Phnom Penh

On a whole, the capital of Cambodia has very little to see. By the time we arrived after the boat/bus ride, it was about 6pm and we were exhausted. We took a tuk-tuk into town, a motorcyle with a trailer, and found a Khmer restaurant, recommended by Lonely Planet--delicious-rice with pork and vegetables and fruit shake. Afterwards, we walked along the river to the Royal Palace then found some beautiful ancient Khmer art--read: glowsticks being sold by the old woman with one eye! The next morning, Jeff and I arranged Mr. Smalls, a tuk-tuk driver, to take us to visit the Killing Fields, S-21 prison and the Royal Palace. It was an emotionally draining day, but everyone said to understand Cambodia, you have to know what happened. The Killing Fields are about 8kms outside of town and the place where about 3 million Khmers were killed between 1975-1979. Pol Pot, the regime leader, was trained in France and began his extreme Marxist beliefs there. When he arrived back in Cambodia, he began to find Cambodians that had fled to Vietnam to encourage them to fight for their country with him. April 4, 1975, Pol Pot and his army raided Phmon Penh and forced everyone out. People were slaughtered if they were educated, wore glasses, refused to wear red and other ridiculous reasons. He did not discriminate against age, children were murder and tortured. The Killing Fields were heartbreaking, I began crying as soon as we arrived. A monument was erected 5 years ago in honor of the deceased, but within the monument, thousands of human skulls were behind a glass wall divided into sex and age looking at me. As we walked through the fields, we could see pieces of clothing still in the ground, we saw a tree that was indented on one side from where they would pick children up and throw them against it. The most chilling part of this experience was next to the field is a new elementary school, we could hear and see children playing in the schoolyard.
Next, we went to S-21 Prison within the city. Prior to the genocide, these buildings were a high school, but during the evacuation of the city, Pol Pot transformed the school into a torture prison. Four separate buildings each with 3 floors looked as they did when it was in use--the torture devices were still in the rooms, the photos the people hung on the walls, the cells were still intact, and the gallows still had the ropes. Each room showed more into the twisted minds of the Khmer Rouge, each floor more graphic. The most upsetting part was how they forced the children to kill and torture the poeple, so they wouldn't have to do it. Other news, a member from the Khmer Rouge was still on the UN council until 1996 and none of the surviving leaders of the Khmer Rouge have ever been prosecuted.