Phnom Phen, Cambodia: Killings Fields, S21, and you want happy with that?

Phnom Phen was the biggest roller coaster of emotions -
this city was the center of the horrors that the Cambodians experienced under the Khmer Rouge regime in the 1970's. Below are the pictures from our visit to the Killings Fields of Choeung Ek (where the Khmer Rouge executed approximately 17,000 men, women and children suspected to be associated with those against their communist revolution). After being tortured, most were knifed, drilled, or beat to death with metal bars or bamboo rods - methods used to conserve expensive bullets. After being executed, the bodies were thrown into mass graves and sprayed with acid to dispose of them more quickly and to keep the stench down so that neighbors would not become suspicious. Most figures estimate that the What's even more unsettlign is that the UN allowed the Khmer Rouge to occupy the Cambodian seat at the General Assembly until 1991. Horrific, I know, but we felt that it was really important to learn about this part of history in order to fully understand what the Cambodian people have been through.

Here is a picture of the stupa that has been erected in the center of the killing fields. It contains 9,000 skulls that were ecscavated from the mass graves during the 1980's. Many graves remain untouched.

Skulls inside the stupa:

The Tuol Sleng Museum (S21): A school-turned-torture center operated by the Khmer Rouge. The torture methods used are too horrific to describe. Thousands were held prisoner here and tortured before being shipped blindfolded in trucks to die in the Killing Fields. During the first part of 1977, 100 people died everyday from torture here.

These are pictures of victims which could be used as official documentation to prosecute the Khmer Rouge's atrocities - justice has been sickeningly slow and the leader of the Khmer Rouge (known as Pol Pot) escaped retribution and died peacefully in his old age. It makes you hope there is a hell for people like him.

A picture of a prison cell with shackles still in place:

Visiting the Killing Fields and S21 was a truly unsettling experience - it actually made me feel physically ill and Erik enraged. It is so important to understand these histories - because this is not the first or last time that the world has experience genocide - argentina, guatemala, armenia, germany, darfur - and even Burma today. There were places around S21 where visitors could leave their comments - some were truly heartful but others were so ignorant - people saying "WORLD PEACE" with little hearts, "this will never happen again". But it will happen again. It's already happening. I wish I knew what to do about it because you feel so powerless against horrific situations like these.

On a lighter note....

We stayed at an awesome guesthouse ("No Problem Guesthouse") that stands on stilts over a lake. It had a sweet hangout area with cushy chairs and a TV with loads of knockoff DVD's. These backpacker guesthouses are all known for offering everything "a la happy" (usually denoted with a little smiley face :). It's not uncommon here to see someone smoking a joint while eating a pot pizza and drinking a banana shake freckled with more pot. People just get baked out of their minds and watch Ben Stiller and Vince Vaughn movies all day.

It also had an UHmazing sunset view:

We were really saddened and angered to find out that we will will one of the last ones to be able to experience this incredible little getaway on the lake - the government sold out the area to Korean businessmen who will drain the lake and knock out the surrounding guesthouses and family homes to put up high priced condos. The only positive thing that we could take away from this is that it would feel the local economy with jobs - but at what cost to the Cambodian people and their sense of nationality? No offense intended to individual Korean people (hey, kiwon!), but we have heard time and time again that locals (in the philippines, thailand, AND cambodia) do not appreciate Korean business practices because they virtually create little mini Koreas in each country, operating amongst themselves without taking from and not feeding the local economy. We feel really lucky to have strict property laws back home that keep our government from selling out its people. We are also really glad that we came to Cambodia at this time - before it gets too eaten up by foreigners (considering both the Angkor Wat and the Killing Fields were both sold to the Japanese. Many Cambodians are enraged because they feel that the government is trading their murdered loved ones for a profit).

Whew sorry for the intenseness in Cambodia guys - the horrific past and financially difficult present here sparks a lot of discussion and debate even between Erik and I - if you have any feedback, feel free to comment!

We are now in Vietnam and will have more updates soon!

Much loves and thanks again for reading,

megan and erik