Phnom Penh - "The Killing Fields"

updated on 13-06-06 by Em

We organised for a tuk tuk driver to take us to the The Killing Fields & Tuel Sleng (S-21) for the day.
Our first destination was the The Killing Fields.
Under the Khmer Rouge regime and Pol Pot some estimated 2 million Khmer people, including women and children lost their lives in a gruesome & inhumane manner at S-21 & The Killing Fields.
We were able to watch the movie of the Killing Fields at our motel about the Cambodian reporter Dith Pran, who like many of the local Khmers was sent by the Khmer Rouge to labour in the rice fields. He luckily managed to escape.

The drive out took about 25mins & we went through some of the countryside, where the roads where lined with industrial type shops (ie) mechanics & repairshops. The people sit on the side of the road and do their work. Seems quite barren.

We turn onto a dirt road, which is very dusty and bumpy. There are a number of schools alongside - we watch school children in their uniforms playing outside. Nb: All the uniforms are the same, white shirt & navy blue skirt for girls and pants/shorts for boys.

As we arrive at The Killing Fields there is a small souvenier shop to the left at the entrance - we pay our entrance fee of US$2 each. As we walk up towards the small tower, alongside us a group of about 5 Khmer children with grubby faces, in perfect broken English unison chime in "1, 2, 3 Cheese , you take picture" and then hold out their hands for money.

As we arrive at the memorial tower, we are asked to remove our shoes, a guard then gives us some incense sticks to give as an offering we also make a monetary donation.

As we enter the memorial "tower" the sight we see before us is grim and very sobering. Hundreds of skulls behind glass cases stacked ontop of each other. There are about x10 shelfs inside the tower all filled with human skulls. Below on the ground is a glass case filled with clothing, dirty shirts and pants all intermixed.
It is a very bizzare feeling, that this is actually real what we are looking at. For me seeing the clothes heaped in a pile seemed to heighten the intense emotions, it seemed to humanize the situation more so.
I found it very emotional and couldn't stop the tears. Many of the other tourists also looked somewhat teary.

Around the memorial tower are the "fields", with a number of mass graves - large shallow holes dug out to throw the bodies into, some have small wooden posts stating how many bodies were found, even stating so much detail as "women and children" were specifically in this grave.

Some of the trees also had posts. One in particular was called the "Whipping Tree" and was used to torture children, by beating them against it.

It is a very sombre place - a bizzare combination of beautiful green countryside and trees mixed with a horrific history of torture and pain.
I watch lots of butterflies fly over and around the mass graves, it seems somewhat fitting.

We stayed there for about 20 mins, & stopped in at the souvenier shop on our way out.