Hey
The Kingdom of Cambodia
We've been in Phnom Penh nearly a week now, arriving by boat on brown Mekong waters and bus on pitted dirt roads. We crossed the border of Cambodia in the heat of the midday sun and immediately felt our spirits lift, our smiles brighten: there is something about Cambodia that resonates with our souls.
We have been to Cambodia before, but only spent 5 days in Siem Reap, to visit Angkor Wat. Now we have come back to spend more time, and to see more of the country. I'm not sure what it is about this place that speaks to me. Perhaps it is the warmth of the people -- they are kind, and mellow, and always welcoming. Perhaps it is the country's volatile history of corruption and genocide and the will of the people to overcome the past. Perhaps it is because Cambodia is not a place for the casual tourist (save Angkor Wat). And perhaps there is something about its darker side, its wild side, that makes the country intriguing.
Cambodia has picked itself up from its terrible fall that happened in the 70's, when the Khmer Rouge ruled the land with terror. But still, there is no escaping the horrors of what happened. We visited the Killing Fields and S-21 (Tuol Sleng, the former KR prison which is now the genocide museum) on our first day here. I've done a lot of reading about this time period in Cambodia, ever since our first visit, and although I knew the story and the politics that led to the atrocity, it was shocking to witness the artifacts.
At the Killing Fields, there is a giant stupa filled with skulls, bones, and remnants of clothing unearthed from surrounding pits that were used as a mass execution and burial site during Pol Pot's KR regime. I was struck by the tranquility of the place today and the horror of what it was some 30 years ago. The most stunning (and I don't use the word 'stunning' in the sense of 'beauty') is that there are many fragments of bone and pieces of clothing still visible in the earth. A piece of frayed, checkered fabric emerges from the dirt below your feet; dry, chipped bones poke out from the grass; teeth lay scattered on the surface of the ground. While many of the burial pits have been exhumed, there are some that have not... and so many people died here, their remains have become components of the soil -- one inextricable from the other.
S-21 was formerly a school and once the KR cleared the entire population of Phnom Penh out into the countryside, to forced labor and re-education camps, it became a place of torture and imprisonment for 'those against the revolution'. Many of the people brought here (and later murdered at the Killing Fields) were innocent of any crimes. But that defines the entire KR 'revolution'... the killing of 2 million Cambodians in the name of 'Angkar' -- a twisted plan with 'socialist ideals' that turned the entire society into a mass of peasants who had to endure forced labor; people who spied or were spied, in constant fear of death; people who were seperated from their families, old and young alike. Pol Pot got his ideas from Mao... even though the Cultural Revolution in China was a complete and utter failure. Pol Pot took Mao's evil ideas to a new level of insanity.
Tuol Sleng, like the Killing Fields, has a strange, eery tranquility about it nowadays, but with all the razor wire and prison cells and photographs of victims -- even photos of their deaths -- bear witness to the madness of the place. The school was transformed into a prison with the construction of tiny cells in former classrooms. Prisoners were chained by their ankles and suffered much torture. There are several instruments of torture displayed at Tuol Sleng -- primitive devices that used water, electricity, pliers to remove fingernails. There are paintings that depict scenes of life and the torture that people endured at the prison -- one of the very few survivors painted them to show the world what happened.
Needless to say, a visit to the Killing Fields and to Tuol Sleng left us feeling sad and heartbroken and quiet. It is impossible for me to look around at the people on the street, the people I encounter each day, and not wonder what their lives were like during this time period. I cannot help but feel admiration for their ability to go on and keep smiling when reminders of what happened are so constant. I hardly ever see anyone of real age... most of the older generation was murdered.
I was surprised by Phnom Penh when we arrived. I wasn't expecting such a quaint, beautiful city. I'd read stories about the 'lawlessness': guns, ganja, girls... One of the darker aspects to life in Cambodia nowadays is child prostitution. There is a warning posted on the wall in our room at the guesthouse to inform grown men that having sex with children is illegal. It sickens me that such a warning must be posted.
And there are guns -- in fact, there is a line item for 'weapons' on some hotel registration forms. "You must have a weapon," the hotel clerk said to me. I'm not sure if he was joking or giving me advice. I wrote 'good looks' on the line -- the clerk thought it was the funniest thing ever (maybe a comment on the quality of my Chinese hair cut or a good sense of humor, I'm not sure which).
Ironically, there is a shooting range out by the Killing Fields, where tourists can shoot AK-47s and M-16s, among other guns. We went there to check it out, not to shoot guns... Outside, there is a menu with a list of guns and the prices (not cheap). Inside one of the 'shooting rooms', we found three guys wearing cammo jackets (provided by the shooting range for a more authentic experience), finishing off a bullet-ridden target with several rounds with an M-16. The power and noise that gun emits made my organs shake and my adrenaline pulse. My mouth went dry... the firing of the weapon unleashes a sort of terror inside the body, even though the place seemed relatively safe -- although there were live rounds just laying about on the floor.
But Phnom Penh, the city, is full of colonial charm, with grand old buildings, an opulent palace, and traffic that shares the road with elephants. There are paved roads that intersect with pot-holed, pitted dirt streets; wealthy neighborhoods built next to shantytowns; vendors carrying baskets of fruit on their heads; shops selling the hottest fashions. Phnom Penh, to me, seems a diamond in the rough -- an 'old town' colliding with a new one. I've read that Phnom Penh is what Bangkok or other similar SE Asian 'big cities' used to be, and that one should get here before it changes. I like being here in the crux of the change, though, an old city becoming new. And I'm sure I will still like it 'after the change', whenever that may be.
We have been to Cambodia before, but only spent 5 days in Siem Reap, to visit Angkor Wat. Now we have come back to spend more time, and to see more of the country. I'm not sure what it is about this place that speaks to me. Perhaps it is the warmth of the people -- they are kind, and mellow, and always welcoming. Perhaps it is the country's volatile history of corruption and genocide and the will of the people to overcome the past. Perhaps it is because Cambodia is not a place for the casual tourist (save Angkor Wat). And perhaps there is something about its darker side, its wild side, that makes the country intriguing.
Cambodia has picked itself up from its terrible fall that happened in the 70's, when the Khmer Rouge ruled the land with terror. But still, there is no escaping the horrors of what happened. We visited the Killing Fields and S-21 (Tuol Sleng, the former KR prison which is now the genocide museum) on our first day here. I've done a lot of reading about this time period in Cambodia, ever since our first visit, and although I knew the story and the politics that led to the atrocity, it was shocking to witness the artifacts.
At the Killing Fields, there is a giant stupa filled with skulls, bones, and remnants of clothing unearthed from surrounding pits that were used as a mass execution and burial site during Pol Pot's KR regime. I was struck by the tranquility of the place today and the horror of what it was some 30 years ago. The most stunning (and I don't use the word 'stunning' in the sense of 'beauty') is that there are many fragments of bone and pieces of clothing still visible in the earth. A piece of frayed, checkered fabric emerges from the dirt below your feet; dry, chipped bones poke out from the grass; teeth lay scattered on the surface of the ground. While many of the burial pits have been exhumed, there are some that have not... and so many people died here, their remains have become components of the soil -- one inextricable from the other.
S-21 was formerly a school and once the KR cleared the entire population of Phnom Penh out into the countryside, to forced labor and re-education camps, it became a place of torture and imprisonment for 'those against the revolution'. Many of the people brought here (and later murdered at the Killing Fields) were innocent of any crimes. But that defines the entire KR 'revolution'... the killing of 2 million Cambodians in the name of 'Angkar' -- a twisted plan with 'socialist ideals' that turned the entire society into a mass of peasants who had to endure forced labor; people who spied or were spied, in constant fear of death; people who were seperated from their families, old and young alike. Pol Pot got his ideas from Mao... even though the Cultural Revolution in China was a complete and utter failure. Pol Pot took Mao's evil ideas to a new level of insanity.
Tuol Sleng, like the Killing Fields, has a strange, eery tranquility about it nowadays, but with all the razor wire and prison cells and photographs of victims -- even photos of their deaths -- bear witness to the madness of the place. The school was transformed into a prison with the construction of tiny cells in former classrooms. Prisoners were chained by their ankles and suffered much torture. There are several instruments of torture displayed at Tuol Sleng -- primitive devices that used water, electricity, pliers to remove fingernails. There are paintings that depict scenes of life and the torture that people endured at the prison -- one of the very few survivors painted them to show the world what happened.
Needless to say, a visit to the Killing Fields and to Tuol Sleng left us feeling sad and heartbroken and quiet. It is impossible for me to look around at the people on the street, the people I encounter each day, and not wonder what their lives were like during this time period. I cannot help but feel admiration for their ability to go on and keep smiling when reminders of what happened are so constant. I hardly ever see anyone of real age... most of the older generation was murdered.
I was surprised by Phnom Penh when we arrived. I wasn't expecting such a quaint, beautiful city. I'd read stories about the 'lawlessness': guns, ganja, girls... One of the darker aspects to life in Cambodia nowadays is child prostitution. There is a warning posted on the wall in our room at the guesthouse to inform grown men that having sex with children is illegal. It sickens me that such a warning must be posted.
And there are guns -- in fact, there is a line item for 'weapons' on some hotel registration forms. "You must have a weapon," the hotel clerk said to me. I'm not sure if he was joking or giving me advice. I wrote 'good looks' on the line -- the clerk thought it was the funniest thing ever (maybe a comment on the quality of my Chinese hair cut or a good sense of humor, I'm not sure which).
Ironically, there is a shooting range out by the Killing Fields, where tourists can shoot AK-47s and M-16s, among other guns. We went there to check it out, not to shoot guns... Outside, there is a menu with a list of guns and the prices (not cheap). Inside one of the 'shooting rooms', we found three guys wearing cammo jackets (provided by the shooting range for a more authentic experience), finishing off a bullet-ridden target with several rounds with an M-16. The power and noise that gun emits made my organs shake and my adrenaline pulse. My mouth went dry... the firing of the weapon unleashes a sort of terror inside the body, even though the place seemed relatively safe -- although there were live rounds just laying about on the floor.
But Phnom Penh, the city, is full of colonial charm, with grand old buildings, an opulent palace, and traffic that shares the road with elephants. There are paved roads that intersect with pot-holed, pitted dirt streets; wealthy neighborhoods built next to shantytowns; vendors carrying baskets of fruit on their heads; shops selling the hottest fashions. Phnom Penh, to me, seems a diamond in the rough -- an 'old town' colliding with a new one. I've read that Phnom Penh is what Bangkok or other similar SE Asian 'big cities' used to be, and that one should get here before it changes. I like being here in the crux of the change, though, an old city becoming new. And I'm sure I will still like it 'after the change', whenever that may be.
posted by Cheryn at 6:01 PM
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