Phnom Phen - Shianoukville

Phnom Phen

Ratan shelving defying laws of gravity on the streets of Phnom Phen

(I guess the shelving works like a truss...ok had to get my nerd in)

Phnom Phen... I really enjoyed the city but visiting the sights of Khmer Rouge's atrocities....that was very hard to stomach.

I visited the School where the Khmer Rouge tourtured and killed many victims from 1975 - 1978. I didn't take any pictures while I visited this place because I will never forget what I saw there. The School called S-21 was converted from a high school to a tourturing factory after Pol Pot's regime took over Cambodia.

The Khmer Rouge kept a meticulous photographic record of all the victims that went through this facility before they were sent to the killing fields. The regime prefererred to bludgeon victims to death in lieu of using bullets so that they can save ammunition. The shattered skulls displayed at the school were too overwhelming for me and I had to step outside to cry. There were over 20,000 people that went through this school and they were all methodically executed at the killing fields. Only 7 people survived. The survivors where all people that had skills that were useful to the operation of the facility. One was the photographer who took all the pictures of the victims and another was a painter that painted the unfathomable brutality that took place day to day at the School and in the Killing Fields. One painting that I saw that haunts me was a painting of babies being ripped from their mothers arms and being smashed against a tree by their legs. The Khmer Rouge believe that by killing the babies they were "Killing the seeds of a future enemies" When I went to Cheong Ek (the killing field that is the closest to Phnom Phen) I saw this particular tree... At Cheong Ek there were many mass graves that were excavated and the remains that were dug out are enshrined now in a temple like structure where you can see all the bone fragments and skulls that have been found so far.

These two sites represents many that were scattered all over Cambodia. The Khmer Rouge ended up killing a quarter of the population of their own country... all in an effort to turn every person into a "simple farmer"

The driver of our Tuk Tuk (a carriage pulled by a motorcycle) told me that he never had a chance to meet his grandparents because they were killed by the regime....

Shianoukville

Happy Feet!

Moto carrying every kind of plastic container imaginable to man crossing the Cambodia - Vietnam border.

On a lighter note, after Phnom Phen we went to Shianoukville. It was heaven on earth! Nice people, cheap bungalows (perched high right on the water front! 20 bucks a night!), great company and great seafood! We did ended up going to a strange bar/restaurant that seemed like an establishment where the Russian mob launders money... I ended up being caught in a conversation with a drunk American guy from Pennsylvania who pretty much went to Shianoukville to destroy himself. He kept on calling all the speedo wearing Russian mob guys "Sexy". I hope he is still alive....

The last photo is where I crossed the Cambodia - Vietnam border into the Mekong Delta. I'll post about it when I get a chance!

I am in Saigon now about to flyto Hanoi.

xoxo - m