The Horror and Hope of Cambodia

Cambodia was the last country left to visit. I have to warn you that some of you may find this entry difficult reading/viewing. We travelled by bus from Ho Chi Minh to Phnom Penh arriving in the afternoon. We opted to stay in the cheap backpacker district by the lake. The accommodation was great value, the staff were friendly, the food was awesome and the hammock decking out the back was suitably chilled. Some of the houses were in need of urgent repair!

The following day we hired a tuk-tuk for the day in order to learn about Cambodia's devastating past.

A brief intro to the history....

The French withdrew from Cambodia in 1953. US supporter General Lon Nol and his Cambodian party Khmer Republic overthrew King Norodom in 1970. With support from the new government the US bombed the Cambodian countryside in an attempt to destroy the Viet Cong. A bitter peasant army soon developed, fronted by a man named Pol Pot. King Norodom Sihanouk named this army the Khmer Rouge and called upon them to fight against Lon Nol.

In April 1975 the peasant army soldiers of the Khmer Rouge stormed government buildings, offices and houses in Phnom Penh. Those that weren’t executed immediately were marched to the countryside where they were forced into slave labour for the next 4 years, to meet Pol Pot’s dream of creating his ideal and perfect country. Approximately 1.7 million people died in total.

First stop was a visit to the Tuol Sleng Museum, formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High School that was taken over by Pol Pot and his army and transformed into the S-21 prison. At the time it was the largest incarceration centre in the country.

After taking power the Khmer Rouge set out to completely change Cambodian society. Khmer Rouge ideology was influenced by 4 interrelated principles of: total independence and self-reliance, preservation of the dictatorship, total and immediate economic revolution and complete transformation of Khmer social values. The first step involved reforming the urban classes through hard labour so they could contribute to the new agrarian economy which fundamentally focussed on a huge increase in rice production. They transformed the country into a rural and classless society by abolishing money, transportation, private property, religious practice, non-revolution entertainment and traditional Khmer culture. Buildings such as hospitals, schools and places of worship were either shut or turned into prisons. The Khmer Rouge believed that only the “pure” were qualified to build the revolution and anyone they did not regard as “pure” was arrested and executed, which included intellectuals, city residents and minority people.

The prisoners were expected to adhere to evil, rigid and extreme rules at the S-21 prison.

In mid 1976 the Khmer Rouge felt threatened by the possibility of revolt by the general population and internally within its own ranks. The Khmer Rouge leaders believed that “hidden enemies were burrowing from within”. They conducted a second wave of arrests against anyone they deemed to be “suspicious”, killing people immediately or imprisoning them where they were interrogated and tortured into making “confessions”. Many of their own soldiers and party members were accused of being traitors.

The classrooms were transformed into torture chambers where the prisoners were held captive and subjected to extreme forms of suffering and/or death. Blood stains were still visible.

Barbed wire was used to prevent the prisoners from jumping and committing suicide.

The interrogators utilised the gallows for their interrogation. They would tie the prisoners hands behind their back and hang them upside down until they lost consciousness, then submerge their head in water where the prisoner regained consciousness.

One of the rooms housed an exhibition displaying interviews with former members of the Khmer Rouge. Many stated to have joined the regime for fear that Khmer Rouge would kill them and their family if they resisted. Ex members appeared to have dampened their role, claiming that they did not partake directly in the actual torture or killings. In my opinion a certain degree of denial and diffusion of responsibility was present throughout.

Photographs of the victims were displayed in a number of rooms.

Profound statements had been written on the wall of another room.

Former chief of the S-21 prison known as Duch, ordered for his subordinates to take the survivors of the prisons, including the S-21 prison, to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek for execution. Choeung Ek was the largest genocidal camp in the country, approximately 14km from the centre of Phnom Penh. 86 of the 129 mass graves found were excavated and approximately 8,985 corpses exhumed. It was hard to imagine the horrors that took place so recently. Remains of clothing, bones and teeth had surfaced. A disturbing experience.

The tree Pol Pot's men used to kill babies as their mothers were forced to watch before they themselves were brutally murdered. Duch ordered for babies and children to be killed to avoid revenge in later life.

The memorial on the grounds comprises a towering glass stupa displaying the skulls of 8000 victims and their remaining clothing. The stupa was erected to preserve the remains and commemorate the death of the Kampuchea people under the Pol Pot regime. The 17 tiers of the memorial house different types of bones. We lit incense at the entrance as a mark of respect.

The Vietnamese invaded on 25 December 1978 and Cambodia was liberated from Khmer Rouge rule on January 7th 1979. Faced with severe famine, 625,000 people died from starvation the following 2 years. Although Pol Pot is now dead there are still a number of Khmer Rouge leaders alive. Duch is the first (and highest ranking) Khmer Rouge official to stand trial for the mass genocide that took place. He has admitted to being responsible for the execution of 15,000 people that passed through the S-21 prison. The remaining 4 senior leaders awaiting trial deny all knowledge of the atrocities that took place. Some younger Cambodian's argue that the costs associated with bringing all those responsible to justice would actually be better spent on the development of their economy. Controversial.

Just as we were leaving I was about to take a photo of Nic in our tuk-tuk when this little lad ran across and wanted to pose for the picture. The day had been hard going and by the end we felt emotionally drained and sickened by the extent of what people can do to each other. It is scary how history repeats itself and people do not learn.

The next day we went to explore the centre, enjoying a walk along the river and running into KFC for a quick ice cream when the heavens decided to open.

We waited for the rain to stop then went on our way to visit the Royal Palace. Just as we were about to enter the rain started again ridiculously heavy and showed no signs of stopping. We ran across the road to buy some ponchos and then went to check out the grounds. The buildings and the grounds were beautiful and truly reflected the image I had of Cambodian architecture.

Arriving back at the hostel we were greeted by little fish as the water level of the lake had risen above the decking. Although at first it did seem pretty cool having fish literally swimming in our hostel, we didn't quite realise the extent of the situation.

The water level had risen excessively high, people’s rooms were flooded (up to the level of the mattress of the bed in some cases) and the whole area out the back was submerged by water from the lake. Luckily for us our room was in a section of the building that was raised although water was just starting to seep in. I went to check on the situation of the bathroom and almost vomited as raw sewage was coming up through the drainage system. By this time I think it is fair to say that Nic started to panic a little. The hostel made the most amazing curry so I was up for moving to a room upstairs. The response I got from Nic when communicating my idea to her is probably not appropriate for this blog so I went outside and called a tuk-tuk with the intention to stay somewhere on higher ground. Carrying the bags above our heads we evacuated our hostel and thanks to our tuk-tuk driver we found another place. The floods will have no doubt severely affected a number of locals as all the hostels on the lake appeared to be flooded. It is not as easy for them to simply remove themselves from the situation.

We took a bus the next day to Siem Reap passing some beautiful landscape along the way. Seeing some of the begging children during our rest stop was a little emotional.

Arriving into Siem Reap it was clear to see they had been affected by the heavy rainfall too, so much so that the river had burst its banks in places. Hostels, hotels, homes and livelihoods were flooded. It didn’t ruin the spirits of all though, I did see a Cambodian child literally swimming in the flooded road!

Child sellers were a common scene in Siem Reap. They appear very confident, approaching you and asking where you are from and then proceeding to reel of a list of factual information about your home country like a robot. Child slavery is a big problem in Cambodia and while buying from the children can appear to be supporting them, it is damaging for the long term as it is only encouraging others to exploit them further.

The town had lots of restaurants, bars, cafes and a great ice cream parlour that we visited regularly! There were also some night markets that sold some awesome pictures. I saw one guy painting some beautiful sunset pictures that I wanted but thought I would not be able to transport them due to the size. I was happily surprised to find that they simply removed the canvas from the frame,

rolled them up and gave them to me in a bamboo carry tube... awesome! I decided on 2. I also bought some Cambodian percussion instruments to sample in my music when I get back to England.

The food stalls served up cheap and tasty noodles = good times!

On one of the evenings we were treated to some traditional Apsara dancing and live music. We stepped up on stage for a quick photo...

We arranged a tuk-tuk to see the temples of Angkor for the following day.

The temples were as expected, very impressive and the site was far bigger than I anticipated. The main temples situated in a circuit so our tuk-tuk took us from one to the next. It was like we had travelled back through time as we explored some of the ruins. Below are some of our favourite ruins.

The Banteay Kdei ruins....

Many of the temples had intricate carvings and the locals made rubbings on rice paper to sell to tourists.

The Ta Prohm temple was our favourite and you may recognise it from the Indiana Jones and Tomb Raider films.

The tree roots were crazy! They have literally grown though the ruins... very cool indeed!

I thought there would be more restrictions as to where you could go (as there were at Chichen Itza in Mexico) although I am sure it won’t stay this way forever.

A local man was selling some crafts and I purchased a wooden cow bell instrument from him.

Below is my impression of people that like to get in the way of my photos!

Nic climbing up high.....

The view from the top...

There were many sellers all around the ruins, most of them situated just as you approach each temple. Although we were successful in our gaunlet run we found this little girl on top of top of the temple trying her best to sell a postcard to Nic. She was very sweet but I was king of the castle!

Our driver had a pet parrot that chilled on the front of his bike as he drove us about! Nic must have scared him when she held him though, as he crapped himself all over her leg! That makes it 1-1, as I was unfortunate in Miami if you remember?!

We prepared for another downpour...

The final temple of the day was a visit to the famous grandaddy of all temples, the national symbol Angkor Wat. We captured some great photos, but unfortunately there was some restoration work taking place so we didn’t get to climb the steps. It was only when we walked around the main level that we truly appreciated its size.

The approach to Angkor Wat...

Just before we left I went off to take my last photos of Angkor Wat leaving Nic to defend herself against the kids!

We had a great day but by the end I think it is fair to say we were both fully templed out. You would have to be a serious temple enthusiast to buy anything other than the 1 day pass, although there were a fair few people in the multiple day ticket line at the ticket booths.... nutters!

The Cambodian people were an inspiration. They have been though such a horrific time and come though the other side with great hope for the future. The people have such pride for their country and love that tourists want to visit. They are some of the friendliest and genuine people we have met on our travels, similar to the people of Laos in that respect.

Final stop... Bangkok. We had heard quite a few savage stories about the journey from Siem Reap to Bangkok so we set off on our way open minded. I am happy to say that other than a 2 hour wait at the border the journey was not actually that bad. Time for my belly to begin its preparation to eat as much Thai curry as humanly possible... bring on the stomach ulcer... off to Bangkok for the last stop of our world tour... Woohoo!!

written by

SupandNic on October 11, 2010 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia

from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!

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