KIM Guesthouse, Phnom Penh, Day 3

Thankfully Amy feels a bit brighter today, so we decide to visit the infamous Killing Fields where thousands of bodies were executed and buried in one of the most horrific crimes not just the country, but the World has ever seen.
Our tuk tuk driver picks us up at nine and we set off on the dusty journey to Chuong Ek. After eating some breakfast we head inside, and the thing that immediately catches your eye is the monument built in rememberance of all the people who lost their lives here. That will be the last stop on our very informative tour though, so we head away and follow the track round. As we go we hear about what used to stand in the places we stand now. Huts that were used as jails, huts to store weapons, places where the prisoners were dropped off, and places were they were brutally beaten to death (bullets were too expensive to waste) are all on the path we walk now. It's a strange harrowing place. As you walk along either side of you are mass graves, now just divvets in the ground. I don't remember the exact number, but I think it is around 9000 bodies that were found here.
The audiguide is great, givig great information on why and how all this happened, and telling stories of survivors and people who didn't manage to survive. One of the final stops is a tree that was used to swing babies against until they were dead. Next to the tree is a grave that he bodies were thrown into like rubbish. 'To kill the tree, you have to destroy the roots' was the idea. As the tour ends we find ourselves at the monument mentioned earlier. It is full with the bones of the victims, with the first several of 17 tiers taken up with skulls. It is a horrendous yet oddly beaufitul place. As is most of the Killig Fields. The juxtaposition of the peaceful lake and nice scenerh that now sits there compared to what happened here is hard to wrap your head around. A crazy, thougjt provoking place that will linger long in the memory.
Before prisoners were taken to Chuong Ek to be killed, most were held at Tuol Sleng prison, a former shool that the Khmer Rogue took over when they took control of Cambodia. It is here that we head after a few hours relaxing in the room.
The first thing you notice as you walk towards the prison (now a museum) is the barbed wire that still surrounds it. In a way the prison seems more horrific than the killing fields, mostly because it has been kept in mostly the exact conditions that it was in when the Khmer Rogue were ousted in1979.
There are cells with single beds in them. When the prison was emptied, these rooms all contained single bodies, strapped or shackled to the bed. The bodies are now buried outside. Pictures near the beds show the bodies as they were found. None of the people who died in these rooms could be named.
After that we head through the different blocks looking at the tiny cells, either made of stone or wood, that must have been awful to lay in on your own, let alone with other people. It is a hard place to walk around, as you hear of the torture that went on to gain falso confessions from everyone that entered.
One of the main features of the museum is the walls and walls of portraits that were taken as identification of the prisoners. The faces, mostly holding looks of fear and defeat stare out at you pleading for help. Women and children number almost the same as men. I may be wrong again with the number but i think they said around 20000 prisoners were taken in here. I will never forget the number of survivors, 12.
It's a long two hours, and when we leave we feel drained. It has been an exhausting day and a lot to take in. We grab some pizza on the way back, before relaxing in the room again, hoping the final remnants of Amy's illness will be gone by the morning!Read more