Phnom Penh

Heya folks,

We arrived early into Phnom Penh, which had a lovely feel about it. Despite being the capital city, it was amazingly chilled out, with much less of the crazy traffic of Hanoi. The other thing of note was the oppressive heat which didn't let up during our whole stay. I'll remember that as much as anything else. The main reason for our being in Phnom Penh was to visit the Killing Fields at Choeng Ek, and the Tuol Sleng prison, which were the main sites for the genocide commited by the Khmer Rouge during the late 1970s. We both felt that it would be unfair to come to Cambodia only to see the temples at Angkor, without recognising the many layers of this country, not least of course its tragic past.

The trip was a hard one to make, and I have to admit I knew almost nothing about the Khmer Rouge before I went, other than 'something bad' having happened. Its hard to believe that something so tragic and awful could happen to a country so beautiful, and so recently too. Mass graves are still being discovered at Choeng Ek, infact a section of the footpath was roped off while we were there for just this reason.

The Tuol Sleng Prison, nicknamed 'S21', was formerly the site of a primary school, but taken over in April 1975 for the detention and execution of innocent Cambodians, all of whom were photographed on arrival and their photographs are displayed inside. It was an extremely sobering visit, yet the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum was one of the best museums I have ever been to. The peaceful atmosphere is so at odds with the violent history and yet so fitting as a memorial to the victims of the Khmer Rouge.

Next we visited the Killing Fields at Choeng Ek, a 20min tuk-tuk ride away from Phnom Penh. There's a huge, towering monument which is the first thing you see in what seems to be a deserted park. When we got closer we realised that it was full of 14 tiers of skulls arranged by age and sex. Used to seeing ancient prehistoric skeletons in museums, it was really tough to see skulls just over 30years old. All around the park were shallow pits that were the remains of mass graves. Again the peacefulness of the park was so ironic and yet so fitting, giving the victimes the eternal peace denied to them at the end.

I have thought and thought and thought about whether it is right to take photographs at these two sites, and still more, whether I should post any of them on here. I dont believe for a minute in any kind of war-tourism, but the trip has really opened my eyes to the importance of being AWARE of what is happening in our world. By taking photographs and writing blogs, this is the way that we can tell people what happened and make them aware that it is STILL happening today. And in my opinion, especially after the visit to Cambodia, there is no excuse not to know what is going on and not to take notice. Sometimes standing by and saying or doing nothing is the biggest crime of all...




SarahHeadsEast xx