On our second day in Cambodia we had a tougher day on our itinerary. We were planning on visiting the Killing Fields in the morning, immediatel followed by the S21 Prison. Later in the afternoon we were to take part in some more cyclocross followed by a sunset river cruise.
Our first stop was at the Choeung Ek Genocidal Centre. It is one of the many killing fields and mass graves around Cambodia where the Khmer Rouge regime lead by Pol Pot collectively killed millions of people. The regime arrested and eventually executed anyone considered to be an intellectual, an enemy of the government or part of ethnic groups. Read up on it, it's terribly depressing and does a good job of denting your confidence in humanity.
Most of my trips, we get a historic account from a local guide or go to a local museum, and usually the subject tends to lean one way or the other, when it comes to bias. In Serbia, it was animosity towards the NATO forces at the military museum in Belgrade and in Cambodia it was the disappointing response by the West in supporting Pol Pot when he was removed from power. I pride myself in fact checking most things I hear. The point of this paragraph is to explain that I did fact check the western response to Pol Pot and their support of the Khmer Rouge, and it was disappointingly true.
Our guide showed us around the filling fields, via the roped off boardwalks and the end of the walk culminated in a visit to the Buddhist Stupa, a monument containing more than 5000 human skulls of many of the victims at these killing fields.
The whole place was silent and peaceful, as it should be. An important visit.
At the end of the walk, we piled back into the bus. Our next destination was the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, location of Security Prison 21 (S21). The S21 was described as the location Khmer Rouge prisoners would be held and tortured into confessions prior to being moved to the killing fields between 1975 and 1979.
This particular prison was converted from a former secondary school. On arriving, each prisoner was photographed and recorded. Prison officials were required to report on the false crimes and confessions of their detainees. We saw beds with metal shackles downstairs and brick walls dividing the large classrooms into tiny prison cells on the upper floors.
Towards the end of the tour we saw a selection of the photos that were taken. We were then introduced to Chum Mey. He was one of seven people who cam out of S21 alive having survived two years of torture at the prison.
After experiencing sombre part 2, we returned to the hotel and were given some free time for lunch. John and I got lost briefly but then found ourselves in a nearby shopping mall. We experienced a strange table top cooking experience at Bar B Q Plaza which we didn't really understand and I'm sure the waiting staff secretly made fun of us for!
We walked around the Phnom Penh Central Market. A pretty big indoor mall, surrounded by market stalls radiating towards the edges. Jewellery in the middle, clothing and souvenirs on one side, tech on the other, food on the other.
After the lunch we joined our next cyclocross session. I mean, it's a rickshaw, but everyone said cyclocross. We saw a bunch of sights, the Yeay Penh Statue, Wat Phnom (well, we saw it from a distance), the impressively large roundabout surrounding the Independence Monument and finally the Statue of King Father Norodom Sihanouk.
Wat Phnom
Yeay Penh
The tour concluded on the edge of the Tonle Sap River, in the grounds outside the Royal Palace. We grabbed a familiar Tuk-Tuk to the Phnom Penh Ferry Wharf where we boarded our evening cruise.
Towards dusk, we enjoyed some drinks, fresh fruit and a setting sun as we travelled south then north along the main stretch of the Mekong River, before reversing the journey. After the boat we popped to a nearby restaurant and then returned to the hotel. John wanted to walk back, but my suggestion of taking the 76 pence Tuk-Tuk journey to the hotel made for an easy argument. Bargain.
