25 November
Phnom Penh
A day for depressing reflection on Cambodia's recent past
KIM: Jerry picked us up at 8.30 and we were on our way to the first stop of the day. The Toul Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21 Prison. Toul Sleng was a high school until the Khmer Rouge came into power in 1975 when they converted it into a prison and interrogation facility run by 'Duch' who is currently on trial for everything that went on there. Classrooms were divided into tiny brick cubicles where inmates were held shackled and silent, while being systematically tortured in order to obtain a 'confession', after which the victim was executed at the Killing fields of Choeung Ek. In January 1979, the Khmer Rouge abandoned the prison and 14 prisoners were left still in the interrogation rooms where the liberating Vietnamese found them in a state of decay. The photos of these prisoners, in their state of decomposition, are blown up and hanging on the walls of each interrogation room, which is also still home to the steel bed, shackles and pan (for body waste). These prisoners are buried in the school grounds. They were the last 14 people to die at the hands of Khmer Rouge in the prison.

Extensive records and photos of all the prisoners were kept by the Khmer Rouge and all of these, including photos of innocent men, women and children after death by electrocution and starvation are all enlarged and fill classroom after classroom on the ground floor.
We hired a tour guide to walk us through the museum, and as she did we realized the extent of the torture as well as the mindlessness of those in charge. The Khmer Rouge were on a mission to eradicate Cambodia of all western principals and anyone that was seen as intellectual being lawyers, teachers and even monks were ultimately murdered.

During their short reign, between 1 and 2 and a half million Cambodians perished, either by murder or by disease, malnutrition and starvation. Scary that most of the world was kept in the dark about the happenings in Cambodia - this was only 30 years ago!
Deeply disturbed, yes - to the point of tears at the end of our tour, we moved onto yet another depressing site: the Killing Fields.

For those prisoners that didn't die while in detention at the prison, were ultimately trucked to the Killing Fields where they'd be executed either by having their throats slashed, being hit on the back of their heads with a bamboo or steel pole and most horrifically, babies were beaten against a tree while the mothers had to stand watch before they too would be murdered. 9,000 bodies out of the 17,000 have been found in the mass graves that have been exhumed. Harrowingly, a huge white memorial stupa houses thousands of human skulls and long bones, as well as a large pile of dirty clothing of the prisoners that was found.
By now, truly sick to my stomach about the Khmer Rouge regime, we were on to a much more fun part of our day! Mark's highlight... shooting an M16!!

MARK: Shooting an M16 seemed quite an ironic yet strangely fitting end to the day when you consider the days flow... When we arrived at the Cambodian army base I was given a number of guns to choose from - Tommy gun, AK47, Uzi, Russian Sten gun, Colt 45's and of course the M16... Being a Rambo fan I opted for the M16 and got kitted up in my camo jacket and proceeded into the firing lanes. I was expecting huge recoils and shocking vibrations shooting along my arm and down my spine from the sleek yet brutal looking American M16 assault rifle. My instructor seemed very relaxed about everything and before I knew it I had ear muffs on and was seated looking down the sights of my M16 at a paper target sitting about 50m away in front of a pile of rubber tires. 15 rounds in the magazine at $40 is quite steep, so I planned to enjoy every shot... but as it happens I lost my resolve and before I knew it I was on a rampage blasting my magazine empty in about 10secs!!! I just missed the bulls eye (have the target paper as proof) and then proceeded to land 10 more hits. 11 out of 15 = not bad! :-) Beer in hand and feeling very macho we ventured back into town...