We knew it wouldn't be pretty but it was much worst than we thought. The tour involved traveling to a torture center referred as S21 - Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (a former high school that was turned into a torture center) located within the city limits and Cheuong Ek - body disposal area were tens of thousands of skeleton remains were unearth Ned.
The old high school consisted of 4 large building surrounded by electric barb wire..building A contained high value prisoners - Khmer Rouge officer and soldiers who fell out of favor with buildings B, C and D reserved for the common folk ...men, women and children. The pictures are gruesome and speak for themselves. How one human being could be so cruel to another is difficult to comprehend. What is truly disturbing is that most of those administering the torture were young kids and adults 12 - 20 years of age. We spent about 2 hours touring the buildings and viewing the pictures....see for yourself...watch the movie the "Killing Fields"...there is also a best seller titled “They Killed my Daddy" or something similar that one should read...Picture of woman is one showing her picture being taken by the Khmer Rouge...pointer at the back of the head is to keep the head still...skull map was a KR propaganda map--->this will happen to you if you don’t obey.
We left S-21 and drove about 10 miles outside of Phnom Penh and came to the "Killing Fields". Here is where the bodies of prisoners from S-21 were finally disposed of. How they died was brutal force ...no bullets..couldn't waste ammunition...crushed heads...decapitation...smashing infants against trees, etc.....80,000+ skeletonal remains were found with about 1/3 of the body pits are still untouched. The tower like building you see if full of skulls and bones ...a stupa for the victims of the Khmer Rouge. You walk down a path and a section is roped off...bone fragments are exposed by the elements...too many fragments to pick-up... it has been a terrible afternoon...one that is now seared in my memory as Auschwitz was back in 2000.
Remember, this is but one of the killing fields...as best known there are hundreds, maybe thousands, scattered throughout Cambodia.
In the pictures, you see maps which show arrows pointing from large cities to the country-side. These maps show were the urban population was forced during the hottest months of the year (April – June) to walk days...weeks before arriving at a destination and being forced to work as field hands...many, many did not make it. Our guide's parents were forced to walk 100s of miles from the their farm near the Viet Nam border to Siem Reap...people in Siem Reap were forced to relocate to other areas...the entire population was moved. Our guide told us that they were constantly on the move....if you couldn't settle down, you could not form resistance to the regime.
Back to the city…completely drained emotionally….dinner at another charitable restaurant that teaches waiter/waitress skills to the poor teenagers and assists them in finding jobs…good curry and spring rolls…good night One of the fellows ordered tarantulas and I had two since they were not to his liking....quite tasty and crunchy..... …off to Siem Reap and Angkor Wat tomorrow AM …a 8 hour drive with numerous stops…good night.
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