Back to Phnomh Penh
Trip Start
Dec 02, 2007
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41
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Trip End
Sep 01, 2008
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Saturday, June 21, 2008
We had co-opted a particularly helpful tuk-tuk driver at the bus station the previous day, who had agreed to show us around. First stop was the Royal Palace, a complex of buildings which are the the royal abode of the Kingdom of Cambodia. None of us knew anything about the palace, including me as I didn't visit last time. This made its splendour an unexpected surprise: the buildings were amazingly intricate. We were struck by how similar it was to the Thai architecture we had both seen on previous travels, and it certainly rivalled the palaces and temples of Bangkok
Roof close-up
.After some exposure to modern-day Cambodia, we made our way to the must-see, but extremely harrowing, Toul Sleng Genocide Musuem and the Killing Fields.
The museum, housed in S21 prison, was the largest of the prisions used in Phnom Penh during the time of the Khmer Rouge. The prison, largely unchanged since liberation, contains hundreds of moving photos and memories of people from the time. There are almost no memories of actual inmates - despite an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned there between 1975-79, there are only 12 known survivors. Many of the most horrific photos were taken by the invading Vietnamese soldiers of scenes they found at the prison, now mounted in the cells that the atrocities actually took place in. It is truly unnerving to be able to look at a photo of a Cambodian man lying dead on a torture rack, while looking at the actual room and rack in front of you.
Indeed, much of the visit to S21 is spent with the internal conflict of wanting to get out of there as soon as possible, while not wanting to miss anything or anyone contained within. Our experiences were undoubtedly enhanced by our decision to hire a guide. She was extremely knowledgeable and keen to share the facts of what happened there
Cell at S21
. It was little surprise when she told the story of her family escaping to Vietnam at the time (which took a month, on foot), minus her brother and father. Little surprise, but no comfort; suffice to say we all had to turn away at this point.After the horrors of S21, we moved on to Choeung Ek, one of Cambodia's Killing Fields. There are hundreds of similar fields in Cambodia, but this is the most famous: it is the largest near the capital city and contains a Buddhist monument to the terror, a stupa containing thousands of human skulls.
The field contains mass graves where enemies of the Khmer Rouge were brought and executed. Many were killed with axes, clubs or gun butts to save ammunition, pushed into graves they were forced to dig themselves. The Khmer Rouge are estimated to have killed between one and two million people during their reign. Combined with deaths from the American War in Vietnam and the region, up to have of the country's population is believed to have perished at the time.
Visiting S21 and Choeung Ek was certainly not enjoyable, we learnt a lot and went away with a desire to learn more about something that happened so close to our lifetimes.
