The dark side of Cambodia (Jan. 21/09 - Phnom Penh, Cambodia)

In contrast with the magnificent temples and extravagent royalty that have painted a pretty picture for much of Cambodia's history, the unbelievably tragic genocide that occurred between 1975 and 1978 is equally part of their history. As horrendous as these events were, we wanted to visit the sites where it took place to gain an understanding of what happened here.

The Choeung Ek Memorial at The Killing Fields is located about 15km outside of the city, amongst peaceful fields and quiet stilted houses. This is one of many places in Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge executed hundreds of thousands of innocent civillians - approximately 17,000 people are estimated to have died in this spot alone. Dozens of shallow pits are spread across the shady treed field, which were mass graves that were excavated in 1980 so that the towering pagoda-like memorial, containing some 9000 human skulls, could be constructed in memory of the victims. Some larger pits were mass graves for hundreds of bodies each, and thousands more are believed to be still buried in an area on the east side of the field. The area has been protected with a dyke and is covered by a peaceful and permanent pond. While walking between the graves, shivers went up our spines at the sight of clothing pieces and human bones poking out of the ground. Ironically, the peace of the field was only broken by the occasional burst of laughter from children playing outside the adjacent school.

The Khmer Rouge used a highschool in Phnom Penh as an interrogation facility, which they called Security Office 21 (S-21), where they brought their victims to be questioned, tortured, and sometimes killed. If they weren't killed there, they were taken by the truckload to the Killing Fields. When the insanity was over in 1979 after Vietnam gained control of Phnom Penh, S-21 was converted into the Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, which we visited after the Killing Fields. From the outside, it looks like a regular rundown school, with four three-storey buildings and a courtyard in the middle full of palm trees. The former classrooms, with their checkered floors and cream walls, sometimes still had chalkboards mounted on the walls. Classrooms were used as cells, some where tiny cages were built to contain prisoners, and others where all that stood in the centre of each classroom was a rusty metal bed frame. Some of the beds still were draped with blood-stained mats, and others still had shackles and chains locked to their frames. Most disturbing was the black and white photo hung in each room showing that very bed and a mutilated body that died on it. It was so eerie to be in the same room where such violence took place, over and over again, but the photos of the thousands of victims displayed in another room were just devastating. Men, women, children, and even babies were all victims here. It's hard to believe that this all happened only 30 years ago.

Stepping back outside into the sunshine, it took a minute to regain our composure before climbing back into the tuk-tuk for the ride back to our hotel. We spent the afternoon wandering along the river, window shopping, and enjoying our last afternoon in the city before heading to the beaches of Vietnam tomorrow morning.