Suasdey Phnom Penh!

My first land border crossing in south east Asia went smoothly and I arrived in Cambodia’s capital city mid afternoon. I once again avoided the swarm of tuk tuk drivers and found my hostel easily on foot and checked in to the hottest room I’ve stayed in so far, a 16 bed dorm with only two ceiling fans on the top of a four storey building, but at $1.50 I couldn’t really complain (well I could, but only to myself). I had dinner in the hostel and planned the next days tour of the two most important, and upsetting things to see in Phnom Penh; Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum and the Killing Fields. I decided to go to bed early (seriously I must be getting old) so that I’d be rested for tomorrow.

The next day I woke up early and had breakfast on the hostel before meeting my tuk tuk driver. I had organised for him to take me to the museum first where he’d wait while I walked around and then onto the killing fields, the standard route most people take. The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, also called S21, is a former school that was used by the Kmer Rouge as an interrogation prison during their regime. The museum, unlike the Củ Chi tunnels, was done very respectfully with each visitor given audio guides meaning the museum was almost completely silent as people walked around. I spent two hours following the recommended route and listening to the guide explain what each room and area was used for. It was a very somber experience, especially when I learnt that of the 20,000 prisoners sent there only 12 survived. As I was coming to the end of the audio tour I saw a poster of one of the survivors Chum Mey who had written a book about his experience, and sitting just to the side was the man himself behind a table of his books. I was so taken aback I didn’t know what to say so I just nodded to him and walked on. I then noticed another man on the other side of the path and the poster next to him showed that it was Bou Meng, another survivor who was also selling his book about his experience. As I was leaving I asked one of the staff if they were there every day and she said yes. I can’t imagine how hard that must be to go back to a place with such horrific memories regularly. I met my tuk tuk driver outside and we headed out of the city to the killing fields. The Killing fields, a term coined by the Cambodian journalist and survivor of the regime Dith Pran, are a number of sites across Cambodia where over a million people were executed. The site at Choeung Ek is the most well known and visited site. Just like in S21 visitors are given an audio guide when entering and follow a set route around the site. Most of the mass graves are overgrown with grass but a few have been surrounded by wooden fencing marking points in the tour. Most of the fencing is now covered in bracelets left by visitors as a mark of remembrance. Next to one such grave is a tree similarly covered in bracelets called the “killing tree” which I won’t describe but I found to be one of the most upsetting things in the site. I chose to leave a bracelet here. The last point on the tour is the memorial stupa which holds around 5,000 skulls exhumed from the site. The audio tour lasts just over an hour and is again a very somber experience but one which I found to be very respectfully handled by the Cambodian government. After finishing the tour I met my driver outside and geared back to the hostel.

Although it’s never an easy or pleasant experience visiting these places I think it’s important that people do so that we are able to learn about all aspects of history, the good and the bad.

Next stop in Cambodia is Siem Reap to see the temples of Angkor Wat.

Lia haeuy!

PS - I chose not to take any pictures during my visit to both sites as I personally found it to be disrespectful.Read more