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Today I woke at about eight to find myself alone in the sauna in which we call our room, apparently Steven couldn't sleep so had been in the lobby since four am enjoying the breeze. I was awoken by a lady randomly walking into the room who I can only hope was the maid... Steven followed close behind. I got up and showered then headed downstairs for breakfast where for the second day there was no mushrooms for the omelette (maybe buy some?!). I had scrambled egg and as usual Steven ate my toast... All washed down with a cup of tea.
Today we were heading to the 'Choeung ek Genocidal Centre' better known as the killing fields. We wanted to arrive early to avoid the crowds and so left shortly after nine am. We had asked at the hotel what their tuk tuk charged and the owner had said twelve dollars for a return, at this point we left... We weren't far down the street when a tuk tuk driver shouted at us so we asked what his price was for a return... Ten dollars. After negotiating we agreed on eight dollars, which was probably still too much but the fields are a good seventeen km out of the city so at less than one pound thirty each... each way we couldn't grumble.
We jumped in and were soon on our way, the drive was an experience with plenty of near misses and lots of bumps. We meandered through the city seeing the hustle and bustle as we whizzed past. There were stall holders selling their wares, kids heading to school crammed on bikes and dogs sniffing out garbage to eat. The drive soon took us out of the craziness of Phnom Penh and through the dusty country lanes that surround it, we passed through small villages where Egyptian style cows were grazing and shoeless children were happily chasing each other. The air was getting hot by now and every now and then dust blew across the road in front of us causing the poor women sweeping to sigh as she carried on her endless task of sweeping her porch.
After a short period of time driving through the muted sandy tones of the countryside we soon saw a mirage of bright colours and metal, which could only mean one thing... Tuk tuks. We had arrived at our destination and half of Phnom Penh's tuk tuks were also here. We parked up and despite me telling the driver numerous times we would meet him at half twelve ish and he could work in the meantime (it was only only just after ten am)... He said he would sit and wait. We said fair enough... gave our farewells and headed in.
The Choeung ek is the site of a former Chinese graveyard and orchard that sits quietly in the countryside south of Phnom Penh. There are hundreds of killing fields scattered all over Cambodia but this is one of the largest and most famous. It is believed that over seventeen thousand men, women and children (as well as nine westerners) lost their lives here in the most brutal and horrifying way and is a chilling reminder of the atrocities that occurred under the Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. Many were transferred here after months of torture and detention in Toul Sleng (S-21 prison) and for me it was equally horrifying that such atrocities can happen so recently and yet not many people are aware of it and nothing was done to stop it.... if you asked the majority of people in the UK what happened in Cambodia between 1975-1979... not many could answer, us included. I suppose had there been oil here or something that was of a use to us in the western world then we would have been straight here to 'help'.
On entering the gate of the centre you are given an audio guide which is narrated by a survivor of the regime... As he talks you through this horrendous period you can't help but be moved by the emotion in his voice and sincerity in his words. He explains to you what the centre was and what occurred here...
He explains how the prisoners were transferred here from the S-21 prison (Toul Sleng) located in Phnom Penh and executed, the prisoners were told that they were heading to a new home thus to minimise hysterical behaviour and escape attempts before being bundled in a truck and driven here. You can't even imagine the fear that they felt as they ultimately were led to their deaths... Which I imagine a vast majority knew was the case as they were blindfolded and shackled in the back of the truck. The soldiers routinely sent a truckload of people (as many as 50) from the prison every three weeks and would send them to Choeung ek where their journey would ultimately end... there were also numerous prisoners sent from many other detention centres. The number of prisoners killed here in a day ranged from twelve to over three hundred, which was recorded on one particularly brutal day in May 1978 at the height of the regime.
On arriving here at just after dark the prisoners would be escorted to a detention hut known as 'gloomy detention' where they would be checked off from a list sent a head of them from the prison (to ensure no one had escaped). more often than not they were made to sign their name on said list which ironically meant they were signing their own death warrant. They would then be held in this detention hut where they couldn't even see each other and were to afraid to speak. During the day and most of the night the soldiers would play loud music, this was played to hide the terrified screams of people being executed nearby and thus minimise the risk of suspicion from nearby farms as well as ensure the prisoners wouldn't become hysterical. After the darkness of night arrived to shield their disgusting and brutal acts.. they would lead a number of prisoners out of the dark holding room and to the edge of the pits (already dug in preparation) where they would remain blindfolded and shackled with their arms behind their backs. Here they would be made to kneel in a line by the edge of the pit and one by one they would be executed. The soldiers, not wanting to waste precious bullets would simply bludgeon them to death using hammers, picks or farm equipment kept in a nearby shed... This meant that many were still alive when pushed into the pit.
When you walk around the site you are struck by how silent and peaceful it is.... You cant begin to imagine the atrocities that took place here. There were easily a hundred people there with us but no one said a word as they intently listened to the narration on the audio guide. There are numerous signs scattered around asking for quiet in respect for the dead here but I don't think there would have been any noise any way. Everywhere along the route round people just silently nod at each other in passing or stand with their hands over their mouths in sheer disbelief at what they are hearing, while their foreheads are creased in an angry frown. The only sound being from the birds above or the odd buzz of a dragon fly whizzing past you.
The first stop on the tour is to the site of the truck stop where the prisoners were disembarked... This detention hut had been erected due to the sheer demand of the executions. Previously prisoners where bought here and killed the same night but as the regime progressed more and more people were bought here and the executioners couldn't keep up. They therefore built the detention hut to house prisoners for up to twenty four hours before they were brutally slaughtered. You can't even imagine how scared they would have been being shackled and blindfolded in a dark room where the only sound you here is the constant Khmer music that is played and the terrified sobs of the children and adults all around you. They must have been hungry, soiled, sweltering and unbelievably scared.
Next door to the detention hut stood the executioners working office which held detailed accounts of all that passed through here. Everything was precisely documented and every name, ethnicity and such were logged. These buildings no longer stand due to locals pulling them down shortly after the regime ended. Materials were scarce and so the buildings were stripped of all materials for use in building homes and shelter again... I'm not sure if they even knew what they had stumbled upon.
As you pass through this now empty patch of grass you can't help but feel a lump in your throat especially when you look past it, not even fifty yards and see the site of one of the largest mass graves found within the complex. When excavated in the eighties over 450 bodies were found here and they died only a few yards from the detention room where hundreds of terrified civilians sat awaiting their fate. In front of where the executioners hut once stood sat a small shed which housed chemical substances. It is believed that the Khmer soldiers used to put DDT in the graves to cover the smell of the rotten corpses in their shallow graves as well as to ensure the prisoners who were alive when buried were killed.... That is just horrific. I can't believe we share the same earth as such people. It also highlights how powerful the Khmer Rouge were... Many who worked for them did so out of fear or grooming from a young age. Its just all so terribly sad and horrible.
Near to this is the grave I was just talking about that was the final resting place of over 450 souls. There is now a straw roof protecting the grave as every time the monsoon hits and the soil is washed away, more and more bones and teeth are bought to the surface. These are collected by the sites caretakers and examined by forensics before being put to rest with the other excavated remains in the stupa. Around the grave is a wooden fence that had been ordained with hundreds of bracelets from visitors to the site. They are friendship bracelets that have been hung from the fence or thrown into the grave, this is one of 129 communal graves of which 43 remain untouched.
Scattered around the deep holes that were once graves are what remains of the Chinese graveyard. When the Khmer Rouge came here they destroyed the graves to make way for the huge pits, which would later become the final resting place for thousands of innocent Cambodians. All that is left to even signify the sites previous purpose is the tattered headstones engraved with Chinese symbols... These are of a minimum and almost in ruins. The site was also an orchard and around the perimeter of the site is numerous fruit tress that remain there to this day... They lead up to a large pond, which is rarely full. The pond is surrounded by trees and the occasional bench. We walked silently around stopping every now and then on a bench to contemplate what we were hearing.
On the guide there are several harrowing and true testimonies by victims of the Khmer Rouge regime. One mother talks about the death of her eight month old infant son who perished during the regime. She was made to undertake forced labour which would often last fourteen or fifteen hours a day on little food, as a result she could only feed her son at night and soon after her milk dried up. Her son wasted a way and starved to death. The poor women never got over the death of her son who would be probably about forty now.
There is also the testimony of a guy who witnessed a women being killed by a guard over two bananas. Apparently she had been given the bananas by a guard but when questioned by another guard, he didn't believe her and beat her to death... The guy had been witness to the whole thing and described it in harrowing detail. One young girl speaks of her shame at being gang raped and beaten by ten to twelve men until she was unconscious before she then awoke naked in a field, left with horrific physical and mental scars. Afterwards she was alienated by local people and feeling nothing but shame fled her village. She has required extensive psychological support which unfortunately is very scare. The final story explains in length the inspiring story of a young man who is made to flee his home town of Phnom Penh to hide in his grandma's village where he witnessed his cousin being murdered. It tells how he some how survived the regime by fleeing to America before returning in the hope of healing his and his countries deep scars. It is hard to listen to and makes you really appreciate how fortunate we are to live in a country where such things would never happen.
After sitting silently by the lake for a period of time we wandered back around to the main site. Here all you can see is loads of depressed holes where graves once stood. Occasionally out of the ground you can see a bit of bone or the ragged remains of a victims clothes... It really is incredibly harrowing. There is a few graves that have been excavated then covered with the straw roof and bamboo fencing as a mark of respect. One of these graves contained 166 headless bodies in Khmer Rouge uniform, which highlights just how brutal the regime was. The commanders wouldn't think twice about killing the soldiers if given a reason, however insignificant. On passing this you reach a glass box that contains the clothes of victims that has either been excavated with the remains or that have worked their way to the surface through rainfall and such. They have all been gathered and placed in this box and it's really sad... Far too often is the small child sized tee shirts and shorts... it's truly heartbreaking. Under one tree I found a pair of child's saddles that had obviously worked their way to the surface.... it is just horrible.
A short walk from here is probably one of the most horribly sad and emotive things I have ever seen or witnessed, there is a similar straw roofed covered grave next to a large tree. The grave was found to be the final resting place of over 100 women, infants and small children who had been killed here. This was just horrific and so sad to see in itself, however he then explains that many of the children and infants had been killed in front of their mothers, by holding them by the feet and horrifically smashing their heads agains the tree next to the grave. They were then tossed in to the grave like a piece of rubbish. Just horrendous.... On seeing the tree my heart broke and I had a huge lump in my throat and tears in my eyes. The tree is covered in many friendship bracelets and prayers as are the fences that surround the grave. Apparently the young man who had accidentally stumbled across the 'killing field' had found the tree covered in blood, brain matter and skin and couldn't fully understand what it was until the grave was later discovered. I have to say it has to be one of the saddest and most brutal things I have ever seen and really brings home what truly went on here.
Reeling from the 'killing tree' I slowly walked away towards another glass box containing bones and teeth while listening to a the former director of S-21 prison "Duch" confessing to his part in these atrocities. At the time of the atrocities he famously said 'We had instructions from the party on how to kill them, but we didn't use bullets and usually, we slit their throats. We killed them like chickens (Dunlop 2005:273). During his trial he was brought here to see the tree and fell to his knees and wept, he is the only high profile former Khmer Rouge member to confess to his part in the atrocities. I don't think this will change how people see him but at least he can see what they did was wrong. Of the cases against the leaders (which are still in the process of happening) not one of them admits anything and instead swears their ignorance to it. However as far as I am concerned a feeble apology doesn't take away the hurt of many generations, although at least they have actually punished someone (he is serving 35 years in prison... nothing i know) as so many escaped justice including Pol Pot himself who died in 1998 having not accounted for his crimes.
By the glass box of teeth and bones stands a very decorative spirit house, which in Buddhism helps spirits to find peace, I just hope this poignant gesture can truly aid those who are buried here to find their peace. Opposite this is a large tree that speakers would hang off belting out the music and such that hid the crimes taking place here. The tree is large and known as the 'magic tree' not that there is anything magical about it. Nearby on the path you can see bones sticking out of the ground as well as the odd bit of cloth and it becomes all to apparent that thousands still lie here undiscovered. On passing this you come to the final part of the tour ...the memorial stupa.
The stupa was built in 1988 and stands as a memorial to the seventeen thousand people who perished here. It is also the final resting place for nearly nine thousand skulls that have been found during the excavations of the 1980s.. The skulls and bones of the victims were previously held with in a wooden hut on the site of the stupa. This had been used as a temporary holding place while forensics and such were undertaken. The stupa was built to a very Hindu and Buddhism style and stands in the centre of the site. It is very striking with its bright white walls that are illuminated in the sunshine. Each of the skulls resting here have been seen by forensics and had been identified by sex, age, race and cause of death and on so many you can see the damage inflicted by axes and knives. The stupa has several layers which contains the skulls, bones and clothes of the victims, they are in sections relating to sex and age. The whole thing is really eery and I found it sad to see thousands of skulls piled on top of each other and not buried (which has caused some controversy) but i suppose they are there as a lasting reminder of what occurred here and I'm sure there is little chance of the victims being identified enough for relatives to claim them.
After the stupa there is a small museum which exhibits information on the tools used to kill the victims and information on the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot. The saddest thing is a small case that houses the ropes used to tie the victims arms behind their backs and the blindfolds that have been found. There is even a small dress worn by a child of a bout nine months that was found in the graves... Just horrific. After the museum you watch a short movie about the place which pretty much repeats the audio guide but presents you with many images of the time. Then the audio tour is over so we simply walked around a little and tried to take in the place. There's a very pushy souvenir shop near the entrance/exit which I found to be bad taste but they have them everywhere. There is also a small hut that has a memorial book in where Steven wrote some beautiful and heart felt words in.
It was now time to leave so we took a final glance around and tried to truly take in what we had seen and heard today. The site is an everlasting example of what human kind can do when the need for power overtakes basic human compassion. I pray that we never see anything like this ever again... It truly sickens me that this happened in our generation (almost) and nothing was done to stop it... Politics aside there was a basic human need here for help and protection and we as a world failed Cambodia. I just hope they recover from this but only time will tell.
As we left we were soon hunted down by out tuk tuk driver who instantly demanded more money for waiting... I will still pondering on the sights I had just seen and was sickened by his money grabbing behaviour. I know he needs to earn a living but this is a place of immense sadness and shouldn't be seen as hitting gold because its their most expensive fair. Literally all the drivers shout 'killing fields' 'killing fields' at you all day before anything else as its furthest away. Maybe its his way of dealing with it... I'm sure he had lost people but theres a time and place and not outside a mass grave. We jumped in and Steven gave his cornetto (we needed to get change for the tuk tuk) to a couple of young boys nearby who were eying it up before we sped off.
The journey back was equally bumpy and crazy but we spent much of it reflecting on the fields. We soon arrived back at the hotel and after another heated discussion about the fare I gave him the agreed price and walked away ...to apparently a very filthy look. We headed in to use the loo and get some water when the owner of the hotel followed me to the loo saying "I saw you at the killing fields" I simply replied that we had just been... To which he reappeared a little aggressively "yes I saw you there". I assume he was put out that I hadn't used his service but cheapest always wins and I owe him and his hotel nothing as its poor crap... He should spend more time on his rooms and less on making money by ripping of tourist with his inflated priced tours.
I sat outside waiting for Steven and he approached me again asking how much we paid, I was getting a bit annoyed by now and simply explained we paid eight dollars and had enquired about his tuk tuk but it was an extortionate twelve dollars so obviously I went with the cheapest. He agreed it was a good price and walked off... Probably to hunt down the poor driver (tuk tuks are like the mafia here).
Steven eventually returned and we walked down to the front for a beer... I really wanted to write the blog while it was fresh so spent the next three hours doing so and still wasn't half way through. We then left and headed for some food and a walk around checking out bus prices and such. We also booked a nice hotel for tomorrow night in our fave street. We then wandered back for a beer at the Mekong river bar and grabbed the last table in front so we could people watch. We had literally just sat down when Tom and Todd (from maya cruise) wandered by, we couldn't believe it as we were sitting at the same table where we saw Sian lol. We had a chat with them and found they had been to the fields today as well and we must have somehow missed them. It was so nice to see them before they head to Siam Reap tomorrow. A while after they had left and we had finished our beers we headed back to the hotel. The day had been exhausting and I think despite the gross hotel we would sleep tonight.
- comments
mum Totally horrific but once again wonderfully but into words ..well done you two for a informative emotional an harrowing blog.....
Maggie How absolutely horrendous. I had no idea how awful it was. Thank you for educating me.. On a brighter note - thoroughly enjoying the blog and missing you both xxxx
lacey That was difficult reading, can only guess how hard to write - thank you though for taking the time to share the experience x