Day Five; Phnom Penh

We were up early today to meet a local guide who took us to the s-21 prison and killing fields. He explained that three of his family members went missing in the regime and he is sure they were killed but does not to date know how or where; he says that every Cambodian family will have a similar story such was the widespread impact of the regime. The prison was shocking; many of the instruments used for torture are still on display there, as are the iron beds and chains used to restrain and torture prisoners. The walls are lined with photographs that the Khmer rouge took of all the new prisoners (all ultimately victims), a haunting number of them are very young.

Of 17,000 prisoners housed there over the regimes 4 years, seven survived. One of the survivors was at the prison when we were there talking to another group about his experiences. Our guide talked to us about some of the common practices of guards in the prison, and how it all worked. It was too depressing to want to recount but I felt like hearing it was an important part of understanding the suffering Cambodians went through; just 35 years ago.

After the prison we went to view one of the largest killing fields, were some 20,000 Cambodians were murdered (mostly the s21 prisoners). Upon arrival you are greeted by a tall glass memorial which holds some 8000 skulls found in the mass graves. Walking around there are still rags and small fragments of bone under foot, and large pits with signs explaining what types of bodies were mainly found in them. I think the most horrific was the grave next to a tree where witnesses claim small children and babies were held by the feet and smashed to death, before being tossed into the hole in the ground. The enitre place is so horrific it almost defies belief; the scale of brutality made it hard to comprehend, until I saw a tiny babies knitted sweater preserved in the small museum on the sight; and suddenly the realness of it hit me, and I went to sit outside for a while.

In the evening we took tuk tuks down to the river for dinner, and in stark contrast to the morning we then went to a bar where a local Cambodian rock and roll cover band where performing, and wound up playing a giant game of Cambodian Jenga with some of the bar maids.