Day 3- Killing Fields and S-21

January 22, 2012

Ah...I felt much better that day. I woke up to the sound of cymbals and gongs and I remembered it was the traditional Chinese New Year. I just went out of the balcony of the guesthouse and waited for the parade to pass.While waiting, I had time to admire the sunrise on the river. The Mekong river on that side of Phnom Penh is actually comprised of three rivers. It was really wide.

                                                               Sunrise over the river.

                                    It was just a small group of dancers performing on the street.

Since we already got up, Me and Effa, the only Malaysian who is travelling with us went to these bakery to eat breakfast. I finally got pancakes for breakfast and fruit salad. I was really craving pancakes that unfortunately I cannot get in Hanoi.

Then off to the killing fields for our first tour. After travelling for about an hour with the Tuk tuk that we hired for 20 USD a day, we finally arrived at the Killing Fields famous because of Pol Pot. We paid 3 dollars for tickets at the entrance and we chose not to get the Audio tour which my sister( Mitch) and the other two girls with us (Nikki and Ritchell) decided to take. Thus we got separated, me and Effa went ahead with our tour. We arrived at this tall one room building that houses all the skulls that were dug at that area. We had to remove our shoes to give respect to all the dead and proceeded inside the glass building. It has from what I remember 7 levels that houses all the skulls dug out from the surrounding field of most of the victims of the genocide. At the bottom were the clothes of the victims. The clothes were still intact because the tragedy happened around three decades ago.

                                         The building that houses most of the skulls at the killing fields.

The killing field is known as Choeung Ek. It was funny that Ritchell keeps on saying that it is the killing farm which is not far from it. It was actually a chinese cemetery before the war and a farmland before it was discovered. Touring through the grave sites reminded me of my history lessons. When you learn about who are these people like Pol Pot and when you read about the things that were done and when I watched the movie the "Killing Fields" I was just there to absorb but not truly understand the extent of everything that was done. Being in that place made me understand the real lesson to which I must learn from all of these. It occured to me then that had I been born at that time in this country, I could have ended up as one of the skulls on that stupa or some nameless baby that was smashed against one of the trees in the field. I am just so thankful to be born in my home country.

 The skulls were arranged according to age. Some levels have skulls of men aged 50 and above, others 20-30 years etc.

                                                           The clothes of the victims.

There were also signs everywhere to point out the places where things were done at the area before the final executions were done.

I think, what is more painful is the fact that you are killed in a very inhumane way. The things that were used to kill are ordinary tools used in the fields or  things that are used everyday. It would have been much better to be killed with a gun or a bomb. The fact that probably a lot have to painfully wait for their death is even worst and for a mistake you haven't committed or just because you are a part of the minority.

 This is the tree where children are killed. They are killed because they are feared to get revenge when they survive and probably because they make too much noise. Sometimes I wonder how can some people even do this? To think that they have families, children. What must have they felt after doing such things? Did they had nightmares? It's scary thinking how can people just kill. Probably some of the killers are still alive now.

                                And the museum where we watched a short clip about the genocide.

And so with a heavy heart I left the place, I hope those who are buried in these place have finally found peace. When I talked with Mitch, she told me that it is more emotional to take the Audio tour because of the stories of the survivors. Either way, I think it is a very good opportunity for us to learn about this part of history and I also learned from our Tuktuk driver that majority of the Cambodian people are Khmer and the government that did this were the Khmer Rouge.

Looking back at the place, I don't think I would want to go back. It is just a another place in the middle of a flatland with the stupa symbolizing everything that it is about but it is just too depressing to go back. I learned something about it though, we should have our own convictions and not just follow people. This is the result of following the wrong ideals or probably executing good ideals in a wrong way. Either way, it was caused by people who are smart and educated.