Bottom: Tuol Sleng Prison and (top) Cheung Ek Memorial stupa.
Posted by Aron Flasher
Star Tribune
Last update: July 28, 2010
After the worst bus ride to date, (I am taller than most Cambodians, thus the bus seats don't fit me right. Couple this with the fact that I was sat in the aisle, near the door, with a bus driver who was trying to clear his throat for the whole six hours) I made it to the Phnom Penh. Again, I was impressed by how modern, well-organized and safe this city was compared to what I have come to expect from developing countries. Phnom Penh has a beautiful waterfront and very clean hotels. Also, and this goes for Cambodians as a whole, everyone speaks at least some English if not good English (way more than in Thailand).
On my first full day in Phnom Penh, I booked a combined tour, through my hostel, of The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum (a converted school that became S-21, the torture center for the Khmer Rouge). The Killing Fields are located about 30 minutes outside the city. The site consisted of a small museum which hosted black and white photographs and a little theater that showed a movie about the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge. After the film, you are free to walk along the grounds, following paths that lead you around the depressions that were once mass graves (You can still find, recently exposed, bits of clothing pushing up through the ground.) . The strangest thing about the place is that the environment there is so lovely. Anywhere else in the world and this would be a quiet little park. The centerpiece of the whole thing is the mausoleum of bones. After the fall of the regime, Cambodian officials excavated the graves and began cataloging the remains. After that was completed, the thought was to cremate them, in line with Buddhist tradition, but instead it was determined that the dead would be better served with a stupa that would remind the world of what happened here. A giant white tower was constructed around a ten or twelve story wooden tomb that houses the roughly 9,000 human skulls. It's encased in glass so you can actually see the bones. Even when you see it, you can't truly grasp what happened in this place; it's beyond the scope.
Stupa at The Killing Fields
Stupa at The Killing Fields
After finishing at the Fields, we were shuttled to Tuol Sleng, which is actually in the center of Phnom Penh, near my hostel. This was really creepy as it looks just like an old school. Inside the classrooms are the original torture chambers with the rusted iron bed-frames the prisoners were chained to, along with their actual shackles and waste boxes. On the walls are graphic photographs taken of the last victims found dead when the the center was liberated. On other levels are photo exhibits. Victims were photographed as they entered so there are literally thousands of pictures of these poor souls awaiting the end. In some they looked shocked or resigned, others look fierce and resolved, a few are even smiling. One of the last and most interesting rooms contained photos from a Swedish delegation of Maoists that was allowed to visit during the reign of Pol Pot. Each of the delegations' photos is bordered by two sets of writings from one particular delegate. The delegate explains his thoughts and perspectives at the time of his visit and how they have since changed. Under the last photograph, the delegate expresses his deep regret for his support of the regime and thus aiding its propoganda. He signs his name and asks for forgiveness.
On my first full day in Phnom Penh, I booked a combined tour, through my hostel, of The Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng Museum (a converted school that became S-21, the torture center for the Khmer Rouge). The Killing Fields are located about 30 minutes outside the city. The site consisted of a small museum which hosted black and white photographs and a little theater that showed a movie about the rise and fall of the Khmer Rouge. After the film, you are free to walk along the grounds, following paths that lead you around the depressions that were once mass graves (You can still find, recently exposed, bits of clothing pushing up through the ground.) . The strangest thing about the place is that the environment there is so lovely. Anywhere else in the world and this would be a quiet little park. The centerpiece of the whole thing is the mausoleum of bones. After the fall of the regime, Cambodian officials excavated the graves and began cataloging the remains. After that was completed, the thought was to cremate them, in line with Buddhist tradition, but instead it was determined that the dead would be better served with a stupa that would remind the world of what happened here. A giant white tower was constructed around a ten or twelve story wooden tomb that houses the roughly 9,000 human skulls. It's encased in glass so you can actually see the bones. Even when you see it, you can't truly grasp what happened in this place; it's beyond the scope.
Stupa at The Killing Fields
Stupa at The Killing Fields
After finishing at the Fields, we were shuttled to Tuol Sleng, which is actually in the center of Phnom Penh, near my hostel. This was really creepy as it looks just like an old school. Inside the classrooms are the original torture chambers with the rusted iron bed-frames the prisoners were chained to, along with their actual shackles and waste boxes. On the walls are graphic photographs taken of the last victims found dead when the the center was liberated. On other levels are photo exhibits. Victims were photographed as they entered so there are literally thousands of pictures of these poor souls awaiting the end. In some they looked shocked or resigned, others look fierce and resolved, a few are even smiling. One of the last and most interesting rooms contained photos from a Swedish delegation of Maoists that was allowed to visit during the reign of Pol Pot. Each of the delegations' photos is bordered by two sets of writings from one particular delegate. The delegate explains his thoughts and perspectives at the time of his visit and how they have since changed. Under the last photograph, the delegate expresses his deep regret for his support of the regime and thus aiding its propoganda. He signs his name and asks for forgiveness.
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