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Published: November 14th 2013
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For the last few days we have been in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The bus journey here was even worse than the last one. On numerous occasions, I just had to close my eyes and pretend I wasn't there as I could see the bus driver on the wrong side of the road with trucks coming towards them. It seems very normal here to drive in this way. We are yet to see any accidents!
In Phnom Penh, there are famous places that are very sad to visit. In the 1970's, a party of people, the Khmer Rouge led by Pol Pot, wanted to rid the whole state of any Western influences and got rid of anyone educated, religious or involved with any other governments.
There is a place called Tuong Sleng that was used as a prison and place of torture during this time. People were taken here, often accused of crimes and spying that they were not involved with, and tortured in the most horrific ways. The prison used to be a High School but, due to the Khmer Rouge Regime, education was abolished. No one was allowed to be educated as the Khmer Rouge
believed that people should work on the land. Tuong Sleng is now a museum, full of pictures of people that were killed or tortured there. The Khmer Rouge recorded everything. Each person that was taken there was given a number and a picture was taken of them, both alive and dead. The museum was covered by these photographs. What broke my heart was the pictures of children. Innocent children. Children who were killed because of an evil man, Pol Pot, and his crazy ideas. In Tuong Sleng, you could also see and go inside the cells that they were held in. They were tied up in the cell. Some of the chains still remained.
Apparently, when Tuong Sleng was opened as a museum, people from all over Cambodia travelled there to see if their relatives pictures were there. During the regime, some people escaped through neighbouring countries but some were taken to work on the land or taken to prisons. Many people do not know what happened to their loved ones. These pictures gave some closure to whatever happened to their families, although in very shattering circumstances.
The next day, we visited Cheong Ek killing fields. This
killing field was linked with Tuong Sleng. Most people from the prison were taken here, as well as from other parts of the country. An estimated 20,000 people (men, women and children) were killed here. but in the whole of Cambodia 3 million out of an 8 million population were killed or died because of the regime (starvation etc). All over the killing field you find ditches where hundreds of bodies have been excavated. Not all of the mass graves have been dug up, some of the graves were left where they decided to leave some of the victims to rest. In one ditch, due to the heavy rainfall that can arrive, soil is sometimes washed away and solitary teeth and bones are found in the soil. We actually saw a bone and two teeth in the ground when we were there. In the middle of Cheong Ek killing field you will find a memorial stupa, holding the skulls and bones of the bodies that were buried.
Walking around the killing field, we were given ear phones and an audio device that gave us information about the killing field and some of the stories from people that had escaped.
The stories from the people upset me the most. One man talked about himself as a child. He was put in prison for stealing two bananas for his starving sister. An older man in the prison begged the guard everyday to release the boy as he should not be in an adult prison. The guard finally gave in and let the boy go, but, because the man had been complaining to the guard, he executed him for annoying him. The boy who was set free, now a man himself he could not remember the name of the man that saved his life and didn't know where to find his family to explain the selfless act the man in the prison had done.
This place really brought home how lucky I have been in my life to not have gone through such horrors. I really hope this type of crime does not happen to anyone else.
Today has been a happier day. We went to a place called Kids World (not just for kids!). This place is amazing! There are so many activities to choose from: ice skating, laser tag, science gallery, playground and rock climbing. We decided to
do the rock climbing and it was so much fun and scary at the same time. I literally had to face my fears for the whole hour I was there. There are lots of different walls and climbing activities there. There was one with a spiral of poles. Each one was slightly bigger than the other. I got about half way and had to come down, I was so scared my foot wouldn't move from the pole. It didn't help that the view of the city in the glass wall was in front of me! They had some activities like PGL but they seemed so much harder! I would definitely recommend Kids World to anyone that comes to Phnom Penh.
Tomorrow we are off to Vietnam. We are on a three day boat trip. We will sail down the Mekong Delta and stop at the Cambodia-Vietnam boarder. We will then do some activities during our trip, all the way to Ho Chi Minh city, also known as Saigon. I will let you all know how we got on, hopefully I won't be sick on the boat this time!!
Love to you all. Emma and Stu xxx
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