O.K. back to my motorbike driver. He was excellent, waiting for me while I had my meals and read every bit of information at the museums. Well worth the money.
After a late breakfast, the first stop was the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. The site was a lot smaller than expected, which made it even more haunting since over 15,000 people were bludgeoned to death here (it saved bullets). Men, women and children. Most were Cambodians but expats and kidnapped Vietnamese were included as well.
The site is made up of a large, white stupa, in memorial of the people who died there, as well as sign posts indicating where the various buildings once stood. Inside the memorial monument, there are skulls of about half of the victims.
The site also has pits which were once used as mass graves. I saw some tourists jumping in and out of them
laughing. Hilarious.
The Killing Fields gave an introduction to the horrors of the rule of the Khmer Rouge and I am happy I went there before going to the Tuol Sleng Museum (a.k.a the genocide museum).
This well documented museum frightened me. Entire rooms were filled with the portraits of the victims minutes before their execution. Many of them were children. What impressed me was the lack of fear in their eyes and their neutral expressions. The Cambodians must be an incredibly strong people.
The school converted to prison and torture center (known as S-21) killed about 100 people a day. While alive, the prisoners were kept in cells the width of a queen size bed. The men who managed to escape Pol Pot’s guards and S-21′s barb wire, were hunted by the soldiers and their entire families brought back to the prison for execution. So was the information beneath the photo of a woman holding her 3 month old baby.
Why? Because it was to usher in the era of a new Cambodia, one with under educated but obedient citizens.
Yeah, that sounds like a great strategy to face the new age of globalization. Good thinking Pol Pot. You clearly are a genius.
With a heavy heart and tears in my eyes, I left Tuol Sleng to move on to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda.
Not much to report from there (although I have to say it was gorgeous).
That’s it. You already know how that evening ended…
HAPPY NEW YEAR!
Ten years ago I set a goal to visit 30 countries by my 30th birthday. With no plan or country list to fulfill this goal, I decided to let life take me where it wished.
“See Simi Travel Blog | Adventures of a travel snob“, is just that. The account of an ex-20-something year exploring the world, usually solo, and on a very limited budget.
Every other week I try to tell you a story about the friends, food, fun and fails I’ve had along the way.
