Holiday in Cambodia pt1

Anyone following this blog will realise I haven't posted anything for a very long time. Many people would apologise but I will simple explain. I haven't had anything interesting to say.

That has changed because I have just started a 3 week holiday in Cambodia and Thailand.

Yesterday was my second day in Phnom Penh. Cambodia is a country of opposites. The friendliness of the people against the misery they endured during the Khmer Rouge era. The wealth of the palaces against the heartbreaking poverty on the streets. It is also deceptively expensive unless you can say no to the beggars. Giving $1 to a small child or maimed survivor of Pol Pot's nightmare is a way of signalling every beggar within half a mile to swarm on you and you walk away $40 poorer and if you lucky in possession of stuff you didn't even want. It is strange that I experienced this very thing outside the palace grounds where one of the buildings has a floor made of 5.3 tonnes of silver. They have obviously realised I am an easy target.

I also visited S-21 and Choeng Ek

S-21 started as a high school and was converted into the most notorious prison in the Pol Pot era. Presided over by a man known simply as 'Dutch' S-21 saw as many as 20,000 people die inside its walls. Torture methods included beatings, waterboarding, snake bites, scorpion stings, pliers, submerging in filthy water and hanging from a gallows made from the schools original rope climbing frame. The ordinary prisoners were placed in cells built inside the classrooms (1 room converted to 11 cells 2-3'x5' and a corridor). VIP prisoners had larger cells where they were shackled to an iron bedstead with a metal box and a plastic bottle for toilet arrangements and allowed to starve to death. Babies were simply dropped down a well at the back. Visitors to S-21 are welcome and I was taken round by a woman in 50's who told me about the things that happened. She also told me she lost her child and husband there. Photography is allowed but there are signs saying that smiling and laughter are not allowed out of respect for the dead. They are not necessary.


Anyone who hadn't been killed, starved to death, or committed suicide was taken to one of the killing fields (of which Choeng Ek is the most famous) where they would be executed (digging their own graves first if required). Methods of execution included having their throats slit, decapitation and gunshot to the head. Babies were swung repeatedly against the nearest tree and then dropped into one of the mass graves. The reason the Khmer Rouge killed babies is simple, they didn't want them growing up and seeking revenge.

There is a path at the back of Choeng Ek that twists backwards and forwards between deep pits. I walked down this path with my Tuktuk driver and guide Visal who lost his entire family to the Khmer Rouge. He explained that each of the many pits surrounding us was an excavated mass grave some held over 400 bodies. There are even signs saying 'Please don't walk through the mass graves' they are almost comical at first. I listened him talk as he tried to hold back the tears, suddenly he put his hand on my shoulder to stop me. I looked down and realised that even though I was sticking to the path I was about to trip on a human bone (possibly a femur) sticking out of the mud. Cambodia has a lot of rain and bones are still being uncovered by the elements. next it was some partly uncovered baby clothes

In the centre of Choeng ek is a stupa (The Buddhist version of a mausoleum). It is a beautiful tower of white marble with glass on each side you can go inside as long as you go barefoot. The centre of the stupa contains many glass shelves full of thousands of skulls, jawbones and babies clothes dug up from the graves. For a dollar you can buy a flower and some incense to place outside. I bought the flower and the incense removed my shoes and socks and knelt barefoot in front of the stupa. I placed the flower in the vase and the incense in the pot of sand with those already placed by other visitors, closed my eyes and tried to think of a suitable prayer (a tricky task for an atheist). My first thought was to pray that the people responsible all suffer for what they did. My second thought was simply to pray that it never happens again. I feel both prayers were pointless. for there first prayer ther could never be enough suffering to make up these crimes and for the second prayer it similar events are still happening around the world.


Today I leave for Siem Reap. I am sure the treasured temples of the Angkor will be uplifting and wonderful (expect a more optimistic blog entry next time). I have dreamed of seeing them for years and I am not sure I brought enough memory cards.