Wednesday, December 27, 2006
23 December, 2006
We woke up late for the first time in months, or so it feels. We tried to sort out our bus journeys for the next few days, of which there will be three, and everyone lies about the times or just decides to give the wrong information. It is actually impossible trying to organize anything and once you do one doesn’t know what will happen? Anyway, we hired a tuk-tuk driver and we started at the killing fields (Choeung Ek). A very depressing place to say the least. After overthrowing the Khmer Republic Regime during 1975- 1979, the Ultra Communist Khmer Rouge Regime (UKKRR) converted Choeung Ek commune into the most cruel and barbaric killing field on earth. 86 of the 129 graves that were found have been excavated. There is a memorial house with 800 skulls of victims on display along with some teeth lying around and clothes of the victims. Our guide was a boy 14 years of age at the time and his whole family got killed. He was there when they opened up the graves and he said it stunk and there were worms everywhere. He saw it with his own two eyes, the bodies, the blood and the remains…There is not too much to see at the moment because of human activities and the destruction of nature, but in years to come they will re-construct certain artifacts in accordance with real and true history. We left the killing fields and got to the Tuol Sleng museum, the location where the Khmer Rouge set up a prison to detain individuals accused of opposing Angkar. This was previously a school and they converted it into prison cells called S-21, security office 21, which was specifically designed for the interrogation and extermination of anti-Angkar elements. The victims in the prison were taken from all parts of the country and from all walks of life, but the majority were Cambodians. Whole families and even newly born babies were taken there en masse to be exterminated. There are many pictures on display in the dilapidated building and one can still view the cells with some shackles and beds. We didn’t spend too long here since it was very sad and so we went to the market. We only had one hour before closing time but we managed to buy a few DVD’s and Rich got some tops- his are looking a bit worn to say the least! We had a great dinner along the river and then I had a foot reflexology given by a blind person. It is common to have massages by the blind here in Cambodia. It was a hard day and we both weren’t very cheerful after the day’s sights.
We woke up late for the first time in months, or so it feels. We tried to sort out our bus journeys for the next few days, of which there will be three, and everyone lies about the times or just decides to give the wrong information. It is actually impossible trying to organize anything and once you do one doesn’t know what will happen? Anyway, we hired a tuk-tuk driver and we started at the killing fields (Choeung Ek). A very depressing place to say the least. After overthrowing the Khmer Republic Regime during 1975- 1979, the Ultra Communist Khmer Rouge Regime (UKKRR) converted Choeung Ek commune into the most cruel and barbaric killing field on earth. 86 of the 129 graves that were found have been excavated. There is a memorial house with 800 skulls of victims on display along with some teeth lying around and clothes of the victims. Our guide was a boy 14 years of age at the time and his whole family got killed. He was there when they opened up the graves and he said it stunk and there were worms everywhere. He saw it with his own two eyes, the bodies, the blood and the remains…There is not too much to see at the moment because of human activities and the destruction of nature, but in years to come they will re-construct certain artifacts in accordance with real and true history. We left the killing fields and got to the Tuol Sleng museum, the location where the Khmer Rouge set up a prison to detain individuals accused of opposing Angkar. This was previously a school and they converted it into prison cells called S-21, security office 21, which was specifically designed for the interrogation and extermination of anti-Angkar elements. The victims in the prison were taken from all parts of the country and from all walks of life, but the majority were Cambodians. Whole families and even newly born babies were taken there en masse to be exterminated. There are many pictures on display in the dilapidated building and one can still view the cells with some shackles and beds. We didn’t spend too long here since it was very sad and so we went to the market. We only had one hour before closing time but we managed to buy a few DVD’s and Rich got some tops- his are looking a bit worn to say the least! We had a great dinner along the river and then I had a foot reflexology given by a blind person. It is common to have massages by the blind here in Cambodia. It was a hard day and we both weren’t very cheerful after the day’s sights.
# posted by Heidi & Richard's travels @ 3:50 AM 
