeing hands massage by blind people. It is just what I needed.

Day 378: Sunday 12 July - The horror of S21

I start the day by trying an Indian breakfast. It makes a pleasant change and the Aloo Paratha that I have keeps me going until dinner. The three of us get in a moto (a motorbike which pulls a carriage similar to Thailand’s Tuk-Tuk’s but bearing a resemblance to a chariot) and travel down Monivong Boulevard, the chaotic thoroughfare through Phnom Penh to Teol Sleng Genocide Museum. The museum was a high school until in 1975 Pol Pot’s security forces turned the school into Security Prison 21 (S-21), the largest centre of detention and torture in the country. With the fall of the Khmer Rouge in 1979 the former prison was turned into a museum.

We arrive at 10am just in time to see an hour long documentary film on the Khmer Rouge, the Killing Fields and S-21. From the outside S-21 looks very normal, like the former high-school building it was; four school blocks which have fallen into disrepair. Once you start looking around though in the former classrooms the illusion of ordinariness is shattered as the horror of what happened here is clear. A single rusty bed and gruesome black and white photos adorn most rooms in block A. Outside the block is 14 graves where the bodies which were discovered in S-21 when the Khmer Rouge was overrun in 1979 are buried. Also outside are gallows where prisoners were tortured. There is also a sign which lists the camps regulations which include rule 6; ‘while getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all’; rule 7 ‘do nothing, sit still and wait for my orders. If there is no order keep quiet. When I ask you to do something, you must do it straight away without protesting’; and rule 10 ‘if you disobey any point of my regulations you shall get either ten lashes or five shocks of electric discharge’ which are testament to the brutality of prison life.

Block B contains black and white photographs of many of the 20,000 men, women and children who were detained in S-21 and a history of Cambodia pre-regime, through the Khmer Rouge years and then post the fall of the Khmer Rouge which is engrossing. Building C has many smaller cells, which must measure no bigger than 6 feet by 3 feet, just enough space for someone to lie down. Building C also contains a collection of photographs from a Swedish delegation who visited Cambodia in 1978, what their thoughts were at the time, and now what they think now that the truth has come to light of the brutality of the regime.

The 20,000 victims of S-21 were imprisoned and tortured for an average of 3 months before being taken to Cheung Ek killing fields 15km outside the city. Only 7 out of the 20,000 inmates survived. Similar detention centres and killing fields exist throughout Cambodia. There is a list in the museum which shows that in one mass grave, 510,000 bodies were slaughtered. From late 1976, the search for hidden traitors became the Khmer Rouge’s main activity. Villagers were encouraged to spy on one another. Victims included doctors, students, teachers (or anyone known to be well educated), monks, soldiers who were fighting the Khmer Rouge, ethnic Vietnamese and Chinese, Muslims. Yet most of the estimated 2 million victims claimed between 1975-1979 were never formally labelled with numbers, photographed, interrogated or placed inside tangible boundaries. Rather, they were all prisoners within their own country, paralysed by fear.

How did 2 million people come to die?

Cambodia won its independence from the French in 1953 like the rest of Indochina. Initially it was led by King Sihanouk until he abdicated the throne for a political career. In 1967 Sihanouk went to France and two years later he was ousted in a US-backed military coup under Lon Nol. The US backed the military as it feared the spread of communism in Southeast Asia. In 1969, the US started to bomb Eastern Cambodia as part of the Vietnam War effort. The North Vietnamese frequently ventured over the border into Cambodian territory but this does not legitimise the dropping of half a million tonnes of bombs (a quarter of what was dropped on Laos and more than was dropped on Japan in the Second World War) over the next four years. The US escalated the situation in Cambodia, what came to bear with the Khmer Rouge regime was not a direct result of US action but this was undoubtedly a contributory factor. Sihanouk joined with the communist Khmer Rouge in the battle against Lon Nol’s forces. On 17 April 1975 the Khmer Rouge take Phnom Penh the start of a four-year reign of terror.

The Khmer Rouge started by driving the urban population out of the city to work in agriculture. The Khmer Rouge felt that cities were evil and that only peasants in the countryside were pure enough for their revolution. They did this under the pretence that the US was about to bomb the capital. Phnom Penh became a ‘ghost city’ with only 50,000 inhabitants, a drastic reduction from the two million people who lived here until 17 April 1975. Children, pregnant women, the elderly and the sick were included in the evacuation; many died of starvation or exhaustion on their journey. However, this near death would pale in comparison to the daily exhaustion, starvation and ultimate demise they experienced over the next four years if they survived the initial march.

The Khmer Rouge emptied the cities in order to abolish urban living and to build a new Cambodia based on the expanded production of rice. The plan was to achieve an average national yield of 3 tonnes of rice per hectare. This was an impossible task though as Cambodians had never been asked to produce that much rice on a national scale before. Moreover, the country had been devastated by war and lacked tools, farm animals and a healthy workforce. The leaders of the Khmer Rouge hoped to turn an underdeveloped agricultural country into a modern agricultural country, independent economically and politically. The rice crop was to be divided into four portions. Some to feed the people, some to be retained as seed rice, some to be kept as a reserve and the last and biggest portion was to be exported to earn foreign exchange. However, the theory was flawed, production never reached the required levels and almost no rice was saved for the people. Instead, most of the harvest was used to feed the army or was exported to China.

Sihanouk became the head of state but was given no real power and was held under virtual house arrest. The real power in the new regime was held by Pol Pot, Khieu Samphan and Ieng Sary. The leadership and its followers attempted to replace capitalist influences with a communist, classless agrarian society. They cut the country off from the outside world - no Cambodians were allowed to leave and no foreigners were allowed into the country except on formal Khmer Rouge delegation tours. The Khmer Rouge emptied Cambodia’s towns and cities; abolished money, schools, private property; forbade religious practices and family ties; and sent millions to labour in the fields growing food. Everyone in the new regime now worked for “Angkar”, a term that translates into “the Organisation”, an intangible being that had the power to destroy and the capability to instil absolute fear in all who lived under its rule.

Working in newly established labour groups called cooperatives, people toiled and struggled in the rice fields for 12-14 hours a day, silently moving earth, digging dikes, ploughing land or planting rice. Angkar separated mothers from children, husbands from wives, and sisters from brothers in order to achieve goals of collectivisation and ensure absolute loyalty to Angkar. Although the Khmer Rouge claimed they were building a nation of equals and tearing down class barriers they in fact created two new classes in Cambodia: the ‘base people’ and the ‘new people’. Base people were those that had lived in rural areas prior to 1975. New people were those that had lived in towns and cities prior to 1975. The new people were considered unreliable and viewed by Angkar with hatred and suspicion. These people suffered the worst of the conditions. Starvation was rampant. Medicine was scarce. Trust was gone.

Touring the museum I was particularly struck by a poem describing life under the Khmer Rouge. The poem is included in full below:

The New Regime by Sarith Pou

No religious rituals.
No religious symbols.
No fortune tellers.
No traditional healers.
No paying respect to elders.
No social status. No titles.

No education. No training.
No school. No learning.
No books. No library.
No science. No technology.
No pens. No paper.

No currency. No bartering.
No buying. No selling.
No begging. No giving.
No purses. No wallets.

No human rights. No liberty.
No courts. No judges.
No laws. No attorneys.

No communications.
No public transportation.
No private transportation.
No travelling. No mailing.
No inviting. No visiting.
No faxes. No telephones.

No social gatherings.
No chitchatting.
No jokes. No laughter.
No music. No dancing.

No romance. No flirting.
No fornication. No dating.
No wet dreaming.
No masturbation.
No naked sleepers.
No bathers.
No nakedness in showers.
No love songs. No love letters.
No affection.

No marrying. No divorcing.
No marital conflicts. No fighting.
No profanity. No cursing.

No shoes. No sandals.
No toothbrushes. No razors.
No combs. No mirrors.
No lotion. No make-up.
No long hair. No braids.
No jewellery.
No soap. No detergent. No shampoo.
No knitting. No embroidering.
No coloured clothes, except black.
No styles, except pyjamas.
No wine. No palm sap hooch.
No lighters. No cigarettes.
No morning coffee. No afternoon tea.
No snacks. No desserts.
No breakfast (sometimes no dinner).

No mercy. No forgiveness.
No regret. No remorse.
No second chances. No excuses.
No complaints. No grievances.
No help. No favours.
No eyeglasses. No dental treatment.
No vaccines. No medicines.
No hospitals. No doctors.
No disabilities. No social diseases.
No tuberculosis. No leprosy.

No kites. No marbles. No rubber bands.
No cookies. No popsicle. No candy.
No playing. No toys.
No lullabies.
No rest. No vacations.
No holidays. No weekends.
No games. No sports.
No staying up late.
No newspapers.

No radio. No TV.
No drawing. No painting.
No pets. No pictures.
No electricity. No lamp oil.
No clocks. No watches.

No hope. No life.
A third of the people didn’t survive.
The regime died.

In 1976, a nationwide terror network is established and S-21 becomes the central point of this network. The following year the Khmer Rouge launch attacks across the borders into neighbouring Vietnam and Thailand, and seek to eradicate any Vietnam influence within the Khmer population living in Cambodia. 1978 brings the start of three offensives launched by the Vietnamese. With distrust running high, the Khmer Rouge reacts by executing many key figures within the leadership thought to have links with Vietnam. The country is grinding to a halt because of a weakened population starving to death trying to meet rice quotas double their pre-revolutionary yield. The third attack by the Vietnamese ends the three year, eight month and twenty day regime of the Khmer Rouge in January 1979.

Even with the demise of the Khmer Rouge from power the situation remained grave for the people. The harvest in 1979 failed as the displaced Cambodians started desperately to look for family and friends who may still be alive. Almost a million people were housed in refugee camps along the Thai border where they weren’t truly safe. They lived in the camps under the fear of attack from either the Khmer Rouge or the Vietnamese backed military. Khmer Rouge factions even controlled some of the refugee camps and monopolised food supplies and forbade aid agencies from entering. Incredibly, the new Vietnamese-backed government included many Khmer Rouge figures, and it wasn’t until the 1990’s when the communist regime finally crumbled. The Khmer Rouge retreated to rural areas of Cambodia and continued to kill innocent civilians and raid villages throughout the 1980’s.

No one in Cambodia was left untouched by a genocide that killed almost a quarter of its population. The Khmer Rouge left behind a vastly uneducated and unskilled society, a displaced and traumatised nation, a population of 70% women, a country riddled with landmines that continue to main and kill. The Khmer Rouge shattered families and homes, destroyed financial, educational, religious, cultural and political institutions and perhaps most terribly of all, annihilated trust. It is a legacy far from over and one which will take generations to heal. The trauma of the genocide extends 30 years on, and only in the last few years has a justice system been established to bring Khmer Rouge leaders to trial. In the intervening years, those responsible for the terror lived together with those who survived the regime.

Tuol Sleng demonstrates the darkest side of the human spirit that lurks within us all. I have just finished reading a book titled ‘Daughter of the Killing Fields’, a book by a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime. In her concluding paragraph she questions along the same lines: ‘Who is this savage, the Khmer Rouge? Is she not I, but only one degree removed at birth? Is her baseness not within my capability? Do we at times not find ourselves standing at the edge of a precipice?’ A visit here is instrumental in understanding Cambodia, a visit to scenes of mass genocide like Auschwitz, like S-21 and the Killing Fields can only educate future generations and help us prevent making the same mistakes of the past. An engrossing, shocking, thought provoking and sobering morning.

I spend the afternoon escaping the heat in a shopping mall which holds little interest before braving the sun to visit the Royal Palace. This is Cambodia’s answer to Thailand’s Grand Palace and the official residence of King Sihamoni. Most of the massive compound is closed to the public and although it is as impressive as some of Bangkok’s finest temples my heart isn’t in it, I’ve seen too many ornately gilded, gleaming gold temples already during my tour of Southeast Asia. Physically drained by Phnom Penh’s heat and humidity and emotionally drained by my experience this morning I walk back to my guesthouse along the riverfront. I have to look twice when I see an elephant stood outside a cafe on the pavement trying to get in!!! I pass Hotel le Royale, formerly Hotel Le Phnom, the hotel featured in the film ‘Killing Fields’. I imagine how different must the scene have been from today as the hotel guests watched thousands of people stream out of the city followed by the empty streets afterwards. I then manage to cross over Monivong Boulevard in one piece which is no mean feat.

I get a nice surprise when I call home to speak to my brother as two of my best friends are waiting to speak to me. Everything seems to be happening at once in my brother’s life but my concerns of the last week or so are put as ease after our chat - he seems to be doing well and everything will sort itself out sooner or later. I dine for a cause this evening, choosing to eat in a restaurant that supports a local orphanage. Phnom Penh has more than its fair share of beggars and street children and I wanted to do my bit and doing it in a constructive framework like this is better than handing over a few pence or buying a book off a child who should be at school. Phnom Penh’s street children is the cause I’d really like to have dined for but the three of us are tired after a full day on our feet so we can’t be bothered to leave the vicinity of the guesthouse.

Day 379: Monday 13 July - An orchard hiding a heinous genocidal act

Yesterday whilst waiting for Mike and Trudi to get ready for dinner I arranged a motodop for the day. I had got talking with Neng the day before outside our guesthouse where he hangs around waiting for business. It proves to be a good decision, he’s a nice bloke. We get another bargain Indian breakfast and meet Neng at 9:30am. Our first stop is the bank to change some travellers cheques which I’ve now been carrying for over a year. Cambodia is a good place to cash them as it uses the dollar and the commission rate is good for what is now an expensive way to carry money overseas. Before we leave the city, I also go to the Vietnamese embassy where I drop off my passport to get a visa. Vietnam is the first country I’ve needed a visa in advance but it is easy in Phnom Penh as a same day service is offered.

We leave the city in the direction of a shooting range about 20km away. Mike is more keen than me to shoot a gun, he’s set on shooting an AK-47, whilst I’m undecided whether I’ll shoot one at all. When we arrive they have AK-47’s, M16’s, Uzi’s, Tommy guns, M60’s amongst other guns to shoot. The stories of their being rocket launchers to shoot is no longer true. Good job as with $400 in my pocket after my visit to the bank, I’m sure I’d have been too caught up in the moment and parted with the $250 it apparently used to cost. Mike and I pose with a few of the guns and then Mike shoots the AK-47 - 30 bullets for $40. He loves it even though it’s over in a couple of minutes. I’ve shot an AK-47 and M16 before so I’m not bothered with those guns but I’m slightly tempted to shoot an Uzi for $50. I’m even more tempted to play Rambo and shoot an M60 - a machine gun - as I’ve never shot a machine gun before, especially when he says he will cut half a strip of bullets for me to reduce the cost. It is still $60, and for 10 seconds of fun I can’t justify it. I’ll possibly regret it but I’m just not feeling it.

We leave the shooting range and check out the karting track next door but it is $12 for 10 laps - too expensive and the track is in only slightly better condition than some of Cambodia’s roads (ie shocking!!). The next stop is the reason we hired a moto for the day - to visit Cheung Ek Killing Fields, 15km out of Phnom Penh. Cheung Ek was an orchard before becoming the location where all inmates detained and tortured in S-21 were murdered. Prisoners were often forced to dig their own graves, kneel down at the edge of them before being hit by a spade or a hoe, shot with a gun, stabbed with a sword or knife and toppling over into the grave. It was a horrible death - dying of starvation, forced labour or torture they waited to die whilst watching others share the same tragic fate. It was a genocide without parallel - Khmer people were killing Khmer people.

Following the end of the Khmer Rouge regime, 86 out of 129 mass graves were excavated in this extermination camp and almost 9000 corpses were found. A Buddhist Stupa has been erected to preserve their remains (numerous skulls and bones are displayed in a glass case) and to commemorate the death of the Cambodian people under Pol Pot’s regime. Evidence of the slaughter - the mass graves and even bones and clothing poking out of the ground - is plain to see and hearing the joyful sounds of children at a nearby school intensifies the emotions and sadness of this place and the contradictions of Cambodia today. The Killing Fields are not how I had imagined. I had an image in my head of open rice paddies, with many skulls and bones sticking out of the surface rather than an orchard where graves were dug.

Leaving Cheung Ek we have a bit of light relief when Mike takes Neng’s motodop for a spin around the car park touting for business as he rides around! On the way back to Phnom Penh we stop off at a bakery to get lunch. With the rain lashing down we decide to bring a premature end to the day’s tour at 3pm. On the way back I ask Neng to drop me off at the Vietnamese embassy but they haven’t got my visa ready and won’t have it until 4:30pm. Rather than wait for an hour and a half I go back with the other two to the guesthouse.

Half an hour later I’m heading back to the embassy, this time on the back of a motorbike. This is the way to travel down Monivong Boulevard and see the chaotic traffic close up. Phnom Penh is a mix of Asia and France. Wide, leafy boulevards can’t hide the frantic pace of life as chaos reigns but watching vehicles narrowly miss collisions is enthralling and compulsive viewing. It is a dirty city, has many street children and beggars and like many Asian cities is repulsive, yet it is captivating. With its dark past it has the capacity to chill to the bone, but the friendly children shake you out of any depressing thoughts, reminding you of the vitality of life.

The visa is late, so I have a 45 minute wait. Whilst waiting I pour over a map on the wall and count how many counties I’ve been to. I make it only 40 out of the 195 - I’ve a long way to go to realise my dream of seeing every one. It will take a lifetime, probably more but travelling is my drug - I’m addicted to it and just seeing the map makes me excited as I think of future trips. The visa arrives dated for the 25th July - still another two weeks to enjoy Cambodia before looking ahead to Vietnam.

When I arrive back at the guesthouse and pay Neng he asks if I want to share a drink with him. He will buy the coke if I buy the whisky. At 5000 riel (£1.25) for a bottle of Mekong whiskey (which I nickname Mekong Water!) how could I refuse. An impromptu street party ensues - Mike and Trudi join us along with several of Neng’s mates - staff from the hotel other moto drivers as we sit in his motodop sharing a couple of bottles of whiskey. What a great way to finish the day and enjoy the Cambodian people. The three of us still have time to visit our favourite Indian establishment and get some curry to soak up the alcohol after the party fizzles out.

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