Cambodia- Phnom Penh
This post contains pretty graphic photos. I've postponed this post for ages because I just could not bring myself to look at the photos. The memory of these places haunts me still. More than anything, it just brings you immense sadness. You question why the world can be such a bad place to live in, and you realise where you're born in really makes a huge difference.
We had 2 days left in Phnom Penh to visit the Choeung Ek Killing fields and S-21prison. We booked a tuktuk driver for the day, paid him 20 usd though the asking rate was about 12 usd. We got pretty attached to our tuktuk driver but more on that later.
Quick background
Between 1975 to 1979, an asshole named Pol Pot, leader of the communist regime Khmer Rouge, took over Cambodia when the previous leader Lon Nol fled to Hawaii after a huge war broke out between his troops and the rebellious Khmer Rouge.
Pol Pot executed plans to enslave the urban population. He drove them out of their homes in the city to work in paddy fields under the supervision of rural supporters of Pol Pot. He hated Chinese-looking Cambodians as he saw them as foreigners and not 'pure' Cambodians even though they and their ancestors have lived through many generations in Cambodia.
In 4 years, he carried out a genocide that killed nearly 1.7 - 2 million out of the then existing 8 million people. They were people from the upper and middle class, people who were part of the previous regime, anyone he suspected was turning against him. In 1979, the Vietnamese troops invaded Cambodia and the genocide ended.
Because this tragic horror only happened less than 40 years ago, Cambodians are still living through the hatred, the pain, and the betrayal. Many of them who survived had to turn against friends and family members, in order to ensure their family got enough food so they would not starve.
While talking to our tuktuk driver, we learned that people live beside neighbours whom they know have betrayed their loved ones, or even killed someone dear to them.
It took decades to put the highest authorities of the Pol Pot regime to trial. Pol Pot himself died even before going to trial. No one expects the common citizens to be found guilty of anything. After all, it was such a mess of confusion, rage, and desperation. So the Cambodians now live among their enemies, closing one eye and just hoping to move on.
Choeung Ek Killing Fields
Heartbreak (x10000)
If I remember correctly, this is the only Killing Field left in Phnom Penh that is open to the public. It takes about 30 (?) minutes to get there from the city. You pay US$3 for the entrance fee, it comes with an audio set that brings you to different posts of what was once a mass burial site for men, women and children, all of whom were either suspected of rebelling against Pol Pot or associated with someone who was. Many were told that if they confessed to sins they did not do, they would be pardoned. However, once they did, they were brought to killing fields, like this one, where death awaited them.
At each signpost, the narrative tells you a story and tries to paint a picture of what it was like then, how things would have looked. Most of these signposts are accompanied by pictures.
In this killing field alone, an estimated 17,000 people were brutally executed here. Unlike the Nazis who sophisticatedly used gas chambers and bullets for their genocides, the Cambodians turned to cheaper methods such as bludgeoning or hacking people using knives, shovels, sharpened bamboo sticks tools used for farming. As a result, many people were still alive when they were buried in mass graves.
This is one example of a mass grave, it was specifically for women and children. People buy and leave coloured bracelets as a mark of respect.
Even women and children were not spared because Pol Pot was extremely paranoid. He believed that if next generations were allowed to live, they would return and seek revenge.
This here, is nicknamed the Killing tree. Infants and toddlers were taken by their legs, their heads smashed into this tree then thrown into the mass grave just right beside it, where their mothers were.
To mask their moans and screams, loud speakers were hung on trees and played loud communist songs in order to hide what was really going on from the Cambodians on the outside. This killing field was kept a secret until discovered in 1979, after the genocide.
Other examples of mass grave sites
What brings you closer to the crime scene are these bone fragments found in the ground, and displayed in boxes. Though the bodies have all been dug up, fragments of bones such as teeth remain in the ground and are still being discovered everyday when they surface.
You can feel it in the air, the sombre and depressing atmosphere as people walk around silently, some tearing uncontrollably, some bowing their heads down, others just gazing off in the distance.
I think this really makes you lose faith in humanity, at least just for those few days, when you just can't forget how awful the genocide was. And then you think about all the other wars that are happening now.........................just no.
At the last stop, we come to this monument built in remembrance of all who were buried in this site.
" Tower of Skulls "
Stacks of skulls are piled up, according to age, gender, and the method of killing.
Coloured stickers help differentiate them.
During Pol Pot's regime, people weren't allowed to own clothing and were ordered to wear brown uniforms. This is a pile of clothing confiscated from people who were brought here.
S-21 Prison
As if the day was not depressing enough, we went on to our next destination.
S-21 was known as Tuol Svay Pray High School when the Khmer Rouge took over and turned it into a secret prison for interrogation and torture. It was one of the 196 secret prisons set up throughout Cambodia. Prisoners brought here were mostly the educated and elite, professionals, doctors, artisans, military personnel, members of the previous government, people who wore glasses, or just anyone who showed a hint of intellect- together with their families. They were accused of treason, interrogated and tortured. Many were later transported from here to killing fields to be executed.
Out of the 14,000 people who passed through S-21 prison, only 7 people were known to have survived.
S-21 was known as Tuol Svay Pray High School when the Khmer Rouge took over and turned it into a secret prison for interrogation and torture. It was one of the 196 secret prisons set up throughout Cambodia. Prisoners brought here were mostly the educated and elite, professionals, doctors, artisans, military personnel, members of the previous government, people who wore glasses, or just anyone who showed a hint of intellect- together with their families. They were accused of treason, interrogated and tortured. Many were later transported from here to killing fields to be executed.
Out of the 14,000 people who passed through S-21 prison, only 7 people were known to have survived.
The rooms found in the museum were mostly kept as they were when the prison was liberated. Each room had a single bed, barred windows, chains, torture devices. On the wall of each room is a photograph of the person who was found strapped to the beds.
At the killing field, it was rather serene and calm, though depressing. Over here at S-21 though, it was plain frightening to walk along the corridors. I didn't even dare walk into the rooms, as you can tell all my pictures of the rooms are taken from outside. (I'm damn easily spooked) You could almost hear their screams through the silence. Since things were mostly left as they were, it was too easy to picture the horrible scenes.
They would hang prisoners upside down, drown their heads in water repeatedly as part of their torture methods.
The next few rooms were filled with faces.
Every prisoner brought here was photographed for record-keeping. There are boards of faces, faces, and more faces that stare straight back at you as you walk around the rooms. Confused, sad, desperate and lost faces. I seriously cannot even look at them without wanting to cry. It's silly to get so emotional over something that didn't happen to you. But when you're right there, in that room...it overwhelms you.
After we visited the S-21 prison, we asked our tuktuk driver some questions. After all, he was about 40 plus and must have lived through the genocide. He said his parents and grandparents were all killed. He had a wife who ran away with another man, leaving him with a daughter and son. His daughter is one eyed blind and might be fully blind if she does not receive treatment that costs around US $2000 a year. Our hearts went out to him, though we felt helpless. What could we do to help?
We asked him to bring us to the airport the next day, so we could give him some extra money. We also gave him a bottle of wine. He smiled a toothy grin and thanked us. After he dropped us at the airport, he apologised for not being able to send us off in the terminal. He could not leave his tuktuk unattended. So we said our goodbyes and went to check in. When we took the escalator up, I looked out of the window and there he was, with his smile, waving frantically at us. He had parked his tuktuk somewhere and rushed back to try and catch a glimpse of us. My heart melted. We were so so touched. I hope the next time we return to Phnom Penh, we'll get to see him again. Till then, I wish him all the best.
Cambodia has left such an impact on me. It is the most eventful trip I've taken in a while and continues to linger in my thoughts. I hope you'll fall in love with Cambodia as much as I have.
