What a mad place...
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2005
1
8
13
Trip End
Jun 05, 2006
Phnom Penh,
Thailand
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
The next morning we went to the Royal Palace which was another excellent example of SE Asian architecture and grand design. The most amazing thing however was that despite all the war and violence within Cambodian's history, there was almost no damage done to this group of buildings right in the center of the capital. Next we visited the not particularly exciting PP Musuem which houses many statues of Buddha's from Angkor. Then we went out to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, where 17,000 men, women and children
were killed between 1975-78. As you walk in there is a central tower just filled with skulls. The true horror of the place can not be put into words so I won't try. However at one point 3 young girls asked us if we wanted to take their picture, obviously for a dollar or three while they possed by the tree with a sign 'tree where children were shot and beaten to death', next to a ditch marked 'children's mass grave'! needless to say we declined. We then travelled on to a shooting range which had numerous fire arms to try out but it had to be the AK- 47 which much against type, actually jammed on my go! You even get to drink beer while firing. Jodie finally dragged me out without spending all our money. We promised to return when we won the lottery to which he replied 'you can use my rocket launcher then!'. It was obviously unpleasant and uncomfortable going from the killing fields to a shooting range, but unfortunately it was the only opportunity to do everything.
(Jodie) We then went to Tuol Sleng Museum - this placed used to be a high school before it was taken over the Pol Pot's security forces and turned it into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). This place then became the largest center of detention and torture in the country with an average of 100 victims per day over 3-4 years. The killing fields we visited earlier was the final resting grounds for most people from this prison. Again the true horror can not be put into words, but I will say the museum
did a really good job at illustrating it. It truly was a shocking place. Most harrowing was the hundreds and hundreds of mug shots of men, women, children and babies, which we're taken of them on arrival to the prison, some smiling, unaware of the days of torture and eventually death that awaited them.
To help us get over a rather mixed and emotional day we went back to our rooms to freshen up, then had a 'very happy' pizza, whilst watching the sun set over the lake again. The following day we moved accommodation into town. Once in the center of PP you could not move without bumping into moto, cyclo and tuk-tuk drivers, baggers and sellers, which obviously doesn't make for pleasant walking around town. We did venture out for main essentials whilst there, but that was about it. The above truly was too
much to take some times.
