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The Killing Fields
Some victims of the Pol Pot regime Our one and only day spent in Phnom Penh would turn out to be a very hard and depressing day. If you don't know about the Khmer Rouge it's because this atrocity seems to often get overlooked. The Khmer Rouge and the Pol Pot regime of the mid 70's is one filled with death and violent crimes against humanity. In a mere three and a half years this regime was responsible for the slaughter of over two million Cambodians. Just to put that into perspective, that was roughly 30% of the Cambodian population at the time. I admit myself that I didn't know much about this when awoke that morning to a sweltering heat and my first glimpse of this city during the day.
Joe and I headed out with our Tuk Tuk driver that we had met the night before with the plan so see all the things we should see while we were in Phnom Penh. Our first destination was to the Killing Fields. And they are exactly that, fields where people were lined up and shot, beat with hammers, stabbed, bashed against trees, and I'm sure far darker things that my mind has never contemplated. It starts
The Killing Fields
One of many mass graves at the Killing Fields. to really hit you when you in the middle of these fields and seeing the mass graves that have been cleared out except of the tattered rags of clothing worn by the dead on the day their life ended. Sitting there and seeing shirts, shoes, and pants covered in blood you start to remember that this wasn't all that long ago. You realize when you're in the middle of this field that most of the people you encounter in the country from day to day still have a fresh memory of this genocide and most can name people directly that they lost during it.
Not much was said as we walked along the trail, most of the silence was broken by children asking for money, water, or whatever we could give them. After spending some time contemplating what we'd seen over lunch our Tuk Tuk driver took us to our next location, S21.
S21 is another location of many violent acts on the Cambodian people. It is a former school that the Khmer Rouge decided would serve the public better as prison and place of torture. Just as we started our tour the three o'clock rains came. In
S21
The end for many prisoners. the summer you can set your watch by the three o'clock monsoon. As the rain poured on the concrete slabs that made up the building we walked from classroom to classroom to see each one converted to a place of torture. All that remained were iron bed frames were each prisoner was shackled, beat, and other means of torture. On the wall hangs a picture of the victim of the room near the end of his/her life. Many not even recognizable as a human being.
Our final stop on our Khmer Rouge tour was to the War Museum, rather field where various instruments of death and destruction congregate. We met the tour guide who showed us around the lot and showed us various weapons, landmines(Cambodia is still covered in these by the way. If you're there stay on the paths) a tank with the body of a Vietcong Soldier still resting inside, AA guns and basically anything else that is meant to stop some machine that doesn't want to be stopped. We also received on of the most interesting and horrible stories I have ever heard from our tour guide. He told us about the the Khmer Rouge and
their horrible acts. He did this with a hushed voice because people are still afraid to speak of the Khmer Rouge. This could be because the regime was not that long ago or because some people in the regime are still in the government today. How messed up is that? He then told us of his life. He showed us the leg that had been blown off by a landmine. He showed us the type of landmine that did it. He showed us the places that he had been shot. He showed us the shrapnel in his arm. He showed us the eye's that he was virtually blind in. He told us of a story of a friend of his trying to fish with a grenade only to have the grenade detonate in his hand. His friend lost his life and the tour guide lost his ability to urinate like the rest of us. Shrapnel of the explosion went through his butt and out of his penis leaving a small hole on the side. He told us that every time he went to the bathroom he had to hold it sideways because it came out of the shrapnel hole. He
War Museum
A tank from the war. There's still a Vietnamese soldier inside. did not show us this.
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saam
non-member comment
wow. what a chilling story. i have done my fair share of research on pol pot and its not pretty at all.. i cant imagine standing and seeing the actual graves and such. it is incredible that the world lets things like this happen especially after the holocaust. thanks for sharing the story of the man and your experiences. saam