Phnom Pehn

Phnom Pehn
Saturday 13^th Feb

After an early night at the Magic Sponge guesthouse we got up early to catch a bs up to Phnom Pehn, having booked it through Smile Tours on our way back from the Bokor Trek. The tickets cost $5 each and the journey by coach took about 5.5 hours. The only trouble with long journeys such as these are the toilet stops at the half way point! Needless to say these well used facilities are not the most luxurious; a hole in the ground and a pot of water to wash is about as good as it gets! Poor old Elliott couldn't quite work out the grid system and came out looking a little sheepish!

On the journey up to Phnom Pehn Elliott ended up sitting next to a tall blond haired lady, suddenly his sleep apathy quickly subsided as he became animated and full of conversation :o)! It turned out she was on her way to Kep but actually lived in Phnom Pehn teaching orphaned and disabled children. She gave Elliott some good tips such as stay away from the lake side of the town as it can be very dangerous and head towards the river.

When we arrived at the bus station we paid a tuk tuk driver $2 to take us to a hotel near the river. We stayed at the AKA guesthouse for $15 per night, which included air conditioning and an en suite.

As we arrived in Phnom Pehn by mid day we decided to explore the darker side of Cambodia’s past; the ‘Killing Field’s and S21 Museum’. We managed to persuade the tuk-tuk driver (actually I should say the tuk-tuk driver persuaded us) that for $15 he would be our driver for the day.

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, the former Security Office 21 in ‘Democratic Kampuchea’ was created on orders of Pol Pot (So Lut Sor), on April 17^th, 1975.

“Under Pol Pot’s leadership, the Khmer Rouge implemented one of the most bloody revolutions the world has ever seen. Under Pol Pot’s regime it was ‘year zero’, money was abolished, cities abandoned and Cambodia transformed into a Maoist, peasant-dominated, agrarian cooperative. During the next four years, hundreds of thousands of Cambodians, including the vast majority of the countries educated people, were relocated to the countryside, tortured to death or executed. Thousands of people who spoke foreign languages or wore glasses were branded as ‘parasites’ and systemically killed. Hundreds of thousands more died of mistreatment, malnutrition and disease. About two million Cambodians died between 1975 and 1979 as a direct result of the policies of the Khmer Rouge.” (Lonely Planet, 2008)

Security Office 21 (S-21), was once Tuol Sleng Primary School and Toul Svay High School, which was taken over by the Khmer Rouge and used for detention, interrogation, torture, and killing after confession. On January 7^th 1979, after the Khmer Rouge was overthrown, the government collected all the evidence in S-21 such as photographs, films, prisoner confession archives, torture tools, shackles and fourteen victims corpses (one of which was a female) in evidence against Pol Pot’s sick regime.

Today the evidence of the criminal regime is on display for both Cambodian’s and international visitors to see, making the crimes of the KR public, playing a crucial role in preventing any new Pol Pot’s from merging. Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum was opened on August 19^th 979 when Kampuchea People’s Tribunal started the prosecution of Pol Pot and other DK leaders such as Ieng Sary and Khiev Samphorn and the former S-21 Officers. However, according to the Lonely Planet, the UN allowed the Khmer Rouge to occupy the Cambodian seat at the UN General Assembly until 1991, meaning the murderers represented their victims for 12 years!

The museum is a humbling experience to say the least. Every room has the essence of being a class room with its cream walls and tiled floors, with the stark contrast of barb wire and torture equipment. Mug shots of victims and soldiers are displayed, showing the realization of mass torturing that went on. The museum is so quiet, despite the amount of visitors, the only sounds you could here were children at a nearby school.

All four buildings within the complex were turned into small (0.8 x 2 meter) cells. The front of the buildings were covered in barbed wire preventing prisoners from committing suicide by jumping down. Most of the prisoners held at S-21 were later executed at the ‘Killing Fields’ of Choeung Ek. A visit to both these places is instrumental in understanding Cambodians past and present.

The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek is approximately 14km southwest of central Phnom Pehn. A huge stupa (religious monument) dominates the centre, serving as a memorial to the mean women and children who were executed. The Khmer Rouge killed children to prevent any backlash or revenge from family members.

Inside the stupa are almost 9,000 human skulls found during the excavations in the 1980s, along with rags and clothing. The fields themselves still have human bone and clothing poking up from the churned up ground. The fields today are peaceful and well kept, with trees dominating the area.

An experience I will never forget, nor will I ever understand.

Pol Pot died under home arrest before he faced prosecution.

After spending the afternoon in Phnom Pehn we were all ready to move on to see the lighter side of Cambodia…Angkor Wat! We purchased our $8 bus tickets at a nearby tour operator and left at 12pm to arrive at Siem Reap for 6pm.