We thought that our jet lag would be minimal because we did all the right things: hydrated, no heavy meals, melatonin, stay awake until bedtime local time, no caffeine, and light exercise; but, it is very difficult to fool the circadian rhythm of the body. Hence, last night was a no sleep night. We both dozed off a few times but those times were very few and brief.
In spite of the fatigue we managed to eat a great breakfast by the pool and chat with two Australian women who were here visiting a school they had established some years ago. We met our tuk tuk driver outside the gate at 9:30 and with rain jackets in hand, headed out for the day.
Today was a somber day, as we visited S-21 Prison and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields. Both serve as reminders of the genocide that took place under the rule of The Khmer Rouge, led by Pol Pot. From 1975 to 1979 the Khmer Rouge were responsible for the torture and murder of about 1.5 million people.
After taking power in 1975, the Khmer Rouge evacuated Phnom Penh’s 2.5 million residents. After Pol Pot and his followers captured the capital, they immediately began a campaign of “purification” which cleansed the country of:
- Urban and Western life: The cities were evacuated and millions were marched into the countryside in a fanatical attempt to create a pure peasant society.
- Capitalism: To make the country self-sufficient, it was turned into a giant labor camp – radical form of agrarian communism.
- Religion: Buddhism, the dominant religion, was attacked in the form of suppression and killing of monks. Of 60,000 Buddhist monks only 3,000 were found alive after the Khmer Rouge reign.
- Educated Elite: Doctors, teachers, engineers, and any person of a professional occupation were killed along with the extended family.
- Foreigners, especially Chinese, Vietnamese, Muslims: Only half of the Chinese population survived. Thousands of Vietnamese were expelled and killed, and of the 250,000 Muslims in the country, 90,000 were massacred.
At the S-21 Prison, today called Tuol Sleng Museum of Genocide, you are greeted by a list of rules for prisoners. Number 6 reads, "When getting lashes or electrification you must not cry at all". Formerly the Tuol Svay Prey High School, the complex was converted to a prison. From 1975 to 1979, 120,000 people were registered and photographed, then imprisoned and tortured, before they were killed.
The torture system at Tuol Sleng was designed to make prisoners confess to whatever crimes they were charged with by their captors. Prisoners were routinely beaten and tortured in various ways including electric shock, searing hot metal instruments, and hanging. Other methods for generating confessions included pulling out fingernails while pouring alcohol on their wounds or holding prisoners’ heads under water.
The instruments used to torture 20,000 women, men and children, as well as photos of many of them are difficult to look at, but turning away is impossible.
About 15 km outside of Phnom Penh the Choeung Killing Fields is one of the many killing fields that can be found in Cambodia. So far, 86 mass graves have been excavated here and there still more to be examined. Prisoners were sent here to be executed. Anywhere from several dozen up to three hundred people were brought here daily to be executed. Their hands were tied behind their backs, they were blindfolded and made to kneel in front of a big pit where they were clubbed on the neck with tools such as a cart axle, hoe, stick, wooden club or whatever else served as a weapon of death. They were sometimes stabbed with knives or swords to save using bullets, which were deemed to be too expensive.
It is easy to describe the emotion experienced when visiting these two sites. The feeling of sadness is profound. How could this happen is the question many ask. Like other genocides in the not too distant past, it is so difficult to imagine that such a thing took place while the rest of the world stood by.
After visiting these two sites we stopped briefly at the Russian Market before heading back to our hotel where we enjoyed complimentary massages and a cup of passion fruit tea. Tonight we will dine here at the hotel and attempt to stay awake until at least 9. I predict sleep tonight.
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