Day 23 - the Killing fields and Genecide museum

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Day 23 - the Killing fields and Genecide museum

Up early this morning. It was so nice to sit on the balcony having tea, whilst watching, smelling, and listening to the market below the canopy of coloured umbrellas, buzzing like crazy!

I am going for the unsupported arm and shoulder approach again today. I am sure that I am doing the right thing, pushing it on. It does ache, but I am convinced that the warm sun, and a bit of use, will be improvement therapy for it! I just worry that I get it knocked about, so will have to be vigilant!

The plan is to get ready, have breakfast, and just grab a tuk tuk, and driver to be our taxi for the morning! Let's see how that works out!

Yes, it worked out great! We got a tuk tuk for $25 to do the tour. I had a bit of an ATM wobble this morning before getting into the tuk tuk, but the guy took us to a different one that worked perfectly.

We are changing from using riel to dollars, as it is easier!
Off we go, the driver is a nice bloke. He keeps telling Helen to keep her bag well inside the tuk tuk. He is concerned that someone might grab it. No one did, but she did do as she was told!

The first stop was at The Killing Fields at Choeung Ek. There are a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khymer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970–1975). The mass killings are widely regarded as part of a broad state-sponsored genecide.

It's terrible to think this happened in my lifetime, and I am so ignorant of it. It's a hard place to see, we are both very heavy hearted when looking and learning about the atrocities that went on for this country, and it's innocent people.

It is reported that 2.5 million people out of an 8 million population died from either execution, starvation or disease at the hands of the Khymer Rouge.... Sadly staggering!

Pol Pot certainly was a genecidal tyrant!

Parts of the fields were harder to deal with, the Stupa that has been erected to house some of the remains, the killing tree, I found particularly hard; this is where babies and children where battered against it to kill them, making death cheaper.

I believe that that there lives , or deaths, will never be forgotten.

How can one person cause so much pain and suffering?
Why would they want to?

It was so quiet, everyone was so respectful. A difficult visit, but very pleased to have my eyes opened.

We went back to our tuk tuk man to be taken to Tuol Svay Pray High School. It sits on a dusty road on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In 1976, the Khmer Rouge renamed the high school S-21 and turned it into a torture, interrogation and execution center. Of the 14,000 people known to have entered, only seven survived.

It's a bleak place, showing many nearly empty rooms with an iron bed, and implements used for torturing many innocent people. Again, quite a humbling, nerve numbing experience.

There are rows and rows of pictures of sad looking people, young and old, who where tortured there, and were clearly facing their death.

In other rooms were either very small chambers made with simple high brick partitions, about 36" X 72", or a big room where inmates were laid side by side, flat on the bare floor, shackled by their feet into an iron rod.

Considering the years that this went on, I find it really unbelievable!

We go back to our driver who brought us back to the town. We both need time to reflect..... Costa coffee !

We took a walk to the Royal Palace which was very close to where we were sitting. We saw the the 4 soldiers that were on duty, marching up and down outside the palace. They wouldn't have got away with it at home, very slovenly! There are loads of pigeons in the area, I did ask Helen to be adventurous with her pose, but nothing happened... Lol.

We continued walking, we came across Wat Ounalom. This was on our list of "to see."
As the seat of Cambodia's Mohanikay order, it is the most important wat of Phnom Penh, and the center of Cambodian Buddhism. It was established in 1443 and consists of 44 structures. It was damaged during the Khymer Rouge but has since been restored.

We continued our walk to the Central Market. It is huge! We bought some artwork, t-shirts etc, bits and bobs, then headed back to Preah Sisowath Quay (the river front, near where we are staying!) we wanted to get there before the rain came!

The rain didn't come tonight, for the first time. We had stopped at a cafe.... Just in case.... It was the worst coffee that we have had so far, mine tasted like the sewer!

We decided to walk a long way, in completely the wrong direction, in order to go to Browns for the best coffee! Although Helen decided to have a change, iced green tea with Oreos! She didn't like it! ... So had to watch me thoroughly enjoy mine!

We set off back to the hotel, padding the girls 'hanging around" the many bars. It's really quite a honey pot. Helen and I agreed, we could NEVER make a living here! Lol. I can't conjure up enough enthusiasm to talk to men, let alone anything else!

We pass the chemist, so pick up a colour for my white halo that has grown over the last three weeks. Helen picks up some nibbles to have with a cuppa later. I am struggling to work up an appetite tonight!

We have been looking all dat for a smaller version of support for my arm. The one the hospital gave me is a full corset. I want to improve my arm by not wearing it, but still need a bit of support, some of the time, but we couldn't find anything!

I found a picture of a dimple support on the Internet, but I just couldn't buy one. I tried drawing it to a lady with a sewing machine, but she was too busy. Helen kept saying about something she had in her first aid kit, that was the last resort. When we got back to the hotel, we had a look..... It was made of paper! We laughed about it. All our hopes faded..... Then I had an idea, the "Ogden" Case strap. It worked perfectly! I can't describe how I used it, you'll have to look at the photo! Thank you Pauline Ogden!

Tomorrow, I will get Ogden support when needed!

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