A very emotional day

No pictures or selfies of us today. Cambodia has a dark and interesting history and it was time that we both learnt more about this country's past. With the hostel we organised a tuktuk for the day to take us with two others to the S-21 prison and then the killing fields. The prison had a fantastic audio guide that went into so much detail about the site and what happened there with true accounts from prisoners as well. The level or torture and inhumanity that took place in this prison is horrifying. There was no level of distinction between women, children and men either in terms of the level of brutality that was inflicted on these victims. To learn that this prison is one of hundreds that spread all across the country gives you the sheer scale of this mass genocide which killed 1/4 of the population in 3 and half years. It's so scary to think one man and organisation can cause so much destruction especially after what happened in Europe during the war. I also find it sad that we didn't learn this or the Vietnam war in school. There's so many other historical events that happened that you're not aware of because you don't learn about them. One story that touched us both was of a New Zealand man who was trying to sail around the world. His boat entered Cambodian waters and he was captured, his friend was instantly killed. He was taken to S-21 and tortured to give up names of anyone conspiring against them or agents from the CIA. Of course he knew nothing, as most people didn't, but they were tortured until they confessed (gave in) and then were killed. The names he gave included saying that Colonel Sanders, AKA creator of KFC, was his leader and he also gave names of other western celebrities or family members and used the beetles' song Sargent Pepper as a name as well. He was killed after his confession. We listened to his brother speaking in court in 2011 to the man who was in charge of this prison and he said how he found comfort in knowing he kept his sense of humour right until the end. It's so horrible to think someone who's not even part of anything to do with the country and situation could be swept right into the heart of the nightmare. It's sad knowing it also took until 2011 for families to get some justice. Even after the regime was overthrown western countries still named them as Cambodia's leaders and gave them a seat in the UN. It took the World a while to realise the horror that took place. After the prison we visited the killing fields with another great audio guide. Many people from the prison were bought here to be killed into a mass grave here. The place is eerie but has a beautiful feel to it. I say this because the ground is now covered in lush green grass and meadow flowers and butterflies swarm everywhere while chickens and wild birds roam freely. It felt as though nature had worked it's magic to turn such a horrific place into a peaceful scene so that the victims can finally find some tranquility. It was distressing to see bones, teeth and clothing rising to the surface of soil. The first victims were stripped of their clothes but towards the end there was no time to when trying to keep up with the demand of executions. We listened to survivors harrowing tales as we walked around a beautiful lake where they have chosen to leave the graves in peace and not to excavate them. The hardest part was a tree they had named as the killing tree. Next to the tree is a mass grave of women and children. The tree now is covered in friendship bracelets left by visitors but at the time it was used to kill babies and children as their mother's watched before being killed themselves. You had to just spend some time taking that in and paying your respects to the victims and heartache that took place, particularly here. You pray that this level of cruelty does not happen again knowing full well that it more than likely already is somewhere in the world, and just like Cambodia, we just don't know about it yet.Read more