February 1st, 2008 by mary
Tuol Sleng, in the Cambodian capital of Phenom Penh, was once a secondary school but was turned into a prison during the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Now it stands much as it was when it was discovered and made into a genocide museum. The Khmer Rouge favored the base people that worked the fields so they forced the people of privilege, essentially city dwellers, into the countryside to work sixteen hour days. In this way Phenom Penh was deserted for 4yrs. Though there wasn’t enough food to eat they were forced to continue the hard labor. Many died of disease, hunger, and torture. Our guide was ten years old when her family of ten were kicked out of the city on liberation day, April 17, 1975. She and her siblings were sent to the childrens’ camp to work. She heard her father died of starvation. Two of her brothers and one sister also died during that regime. She never found out what happened to her grand parents. An all too common story as the Khmer Rouge separated families without explanations. Individuals would be taken away in covered trucks for no known reason and never seen again. Even after Pol Pot, the teacher turned Khmer Rouge leader, was ousted people still had no idea what happened to their families. To this day many Cambodians have family members that they have no idea what happened to. People were taken from all walks of life; villagers, teachers, foreigners, journalists, soldiers, Khmer Rouge officials. No one was safe from Pol Pot’s paranoia. They would be taken with no explanation to prisons like S-21 where they would be catalogued, questioned, and photographed. Everyday three to seven hundred people would pass through the barbed gates. They would be tagged, and if they came shirtless then the numbers would be pinned to their skin. Then they would be tortured for confessions. They were chained in small cells or en masse on the floor, not allowed to move unless they asked for permission first. Tin cans and plastic jugs were used as communal toilets. Every disobeyance was met with slashes. People would be tortured to death or sent to the killing fields after the Khmer Rouge were done questioning them. Even the wives, children, cousins, parents, and neighbors of the prisoners were brought in and killed systematically. People were held here from one to six months, arms and legs chained to the ground so they couldn’t move. Many were grabbed from their villages, a sack thrown over their heads only to see a camera staring them down when the bag was removed. Each person had their own file and were photographed upon entry. It was this cataloging that four thousand pictures were recovered as well details of the treatment of the prisoners. Looking at those ghostly final photos was like looking at fear itself. Those faces were full of defeat and the eyes spoke of horror. The instruments of terror still remained as did blood stains on the floor. The Khmer Rouge had enlisted teenagers to guard and torture the prisoners. Any that showed weakness, sympathy, or disobedience became a prisoner themselves. In the end no one was ever held accountable for the atrocities and now the leaders of Cambodia are the same Khmer Rouge officials. We heard from several locals that the young generation, those born after the end of the atrocities, is neither interested nor wholly believe that it happened. Their attention is focused on western fads and the latest Nokia phone. Of the estimated 17,000 imprisoned in S-21 only 7 survived.
Posted in cambodia | No Comments »
February 1st, 2008 by mary
We wanted to see the rural parts where the locals live on the outskirts of Siem Reap so we disembarked from our tuktuk on the way back from Tonle Lake and walked the rest of the way along the dirt paths. Through dense trees we saw an explosion of rainbow. It was a new buddhist temple getting its final layer of paint. The saffron robed monks were sweeping, washing, and painting. Statues were being prepared to go to their standing posts. As I was gazing at the technicolor reliefs a monk approached me and struck up a conversation. He had been an ordained monk for 3 years and was focused on learning English. He taught three times a day to the other monks. He said monks live by 227 virtues but he holds 4 to be the dearest. As a monk he must preach five virtues to the common people to guide them to a good life. His exposed skin showed tattoos of a dragon down one arm and buddhist mantras on his chest and forearm. The dragon he got before he entered monkhood. The mantras were for protection. He told us the locals do not like tattoos and think they bring bad luck to a village. He gave us a tour of the temple that had his likeness upon the wall as a founder. This brand spanking new cement one was built to replace the wooden one that the Khmers destroyed. He spoke of some of the stories and characters on the murals. At one panel he stumbled with his words then apologized and said he could not continue the story because his english was not good enough. His worry was that he would use the wrong words and translate the story incorrectly to us, in essence lying. Thus he would commit a sin and could no longer be a monk. So we skipped the panel. We took up a good hour of his time so said bye and continued on our way along the stream that went through Siem Reap. Along the way a few kids invited us to play volleyball with them next to their straw house. You see volleyball nets scattered everywhere in this part of the world. Its a very popular sport along with badminton, soccer, and patong.
Posted in cambodia, temple | No Comments »
February 1st, 2008 by mary
Posted in cambodia | No Comments »
January 24th, 2008 by mary
During our admittedly lengthy travels whenever we came across someone who had been to Angkor Wat they describe it as the ultimate temple; the best. With such glowing recommendations we knew we would be disappointed. That’s our skeptical, negative personas peeping out. Nonetheless this was on my list of things to see in this lifetime so I was looking forward to it. Angkor Wat is just outside the city of Siam Reap. These series of temple cities were built at the height of the Khmer civilization between the 12th and 16th centuries with each king building their own to show the extent of their influence. With our fancy laminated photo tickets we were ready to tackle the mega temple complex. We were stunned with the parking lots full of tour buses. There were equivalent quantities of souvenir and snack shops to match. Over three days we took our time admiring the numerous temples. They were in various conditions of renovation. Many had been cleaned up and the jungle pushed back though half of it was still in rubble mounds.
Others were left mostly to the environment and looked like the set of Tomb Raider, which is probably why they filmed it at this location. The only time we got away from the hoards of tourists was when we biked the entire 37km grand circuit to see the lesser visited sites. That was the best day there. If you go expecting the Las Vegas strip then you’ll be delighted but to expect anything less would be setting yourself up for disappointment. I think we found a comfortable middle ground.
There’s always a little time for monkey business and napping on the job
Posted in cambodia | No Comments »
January 24th, 2008 by mary
Yep, this is it. Cambodia is Buddhist so this was the extent of the Christmas spirit. I’m not sure they knew what they were putting up the decorations for but they seemed to find it amusing to yell ‘Mehri ‘ismus!’ to foreigners. Not giggling afterwards would’ve made it more convincing.
Posted in cambodia | No Comments »
January 14th, 2008 by mary
We had heard that crossing the border from Thailand to Cambodia by land involved a series of unavoidable scams. Given that we chose the least scammy and least traveled point to cross at, Koh Kong. Of course it took the usual shuffling of long bus rides to get there. The other foreigners paid the demanded $40 and was given the visa at arrival immediately. We knew the official price of the visa was $20. The border guards across the desk didn’t seem to appreciate that piece of information. They pushed us to hand over the amount they asked for or go back to Bangkok. After a few loud exchanges they directed us to leave the office and wait outside. Steve continued to hassle the guy in the white wife-beater to process our visas. It’s always the guy in the least formal attire that’s in charge. He hands over a local travel agency brochure stating the inflated visa price. Then rants about paying $350 to apply for a visa to the US and being rejected. Steve parried those weak attempts and kept pushing. Finally, an hour later they agree to $25 and we were on our way. Welcome to Cambodia.
Posted in cambodia | No Comments »