Phnom Penh
Trip Start
Aug 09, 2008
1
12
13
Trip End
Sep 10, 2008
Phnom Penh,
Cambodia
Thursday, September 4, 2008
After establishing ourselves in the hotel we got a tuk-tuk to the Tuol Sleng genocide museum, or the former Khmer Rouge S-21 Prison. As we got out we were greeted by a man who had the most horrific burns I've ever seen. Having seen many beggars in Sihanoukville and Phnom Penh missing limbs and deciding that they left their crutches at home, as they had clearly had medical treatment, we walked away. However, I kept thinking about him and decided to give him some money - 2000 riel which is $0.50 - nothing to us but hopefully enough to get him some food.
We decided to get a tour guide to take us around the museum and it turned out to be a very good decision as the lady walked us around and answered all our questions. We saw the Interrogation rooms where she said prisoners had been kept for 10 minutes a day shackled to the beds and tortured. Many could not cope with the torture and died there and those who didn't were soon moved to the Killing Fields where they were executed. There were photos of many of the people - both who had worked at the prison and the victims. As we walked around the guide explained the methods of torture and why they had been tortured - Pol Pot's regime had believed them to be CIA or KGB spies. Of 20,000 people who entered the prison, only 7 survived, three of whom are still alive today. Out of a population of 7 million in 1975, Pol Pot's forces killed 2 million in a four year period. The most horrific pictures that we saw were of a man having his fingernails removed and then alcohol being poured over them, and of babies being thrown up in the air and bayoneted as well as being smashed against trees. Our guide also told us that she had walked for three months after being forced out of Phnom Penh and went to a forced labour camp. She was 13 when Pol Pot's forces killed her father and brother. She returned to Phnom Penh in 1980 with her mother.
After this devastating museum we went to a temple called Wat Phnom. Here there were lots of monkeys all around the place and the local people feeding them. They were very sweet but I was very conscious that I haven't had a rabies injection and therefore did not want to get too close! We walked up the hill and around the temple. There were the most amazing candles which came up to my waist burning inside. It was very calming after the horror of the genocide museum.
We've got a bus to Siem Reap tomorrow afternoon so are planning to see the Royal Palace in the morning before heading to Angkor Wat!
Lots of love xxxx
