Killing Fields

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Long bus ride from siem Reap to Phnom penh!

Found this city less pleasent then Siem Reap to walk around, i suppose because it was bigger and more hectic. The main attraction from here was the killing fields and the associated prisons set up by the khmer rouge. Its pretty grim, there are loads if graphic pictures of torture. The thing i foud the strangest is how open it all is to tourists. You can stand in the prison cells and pick up shackles etc which really makes it all a bit real. Then in the killing fields you actually walk over bones and clothing in the pathway which have been exposed by rainfall. I thought it almost seemed disrespectfull. Our guide would pick up pieces of clothing which had been recovered from the mass graves, give us some info and then just check them on the pile again. Another disturbing thing was how recent all this happened. Our guide was actually sent to work in the farming camps for food, seperated from his family, and he wasnt even that old. he told us that there are still some of the executioners alive today and their identitys are known to the public however they are protected by some kind of amnesty and there have been no attempts of revenge, which i find pretty remarkable.

There were alot of charity project plaesto eat here. We tried a couple, one where they are training people in hospitaity and another not for profit one supporting an orphange. the food was fairly good but not very spicey as we found all over Cambodia.

Had a massge by bind people- another charity project. It was really good although slightly painful. I actually didnt believe that they were blind as it was so good. Also they didnt touch our bodies of use oil but instead used cloths which was interesting.

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Comments

[Mum]

Killing Fields
It would be a hard person who would not be moved by the killing fields! It does feel disrespectful picking up clothing of people who have died so horrifically, and staring at the thousands of skulls in the monument is very sobering. I can't comprehend how the Cambodian and Vietnamese people can be so forgiving.