Around Phnom Penh

Unlike the small town of Siem Reap, the capital city of Phnom Penh was filled with things to see and do. We began with the Royal Residence and the Silver Pagoda. The king was not home (flag was down) so we had full run of the joint. Couple interesting notes about the king: first, he was held hostage in his own palace during the Pol Pot regime; second, he is now gravely ill and spends most of his time in China getting advanced medical treatment. Once our fill of elaborate temples was satisfied, we went to the National Museum. It’s a beautiful building, very detailed and ornately carved. We learned that bats used to roost in the terracotta slats of the museum’s roof. There were so many in number that their waste began seeping through the flimsy ceiling planks and destroying the works of art. It was only recently that the Australian government intervened and provided funding to build a more stable ceiling.

The Tuol Sleng Museum (or Museum of Genocidal Crimes) was an old school that was converted in 1975 to the largest detention and torture centers in the Pol Pot Regime. More than 17,000 people were held and tortured in S-21 and subsequently taken to the Killing Fields. As you walked through the decaying complex, you saw the rooms in which victims were held and the sick methods in which information was extracted from them. The remnants of rusting chains and ammunition boxes (used as toilets), and the blood stains in the halls, floors and even ceilings were grim and disturbing. The pictures of the hundreds of victims lined the wall and it was incredible how young some of these people were. One of the most interesting parts of the tour was on the second floor of Building E which housed a photo story of Khmer soldiers. Each story showed pictures of them during the days of the war and what their lives are like now. If anything, this exhibit tried to show the humanity of such an inhumane era. Many of these soldiers were kids and simply following the crowd. Many are still bearing the stigma for being a Pol Pot supporter. The points of view expressed revealed the other side of the story and provide a thought-provoking perspective on a painful part of this country’s history. What we saw next capped off this gruesome story.

A short, bumpy ride outside of town brought us to the infamous Killing Fields. We were allowed to walk through the fields and we often found ourselves stumbling upon clothes, bones and teeth still encased in the clay walkway. It was creepy to think that we were trampling over the dead and desecrating their resting places. I hope that the government will reconsider how to show this historical place in order to preserve the dignity of the dead. In the center of the field was a large stupa which housed all the bones and clothing remnants of the bodies found in the field. After all we learned today, it was an incredible realization that there has not been a part the world that is untouched by the horrors of war.

Skulls kept in the stupa at the Killing Fields Monument. Phnom Penh, Cambodia.