01.02.2008 to 05.02.2008
We usually hate cities and try, as much as possible, to avoid them. Phnom Penh was different. We loved its extremes, its maddening traffic, great food, nice nightlife and abundance of history.
The journey from Ratanakiri to Phnom Penh was not an easy one. We had to endure ten hours of Khmer karaoke music, including a tailor-made Macarena. At a point Yakof and I were so desperate that we ended up actually singing and dancing with the macarena dvd. Eventually Yakof and Sijs ended up singing even in Khmer!! Yes….that is how desperate we all were.
We realized we were in the city when we got stuck in a mad chaos of traffic. The driver was supposed to stop us at our guesthouse, but he had different plans for us. He stopped us at a tuk tuk station where the drivers were waiting for us like predators. We refused to get down of the van and managed to convince the driver, somehow to stop us just a couple of kilometers away from our guesthouse. We had read about these scams so we were prepared for it.
We checked in to Lakeside Guesthouse which would be our home for the next few days. The room here was far luxurious one but as long as they were cheap we settled for them. We dropped our back packs in the rooms and collapsed on a chair in the lounge in front of our drinks. In the evening the five of us went for dinner at Lazy Gecko… the food was delicious… a great difference from the boring Laos food. In fact we ate at this place nearly every day. A little Cambodian girl was trying to sell her books there, when she did not manage she tried promoting manicures which actually got her two clients: a girl and…..Sijs! She painted one of his nails with the Cambodia flag or rather the Cambodian colors. This girl was amazing. Not only was she very pretty but very smart too.
The day after Chris and Bex set off to visit S-21 and Yakof and I set off around the city. We managed to find a good pharmacy from where we could buy some good pharmaceuticals. On our way back we met with Sijs and decided to join him as he was on his way to the Russian market. We shared a tuk tuk and decided to make our way further to… the Killing Fields and then to S-21.
In order to understand what this is all about, here is a brief history of the Khmer Rouge, S-21 and the Killing Fields respectively :
Khmer Rouge Regime
On April 17th, 1975 the Khmer Rouge, a communist guerrilla group led by Pol Pot, took power in Phnom Penh. They forced all city dwellers into the countryside and to labor camps. During their rule, it is estimated that 2 million Cambodians died by starvation, torture or execution. 2 million Cambodians represented approximately 30% of the Cambodian population during that time.
The Khmer Rouge turned Cambodia to year zero. They banned all institutions, including stores, banks, hospitals, schools, religion, and the family. Everyone was forced to work 12 - 14 hours a day, every day. Children were separated from their parents to work in mobile groups or as soldiers. People were fed one watery bowl of soup with a few grains of rice thrown in. Babies, children, adults and the elderly were killed everywhere. The Khmer Rouge killed people if they didn’t like them, if didn’t work hard enough, if they were educated, if they came from different ethnic groups, or if they showed sympathy when their family members were taken away to be killed. All were killed without reason. Everyone had to pledge total allegiance to Angka, the Khmer Rouge government. It was a campaign based on instilling constant fear and keeping their victims off balance.
S-21
Formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High School, the five buildings of the complex were converted in August 1975, four months after the Khmer Rouge won the civil war, into a prison and interrogation centre. The Khmer Rouge renamed the complex "Security Prison 21" (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison to the inmates: the buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent escapes.
From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng.
Even though the vast majority of the victims were Cambodian, foreigners were also imprisoned.
Upon arrival at the prison, prisoners were photographed and required to give detailed biographies, beginning with their childhood and ending with their arrest. After that, they were forced to strip to their underwear, and their possessions were confiscated. The prisoners were then taken to their cells. Those taken to the smaller cells were shackled to the walls or the concrete floor. Those who were held in the large mass cells were collectively shackled to long pieces of iron bar. The shackles were fixed to alternating bars; the prisoners slept with their heads in opposite directions. They slept on the floor without mats, mosquito nets, or blankets. They were forbidden to talk to each other.
The prison had very strict regulations, and severe beatings were inflicted upon any prisoner who tried to disobey. Almost every action had to be approved by one of the prison's guards. They were sometimes forced to eat human feces and drink human urine. The unhygienic living conditions in the prison caused skin diseases, lice, rashes, ringworm and other ailments.
Within two or three days after they were brought to S-21, all prisoners were taken for interrogation. The torture system at Tuol Sleng was designed to make prisoners confess to whatever crimes they were charged with by their captors. Prisoners were routinely beaten and tortured with electric shocks, searing hot metal instruments and hanging, as well as through the use of various other devices. Some prisoners were cut with knives or suffocated with plastic bags. Other methods for generating confessions included pulling out fingernails while pouring alcohol on the wounds, holding prisoners’ heads under water, and the use of the waterboarding technique. Females were sometimes raped by the interrogators, even though sexual abuse was against DK policy.
Physical torture was combined with sleep deprivation and deliberate neglect of the prisoners. The vast majority of prisoners were innocent of the charges against them and their confessions produced by torture.
Killing Fields
These were sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Communist regime Khmer Rouge. Estimates of the number of dead range from 1.7 to 2.3 million, out of a population of around 7 million.
The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, the executions were often carried out using hammers, axe handles, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. Some victims were required to dig their own graves; their weakness often meant that they were unable to dig very deep. The soldiers who carried out the executions were mostly young men or women from peasant families.
From what you have just read it is easy to understand what we felt whilst visiting these places. We couldn’t help to feeling sad when confronted with the brutal faith of these people…no human being deserves to be treated in such a manner. In the killing fields there is a memorial for the death in the form of a glass tower full of skulls which were found buried underground the fields themselves. The skulls are categorized according to sex and age. We saw the ditches which served as mass graves for the Khmer people and the trees against which they lost their lives.
S-21 was just as sad. The lower floors were filled with photographs of all those who occupied the cells there, men, women….kids. The look in their faces told a dramatic story. Some torture equipment can still be seen in some cells. In one of the upper floors there were paintings depicting the way people, including infants, were killed. Forgive us if we are not getting into more detail as it’s too macabre to describe.
We were deeply moved by all what we have seen during this afternoon and we started viewing Cambodia and Khmer people with more respect.
At the time of writing we do not have pictures of these places as we are still waiting for Sijs to send us the photos
The following day the five of us set out to see the National Museum and the Silver Pagoda, two very well known tourist attractions in Cambodia. Once we gotr there and fouind out the actual price of the entrance fee we ( Janet and Yakof ) decided that it was unreasonibly expensive; so we left the others there and went back to the guesthouse for a nap. The others did not make it back to the guesthouse until late so we ended that evening having dinner at Lazy Gecko with Kia (the book seller mentioned previously).
The following morning we met Chris and Bex at the Internet Café, and made plans to meet later on that evening to have dinner together with Sijs. Our plan was to go to this movie place and with some wine and cheese, but it turned out that this place had recently closed, so we ended up, having dinner at Lazy Gecko for a change. We then said goodbye to Chris and Bex as they were leaving the following morning for Sihanoukville.
We spent our last day running our final errands. In the morning Janet went for her Hepatitis vaccination at a local clinic. The service was excellent. On our way back to have lunch we met Sijs and made plans with him to have dinner at Friends. The food was amazing as was the service.
The following day we set off to Kampot… together with our friend Sijs.
For pictures click here:
