I initially had a snappy little paragraph joking about Cambodia here, but when I went over the photos I was showing (of the killing fields and the torture prison S21) I decided to remove it. I disliked Cambodia, I won't deny that. But what I experienced in Phnom Penh has affected me more than anything else in my travels to far, and for that reason, on reflection, I'd recommend Cambodia as a place to visit. It's just not a happy place.
Here is a signpost from Tuol Sleng. It's also called S21, and is where the bastards that called them Khmer Rouge tortured (and in a killing field nearby, later killed) some 20,000 people. Only 7 prisoners actually made it out of S21, and I was told by a guide there (the same one that gave me the 20,000 number) that these were artisans who pushed out endless busts and portraits of Pol Pot.
My trip to S21 (with a male sex-crazed sexagenarian, but that's a different story) was quite bleak, and set the tone for the rest of Cambodia. Whereas Thailand was all fun and games and surf and sun, Cambodia has a really bleak feel to it. There's a real sense of sadness (and poverty) that hangs in the air, probably because, while Pol Pot was the most efficient mass-murderer of his time, much of the populace that weren't being horrendously tortured were aiding the regime.
Just to give some numbers:
I was informed by several guides that estimates rocket to about 2 million people that went "missing" due to the regime. This in a country with a (then) population of some 8 million - so depending on numbers, from an eighth to a quarter of the population.
Comparatively, AIDS has killed 1 in 240, and Bird Flu's worst estimates are about 1 in 10.
S21 which used to be a school house before being converted into a secret torture-house, sits in Phnom Penh. Residents never knew what was going on inside the place, as no one who entered left free to talk about what happened. The 7 people mentioned above were freed after the fall of the Khmer Rouge. It's where horrendous tortures took place, and as I walked along there (not wanting to be overly dramatic), I was really quite... shaken. The floors have a dirty, stained look to them, the rooms are small, and no, there's no stench of death in the air. But it really really feels like there is.
Here's a signpost from within S21. It's a translation of the rules originally in Cambodian).
Next up is an image of one of the rooms in S21. This is where high-profile people were tortured, the tools and bed are the same ones as discovered when the Khmer Rouge fell. The only thing missing is the dead, mutilated body on the bed (but in all these rooms there is a photo of how the room was found, including the body. What's seen in the photo really doesn't resemble anything human).
I am going to put up next a photo I took of the photos kept in S21. The regime would take photos of the people interrogated there, for recording purposes. The photos are just passport shots really, head and shoulders. Sometimes the person has been tortured, and looks on in grim resignation, or fear, or hatred. The worst ones of these I found most upsetting were the ones where the person hadn't been tortured - they don't know what is about to happen to them, and look sometimes quizzically at the camera.
There were worse ones - of dead prisoners, but I couldn't bear to look at them, much less take a photo of them. I don't think many people visiting the center could look at those ones.
I get very upset when I see these photos - I don't think any of the subjects survived their internment in S21. That we share a world with assholes and cowards who could inflict so much cruelty on others is a very upsetting thought.
But that's the world we are in.
I hope everyone from the prison rests peacefully.
Another room from the prison - these are cells were people were held before torture.
Here is a tower of skulls, found in the killing field nearest Phnom Penh. There are slightly over 8,000 skulls in this glass obelisk, all dug up in the fields surrounding. I was told that there are thousands of killing fields dotted around Cambodia, with a varying number of people executed there. Some think only half or so have been found.
And here is a photo of the killing field near Phnom Penh. The holes are where bodies were dug up. Only the skulls were collected and put in the obelisk. The other bones, and the prisoner's clothes, were left. As you walk around the field, you can see bones and cloth lying all around the path.
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Next I have some happier photos - from the palace at Phnom Penh. It's big, and has a bust of the King riding a horse. As it happens, it's really just a Napolean Statue, with the head knocked off and the king's head put on instead (honest!). I don't seem to have a photo of the statue though, so here's a picture of a temple instead!
And here is an incredibly ornate stupa:
And here's me being a goose in front of a statue of... something. I don't know what.
And finally, some monks using mobile phones. It's weird, being a monk is an important Cambodian tradition, but the monks are only monks for a short time, before pursuing other jobs or careers. I don't know how much spirituality you can learn in 6-12 months, but there you are.
Ok, that was a little draining for me to put up. Next, some photos of Sihanoukville. And Ankor Wat - I'll even introduce you to the best girl I've met yet, Nancy!! I think it will be obvious when you see her that I rode her long and hard.
And in case you need more - here's a sneak peek of the adventures I had in Vietnam! They are so exciting, I can't even begin to put it all here, for fear of TOTALLY BLOWING YOUR MIND.
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