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Published: August 19th 2007
Welcome to Year 32...which is what it would be if it were up to the notorious Cambodian leader,
Pol Pot. When the
Khmer Rouge took power in Cambodia on 17th April 1975, he declared that to be
Year Zero, marched everyone out of Phnom Penh, abolished religion, closed schools & hospitals, eliminated currency, and began to eliminate countless (some accounts are in the millions...perhaps over 20%!o(MISSING)f the population) of Cambodians. His vision was a twisted hyper version of agrarian communism in which everyone was to become a part of some rural utopia.
Thankfully the regime never made it past Year 3 Month 8 due to a Vietnamese invasion (which was actually a response to a previous Cambodian invasion of Vietnam initiated by Pol Pot) in January 1979. I'm no expert in these matters, but suffice to say that Pol Pot was really, really bad. Sadly, the US involvement in the region was dubious at best. Between Vietnam, the Khmer Rouge, the previous Cambodian government, and Cambodian government in the 80's...it's way too complex for me to even want to touch on...though I encourage you to look into it a bit. Feel free to sort that one out on your
own.
Anyway, I'm not here to start any political arguments...so getting back to 2007...
"To keep you is no benefit. To destroy you is no loss." I arrived to Phnom Penh (the capital) in the afternoon and didn't like my first impression. It was dirtier, crazier, and somehow just different feeling than Thailand. Inside I was wondering if my Cambodia experience would end up being the low point of the trip so far.
The next day I figured I'd get my Cambodian experience into full swing with a little dose of genocide induced depression and headed out to
Choeung Ek - better known to us as one of
The Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge. This place is not good. Located about 15km outside of Phnom Penh, this is a former orchard that was turned into an extermination camp and was used by the Khmer Rouge as a place to brutally kill and bury roughly 9000 men, women, and children between 1975 and 1979.
Prisoners and their families would be bussed from
S-21 (discussed below) after interrogation and then would be beaten until dead by a variety of instruments - iron bars, machetes, pickaxes, shovels,
etc. Victims were rarely shot to death because bullets were deemed too precious for this purpose. Some victims arrived already dead after having been tortured to death at S-21.
There never were many buildings here, just a holding room, an office, and a few storage rooms. It literally was just a field for killing and burying. Now the only structure there is a large stupa in front of me with glass doors. This structure houses thousands of skulls and bits of clothing of the victims that had been buried here. Moving along the path took me past various signs indicating such things as:
- "This is where the bus dropped off the prisoners"
- "This is a tree where children were tied and beaten"
- "This is a mass grave of 144 prisoners found without heads"
Really uplifting stuff. The path weaves between a multitude of depressions/pits in the ground that had previously been the graves of the nearly 9,000 people buried en-masse. In some of the muddier parts of the path, the dirt has been washed away to expose bits of clothing that a guide said were additional remains from the 70's (it's possible...but I was doubtful
Choeung Ek Stupa of Skulls
Containing thousands of skulls.that they'd leave these there as I would imagine this could be rather unsanitary...maybe I'm wrong). In any case, it wasn't a pleasant weekend stroll through an orchard...it was a sickening experience.
After having had enough of genocide for the day, my motorbike driver (Ahm - who later ripped me off...only for $1 though) picked me back up and off we headed. He tried to convince me to go to a nearby place where I could pay to shoot an AK-47 (apparently a semi-popular tourist activity), but somehow that didn't seem like a good idea and after taking a tour of a place called The Killing Fields - I wasn't exactly in the mood for handling an instrument of death.
Speaking of motorbikes...traffic here is absolutely insane. The Cambodians are the best and worst drivers I've ever seen. Worst because they create a madness I've never seen & the best because they casually manage to navigate this. I'm quite certain this is where the uncontrolled intersection was invented. There are literally people going every which way at every point on the road...but somehow they make it work. If one wants to turn left up ahead but there's a
Choeung Ek Burial Area
Pathways leading through the burial pits. break in oncoming traffic 100m before the turn, just veer over to the other lane and drive on the wrong side until the turn. In order to cross the street, I have to look right, then left, then right, then left, etc. until 'safely' on the other side. When approaching an intersection, just honk and blow right through...hoping that anyone crossing your path is able to stop or swerve in time. But again, somehow it works.
Though I criticize, I actually think that in a Utopian world, we'd all drive like this. Basically make your move when you can rather than waiting for a timed traffic light to tell us that it's ok to go. Unfortunately, this is Earth, not Utopia and in this existence, this is not the ideal arrangement.
HelloMoto One of the primary modes of transportation is the motorbike. These "moto" drivers are constantly looking to take me places and try to get my attention (humorously) by saying "HelloMoto!" Sadly, Motorola has such a weak presence (hardly at all) over here that I doubt they realize that it sounds like they're promoting a cell phone company with this phrase. In any case, riding in this
Choeung Ek Stupa of Skulls
Containing thousands of skulls. traffic on a moto is truly an entertaining experience and I love every minute of it. It's the best $1 adrenaline ride one can get. Just hop on and close your eyes (for the advanced adrenaline experience). However, this is not for control freaks...you guys will just have to avoid Cambodia.
Oddly enough, the US dollar almost more common here than the Cambodian Riel (4000r = $1). Even the ATMs shoot out US cash for me. Thankfully I've had some US cash in my wallet since leaving the States & was able to use that to pay for my $20 visa at the airport (before the ATM). Otherwise it was more like $30 equivalent of Baht. The Riel doesn't seem to be much of an internationally recognized currency as it's not listed at the exchange booths in Bangkok nor is is listed in many of the on-line currency conversion tools I've used. Perhaps it's never recovered from being abolished for 4 years by Pol Pot.
As mentioned above, Phnom Penh has a different feel than Bangkok. It's hard to say exactly why, but some of the differences include...
- A sort of French Colonial influence to much of
Russian Market Butcher
The Russian Market is one of the main market areas in PP. One can wander through dozens of crowded alleys shopping for any variety of things ranging from meat, clothes, fake watches, motorcycle parts, etc. the architecture...lots of balconies over the main streets - almost like New Orleans.
- Crazy traffic mentioned above
- It's a bit dirtier
- I felt less comfortable wandering some of the darker streets at night (Mom - I'm making this up, I would never wander any dark streets at night...). But felt somewhat safer because I was carrying my metal tripod in my hand...just in case...I need to take a photo.
- And it just has that certain je ne se quoi... (spelling?)
Phnom Penh also has the unique characteristic of being one of the few (only?) places in history to be instantaneously vacated for 4 years. On 17 April 1975, Pol Pot basically just hiked everyone out to the fields (under the pretense that they were escaping US bombing...unfortunately the US bombing Cambodia in the 70s was a reality) and either turned them into farmers or into prisoners. There were still a few folks around the city, but certainly not the bulk of the population. I'm not sure about how the repopulation worked, but I imagine this type of 4 year break will have a profound effect on a place.
After a nice little post-Killing-Field nap,
Tuol Sleng - A View Through the Window
Looking into one of the torture rooms. I decided to head out to find some dinner. While slurping down some mediocre noodles ($1) and watching the week-old Asia Cup final (Iraq won 1-0) a dude sits down at my table and we started to chat. His name is Vuth and he's from Battambang (western Cambodia). I won't go through his whole story, but the two things that stood out to me are the following...
1) His brothers and sisters were killed by the Khmer Rouge when they were just little kids in the late 70s. I must confess that I really had no idea how to react/respond to that. He didn't say it in a way as if he was complaining or expecting anything...it was just one of the facts. But I still didn't know how to handle a guy telling me that his siblings were wiped out by one of the most brutal genocides in history...especially with the images of this fresh in my head from the Killing Fields.
2) After asking me what my favorite sports were, he asked me if I like wrestling. I've picked up on the fact that other parts of the world are more nuts about WWE wrestling than much of
the US (for example the little girls in Fiji were calling me John Cena...one of the bigger names in the industry). After asking me "It's not real, right?", he assured me that he knew that it's not but he always has to convince others that's the case. I guess this was humorous to me because here I am in Cambodia eating noodles with a guy who just told me about his brutal family history and the next thing I know, I'm talking about the circus that is WWE. Ahh..travel.
The Bones Cannot Find Peace Until The Truth They Hold In Themselves Has Been Revealed The night's sleep brightened my spirits a bit, so I figured I was ready for my next genocidal dose. This time it was the
S-21, or
Tuol Sleng Prison. I said Choeung Ek was not good...and this place was straight up horrible. In true evil ruler form, Pol Pot converted a secondary school into a prison for torture and interrogation of anyone deemed to be a threat or non-supporter of the KR. And he didn't just send the questionable person there alone...he sent their families there as well. This guy was a Grade A
Tuol Sleng - The Kids
Just a few of the many child prisoners. All of these kids were killed either at the prison or at Choeung Ek. Was hard to look at for very long. piece of crap.
My tour included individual torture/interrogation cells (including the instruments of torture), large holding rooms, solitary holding rooms, way too many photos of people (kids/women/men...none were spared) whose lives most certainly came to a brutal and agonizing death either at S-21 or Choeung Ek, and a video that followed the stories of a few families during the KR rule.
One of the things that's weird about this for me is that since it was only 30 years ago, these people (survivors from both sides) are still around. The video at the museum has a segment where one of the survivors (one of only 7) is talking to one of the former guards and showing him artwork depicting the torture scenes. It's a strange interaction. Not because there is a lot of tension, but rather that there's an absence of it..almost like the former prisoner accepted that the guard only did what he did because he would be killed if he didn't. Much of the prison staff were just young boys (early teens even) at the time. I can't imagine what that does to the mind of a kid (or anyone) to spend those years in that
type of environment. But they were very impressionable and easily brainwashed into looking up to the KR officials and doing whatever they wanted...sometimes simply out of fear and sometimes as a result of the brainwashing and wanting to be like their superiors.
Walking through these rooms...seeing the torture beds...blood stains on the floors/walls/ceilings...and mixing that with the photos of countless victims...made it way too real. It was almost as if the walls called out with the cries of the now-deceased thousands who committed no crime at all. Ironically though, even the evil ones weren't spared. In his paranoia, Pol Pot even sent those close to him to their deaths...his best friend and Minister of Defense...his Minister of Finance...and their families, among many others. Those targeted included political opponents, intellectuals, cripples, ethnic minorities (sound familiar yet?), monks, etc. Anyone who posed any sort of threat was arrested, interrogated for information on other potential 'threats', and wiped out. They often eventually confessed whatever it was that their torturers wanted to hear...CIA conspiracies, turning in friends & family, etc. Whatever it took to stop being hit in the head with shovels...or being dunked in containers of urine and feces...etc.
I've been
to Dachau, Anne Frank's House, and numerous other WW2 memorials and this was certainly on par with those in terms of the power of the anger and sadness that can be stirred up. In my journal about the Tongariro Crossing I joked about being so mad that I wanted to breathe smoke (a reference to a quote from "Fight Club"). That time it was a joke. This time - standing in the torture rooms...seeing the pictures of brutalized children...hearing their screams - I truly was steaming with anger...which was matched only by my deep sadness and desire to cry.
This was different from the WWII memorials though because I really didn't know much about it before coming here, so I was learning as I went. I'm not sure if it just hadn't made it into the history books, if I missed class that day, or if it's not taught as much in the US for one reason or another - but I really didn't know much about Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge prior to coming here. (Un)Fortunately, now I do. If you don't know much about the history of this, I encourage you to take a deeper look.
It's not an uplifting endeavor, but it's something that I hope we all can understand better and learn from.
I mentioned Dachau and other WW2 memorials above. One of the common themes in those memorials was the notion of "Never Again" or "We Won't Forget". Perhaps the world simply didn't know at the time that Pol Pot was doing what he was doing...but whatever the reason, it happened again - and I'm afraid that to varying degrees we all continue to fail in keeping this promise as it has happened since and continues to even today. I'm not naive enough to think that international politics and controlling evil leaders of sovereign nations is trivial...but it's sad that large-scale blatant violations of humanity like this are possible. Can't we as a human race do better than this?
The horror...the horror...
- Col. Kurtz (ending line to Apocalypse Now)
Now I'm off to Angkor Wat (the world's largest religious structure) to see the results of when mankind exercises its abilities to create and worship rather than to destroy.
Marc
My initial fear of Cambodia being a weak leg of the trip hasn't panned out. It's not exactly SCUBA diving
and cute animals at the zoo...but the start has been intense.
The entry is a bit strong for some tastes, I know. But so was the subject matter...hard to tone down without losing some of the story in the process.
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Marty Plecki
non-member comment
Cambodia
Marc, The whole thing, Cambodia at that time, was a shame. The world knew it, but it was under reported, I don't know why. Maybe for the same reason the atrocities committed by the Islamic extremists are under reported, while the few mistakes we make are over reported. I don't think things are getting better. Too bad. The US tries to respond, but we have not found a good way to do so. Power hungry people will always be among us to make life hard, when it should be joyous. I really worry about the Islamic extremists. Bad times are coming if we are not successful in modifying, stopping, ??, this ideology. On a lighter note, if you go to India, you will find the same kind of traffic madness, so .enjoy. Marty.