Phnom Penh - it took me days to learn to spell it!

Trip Start Nov 29, 2006
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Trip End Jul 23, 2007


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Flag of Cambodia  ,
Thursday, January 11, 2007

I arrived in the bustling city of Phnom Penh just a few days ago, and it's an education just being here.  It took me a while (and a mental diagram!) to figure out the political history of Cambodia, but I knew that time spent here would be one of the most educational days in all of my travels.
My friend Katie and I went to see the Genocide Museum and then out to The Killing Fields.  Interestingly, the Genocide Museum *is* an old torture/prison camp, and before that it was a school.  It is called the S-21, and it is where the Khmer Rouge took many of the educated and higher ranking government officials during the 1975-78 reign of the Khmer Rouge.  The people were sent to the prison for a few months and tortured, and then shipped off to a mass graveyard at night where they were executed.  Sadly, in just over 3 years, the rogue government killed around 2 million of their own people - some through torture and murder, but many just through overwork/exhaustion/starvation at the concentration camps not if you have a weak stomach
not if you have a weak stomach
 .  The Killing Field (seen in pics above) is just one of the mass grave sights of the Khmer Rouge - and the execution of women, children, and men were most often carried out by young teenagers who were brainwashed into doing what they were told.  It's a chilling history, and what makes it even more mind numbing is that it all occurred during my (and most everyone who is reading this!) lifetime.
The Khmer Rouge were given amnesty in 1997 (a move perhaps prompted by the current prime minister - a former KR soldier who tried to bring peace in early '78).  So, many KR supporters still live out near the boarder of Thailand in the hills.  A few higher officers may stand trial in a joint UN-Cambodia tribunal - but the tribunal was to start this January, and it's been delayed significantly.  Many of the leaders (read: Pol Pot) have died of natural causes - a shame that he never had to face the music.
You notice the significan lack of people in their 40s, 50s and 60s here in Cambodia as a result of the reign.  The people seem to have a bright outlook and are ready to move on.  I wonder if I'd be that forgiving...
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