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Cambodia is beautiful. The people are incredible. But, the past fifty years has been an incredibly dark time in the county.
I am writing this blog so I may remember my memories in south-east Asia for the rest of my life, some parts of this post are somewhat graphic, but I think it is right to accurately document the past.
I had my last day of class on the 18th of April and flew to Cambodia on the 19th. I traveled alone to Cambodia.
On my first day in Cambodia I had the awesome opportunity to visit a local animal refuge. All of the animals in the refuge were saved in Cambodia and are native to Cambodia. The majority of the animals are saved from poachers, traps, and underground trading. It was a day long trip. We spent a few hours riding in the back of the jeep through the Cambodian country side to the refuge. The refuge was huge and had hundreds of animals living in it.
The gibbons were all awesome. Most of them were rescued from people's homes or the black market so they were very comfortable around humans. Unfortunately they can't be realized back into the wild so they are given a nice home in the refuge. They loved having their head and back scratched.
We got to get very close to the animals, almost uncomfortably close at times. It was really awesome to see such beautiful creatures and their stories were all amazing. One elephant lost it's leg in a hunter's trap. They saved the elephant and it now has a prosthetic leg which is huge. One of only a few elephants in the world with a prosthetic leg it was very impressive. Feeding the porcupine was a highlight. Little guy loved nibbling on the potato!
The accommodation in Cambodia was actually incredible. I stayed in a wonderful hostel for $6.00 a night.
I had a rather somber second day in Cambodia.
In 1975 Cambodia's government fell to a communist party called the Khmer Rouge. The Khmer Rouge ruled the country of Cambodia from 1975-1979. While in power their leader, Pol Pot, wanted to create the perfect communist society. In order to do this he forced people out of every city and into the country side. Anyone with an education was treated as a forced laborer. Pol Pot believed the only was to reach perfect communism was by eliminating the middle and upper class and creating a single class of peasants with no education.
What resulted was a mass genocide.
In four years Pol Pot killed 3 million people. A forth of the population of Cambodia.
Realizing that just 33 years ago 3 million people were murdered by a single ruler was very rough.
Note: Very graphic after this point.
I began my second day at the Tuol Sleng genocide museum in the middle of Phnom Penh. A high school turned security prison where 20,000 people were murdered.
When a person was brought to the prison they were forced to take a picture. They were forced to look happy in the picture, which rarely happened. They were then beat and tortured until they confessed to a crime. The majority of people did not commit any crime, but were forced to say they did or were killed.The Khmer Rouge used various means of torture on the prisoners:
This torture room was left as it was found. The picture of the room when it was found can be seen on the wall.
The Khmer Rouge wrapped the buildings in barb wire so the prisoners could not commit suicide by jumping over the ledge. The rooms were converted into cells. Standing inside a cell where many prisoners died was unnerving.
The skulls found laying around the prison in 1980 when the Khmer Rouge were kicked out by the Vietnamese.
After vising the security prison I headed out of the city to the killing fields. The killing fields were about ten miles outside of the city of Phnom Penh.
When the people left the cities they were sent to be laborers. Eventually they were sent to the killing fields. Over a million people were killed at the killing field I visited.
A stupa full of skulls honors those who were killed at the killing field.
Seeing the remains of a genocide is very difficult. I never imagined I would see something so terrible in my lifetime. It was a very worthwhile day. Below is a picture from inside the stupa.
There were dozens of mass graves in the area. It is believed that many more remain uncovered and every year during monsoon season more bones raise to the surface from the ground. Each hole is a mass grave where hundreds of people were buried
In 1980 the Vietnamese finally defeated the Khmer Rouge in Phnom Penh and forced them to live in the north western corner of Cambodia. Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge, lived in the hills for twenty years and died in the late 90's. The majority of Khmer Rouge who lead the mass executions have NOT been tried for their crimes. Many of the Khmer Rouge are still alive today and live in Cambodia working regular jobs with families.
I will never forget the things I saw on my second day in Cambodia, it was scarring but I am very thankful for the experience.
The next day I left Phnom Penh and headed north to the city of Siem Reap to see the largest one of the seven wonders of the world. Angkor Wat.
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