The Killing Fields Feb 10

I was busy looking for the Malaysian Embassy yesterday without much success but as it turns out, after checking with Lonely Planet, I don't need a visa to enter there. Glad I remembered to check.


I went out to the killing fields right away this morning to avoid the heat. It was already 30 degrees by 9:30.
The killing fields at Chheung Ek are one of many such fields but it is the largest and closest to Phnom Penh.

Here we have a monument to the dead which contains bones which were recovered from the burial site. There are seventeen levels of platforms containing bones some of which are under ground level. I took their word for that.

The thatched roof is over the site of one of the larger graves containing at least 100 people.

This is the area which has been excavated showing how close together the pits were. It has grown over with vegetation and they have stopped excavating because they have more than enough for evidence.

In areas where they have been digging more bones and pieces of clothing surface as people walk over them.

By the 1990's Cambodia assisted by the United Nations was able to arrest the leaders of the Khmer Rouge and bring them to trial. The party head, Pol Pot, died at home under house arrest. Kaing Guek Eav "Duch", the man in charge of the prison and torture chamber known as S-21 was sentenced to life in prison just last year. Before he was arrested he had resumed his career as a high school teacher in a small town. Cambodia has no corporeal punishment.

I think it is time for a flower.

Looking across the fields driving back to the city.

Next I toured the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum which was the former S-21 prison. It is located in a former high school. Here you see the courtyard of the school much the same as it was except for the added graves. The wooden stand in the foreground which was used by the students for gymnastics was used by the Khmer Rouge to hang prisoners for torture.

It was a large school with a nice design. Here is just one building with three stories of classrooms. Of course the rooms were modified to be prison rooms now.

When the prisoners were taken in they were identified and photographed. Many of those records have been preserved and the photos displayed in the museum to honour the dead.

I went back to my guest house, which is air-conditioned, by 1:00 to cool off and regroup before walking in the neighbourhood. The Wat Phnom Historical and Cultural Tourism site is near me.

I think there might be too many temples in this part of the world, but it was very beautiful.

And to finish off, a stroll down the promenade by the Tonle Sap River.

I have decided to stay one extra night here because if I fly on Feb 14 instead of 13 it costs half as much. I had no idea that Valentines day kept so many people at home.