Phnom Penh - Killing fields

Today we got a tuk tuk with Aron and Rachel to the killing fields. We experiences constant rush hour traffic and more crazy roads! The Killing fields upset me more than I even thought it would. We did the audio tour which guided us around the choeng ku killing fields which were used in the pol pot regime. It showed us where certain buildings were, where graves were, weapons used etc. Pol Pot and his party would build their 'army' by recruiting young children under the age of 17 from the jungle and essentially brainwashing them into murderers. The killing fields were created because they were killing too many people and it was discrete. There was a wooden shed where they would store the prisoners which had no windows, a steel roof and double wooden walls so they could not see each other. They would use the branch from a sugar cane tree to slit their throats along with other weapons. We saw where the mass grave was where 450 bodies were found, a grave where 166 headless bodies were found and there were some under the river who have been left there to rest. The most shocking part for me was the killing tree which makes me sick! 100 women with babies were found here, naked as they were most likely raped. The babies were killing by bashing their heads against the tree and then dumped in the grave. When the killing fields were found, there was blood and brains on the tree. Another tree was used to hang speakers off, so in the night, nobody could hear the screams of the victims. Bone fragments and teeth are still found to this day, along with clothes and rags that surface from the rain. The stupa was build with Buddhism in mind, as a sacred place for these souls. It has 17 tiers and organised into different bones and skulls. These have been analysed to inform gender, how they died and age. Every year there's a memorial service. The most shocking part to me is this was happening 1975-1979!Read more