12 December 2014
Today was a particularly sombre affair. After breakfast we were picked up by Sam the Man and drove to Cheong Ek. The name sounds intriguing and mysterious. To over 8,500 Cambodians it was their place of death in the Killing Fields.
Originally a Chinese cemetery, the Khmer Rouge used it to commit genocide. Intellectuals were the first target; that meant doctors, lawyers, professionals of all kind as well as anyone who wore glasses or spoke a foreign language. The program continued on the include their own soldiers and civilians. This madness does not explain why children and babies were slaughtered.
A tall stupa has been erected containing the skeletal remains of some victims. It stands as silent witness over the entry to graphically demand that this never happens again. The skulls look towards visitors in horror to warn against this brutality. Except it is happening still today.
The audio tour included horrible accounts of some survivors. It also has a narrative by Youk Chhang, the Director of the Documentation Centre of Cambodia and his journey through horror to seeking revenge to now working towards helping others.
There is a large tree in the centre from which people were hanged. The guards used to play loud propaganda music to drown out the screams so that the locals would think it was a party meeting.
Next to it was another tree where babies were killed in ways to gruesome to recount here.
There was a short video presentation (of poor quality but nonetheless deep impact) on the site and interviews with some survivors.
After here we drove to Tuol Sleng, the notorious S-21 prison. The buildings looked like a school; that is what it used to be. There are photos of victims in each room and so many were children. They should have been receiving an education, not torture and death. In one building there were "biographies" of victims. One woman's crime was that her father was a provincial governor in the 1960s. An Australian was caught up in it all, David Lloyd Scott. He had an uncle in the Army so there's a natural link to the CIA. Just like the Nazis, everything was well documented.
The real kicker in all this was that Pol Pot was from a wealthy family, educated in Paris and worked as a teacher.
It just makes me so angry.
After this sobering experience we calmed down back in town with a walk (me) and a massage (Bruce).
Dinner was at Romdeng, another Friends restaurant located in an old French colonial building. The food and service were not as good as Friends, but we still had a good night.