Top - Genocide Museum
One of the many cells
Writing on the wall "I'll always remember" - so freaky
Photo of woman - her husband was a member of Khmer Rouge and when she was brought here she was the only one who knew what they did at this place. She knew that her and her child, that she is pictured holding, would not make it out alive. You can see a tear falling down her cheek.
Chains to lock prisoners in
My travel buddies and I made it to Cambodia after a day of travel. It was a hot day and took a lot of energy to cross the Vietnam border into Cambodia. We reached Phnom Pehn in the late afternoon. Just from the bus ride to Phnom Pehn, I was able to witness an abundant amount of poverty. But just as sad is the obvious gap between the rich and the poor. From the bus I saw huts, one room homes, made of wood and on stilts in the water appearing to barley stand up. And miles away there were Cadillac Escalade and Lexus Suv dealerships and mansions, made of stone and as sturdy as they come. In a country where the poor are so poor and the rich are super rich, it makes you wonder if corruption has taken over?!
A little history on Cambodia. In 1975, a man named Pol Pot took over the country and started a group called Khmer Rouge. His primary goal was to bring the country back to the year 0 and create a communist society within Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge is remembered, mainly, for the torture and deaths of 2 - 4 million of the country's population. He reached the death toll by starving his people, torturing them, forcing them into labour camps and execution. The Khmer Rouge was removed from power in 1979 by the Vietnamese. The Vietnamese received a lot of slack from certain countries for starting a war with Cambodia, but from what I learned, the Vietnamese were saviours to the Cambodian people. It's a very sad history.
Back to Phnom Pehn. One of the main sights to see is the Genocide museum, and the killing fields. The museum used to be a school, and was taken over by Khmer Rouge. This was where they held captives, essentially converting the school to a prison. There were about 20,000 captives who were tortured here. And of the 20,000 captives, only 7 made it out alive. Walking through this place was so, I don't even know how to say it, sad, heart-wrenching, eye-opening. There was blood on walls and ceilings, photographs of victims above the bed where they slept, barbwire placed outside the windows to stop prisoners from killing themselves. There were numerous photos of both prisoners and Khmer Rouge - some of who were children when they were forced to join. It was a sad place to visit. But visiting Cambodia without understanding what the people there have been through wouldn't be right either. Everyone in Cambodia over the age of 30 would remember this period in time, and it's estimated that almost everyone has had someone in their family killed during this time. After the museum we visited the killing fields, where the Khmer Rouge brought prisoners to be executed, essentially a concentration camp similar to that of WWII. The Khmer Rouge tried to hide what they were doing by choosing a place off the beaten track. They also tried to mute the screams and moans of the people being executed by hanging speakers from trees and playing loud music. They have discovered bones from about 20,000, so far. There is a shrine in the middle of the killing field containing skulls of people killed there. The Cambodians have suffered, greatly, and through all of their struggles, then and now, they seem to be a very kind and loving group of people who really just want to forget all that has happened. Pol Pot is no longer alive, as well as one or two of his right-hand men. One man is on trial right now, but there are protests from Cambodians against this as they want to forget. For me, it was a hard day. Very emotional. I didn't do much in Phnom Pehn, other then learning of the history of this wonderful country. We were preparing to head to Siem Reap to visit the historic Ankor Wat.
We were up and out by 4:30 am to catch the sunrise at Ankor Wat. I was sick the night before, so was very surprised that I was able to make it there with the rest of the group. The sunrise was beautiful, Ankor Wat is beautiful. Ankor Wat sees 2 million tourists every year. Ankor was built in the 1100s, and is the largest temple in the world. There were many other temples that were erected in the same era and surround Ankor, it's simply amazing. We spent the morning walking around and learning, once more, about temples and the mythical stories behind each of the intricate carvings on the walls of all the temples. It was a long morning, interesting but very long. That night we decided to go out and let loose, we felt we deserved it. We went out for dinner and enjoyed a traditional Cambodian dance. We ended up spending the night dancing and sharing some drinks, we all had so much fun. We didn't make it back to our hotel till 4:30 a.m., by that time I had been up for 25 hours.
The next day we visited a fishing village in the morning, which was pretty neat. That afternoon we visited a local orphanage. The kids there were amazing, adorable and so full of life. This orphanage doesn't see a lot of visitors as it's not a well known orphanage, so the kids were very excited to see us all. We spent about a couple hours there. The kids showed us their rooms, where they eat and play. We played a couple outdoor games. This definitely inspired me and was something I wish I would've done sooner. I am glad to have shared my time with kids who appreciate it so much. And they did more for us than we probably did for them.
Cambodia is a must see, so very different from anywhere I've been so far. The poverty is alarming, the amount of beggars and homeless people is sad, mostly the amount of homeless, dirty children walking the streets is depressing. I wanted to stay and help more, but unfortunately my time, for now, is up. The people that I had the chance to meet were wonderful. My hope for that country is that the corruption that is keeping the poor so poor ,and suppressed, ends. The country makes a fair amount of money from travel and it would be nice to see that money spent to build the people and the economy up. Create more jobs, schools and hospitals, build better infrastructure. That's my hope for them.
Our group planned to head back to Bangkok the next day, on a shit road that can take anywhere from 4 - 8 hours to get to the boarder. Apparently, there is a airline that pays the Cambodian gov't lots of money to not pave this road so that people will fly to Siem Reap instead of driving. About 12 hours of bus rides we arrived in Bangkok. We are situated in a much more lively and exciting spot than the last 2 times I was here, and as a result I am already enjoying Bangkok much more than before. I am here till the 10th, then off to Australia. I'm looking forward to the change.
