Day 253: The Killing Fields

Our group was in pretty rough shape in the morning. Quite a few people had been ill for much of the entire trip, either because of food, or travel, or malaria medication. On top of that, those of us who had spent the previous night out drinking were all still somewhat drunk, or very hung over in the morning. All combined, not really the ideal condition to spend a day out in the heat hearing about the years of torture and murder by the Khmer Rouge.

We all felt that it was an important part of Cambodia's history and that the subject deserved our respect attention, so we all trooped out to Tuol Seng Prison (aka Security Prison 21). I was in much better shape than many of the group, but all the stories and imagery of the abuse, torture and murder that went on was still pretty overwhelming. In many ways it was a more vivid reminder than going to Auschwitz was, since it's much more recent and the site was preserved almost exactly as it was abandoned when the Vietnamese invaded to halt the genocide. Two of our group had to return back to the hotel before we finished the tour of the prison, and the rest of us were in a pretty quiet mood.

I'm not really sure how much to see about the Cambodian Genocide. The Khmer Rouge Communist Party came into power in Cambodia in 1975. They forced everybody out of all urban areas, tortured and killed anybody they thought might be educated or part of any resistance, and forced the rest to work in labour camps. Over the 3 years, 8 months, 20 days that the Khmer Rouge were in power, over 2 million people died (half by execution, half by starvation and disease in the camps), and the country's population had been cut nearly in half. Losing half the population of a country in less than 4 years is just insane, and the impact is still being felt now, as 50% of Cambodia's population now is 20 years old or younger. It's easy to forget what they went through when you wander around the country, but it's sobering to realize that virtually every adult you see lost a parent or sibling during this period.

Next we went out of town to one of the many killing fields spread throughout Cambodia. These were the sites where people were brought in truckloads for execution. Now the area is something of a memorial and quite peaceful. Most of the mass graves have been excavated, but each rainy season more bones and pieces of clothing get revealed in the mud.

We had the afternoon free, but most of us didn't venture anywhere too far off. I walked around the surrounding area for awhile and spent some time at the big central market, but spent the majority of the evening in the hotel resting.