Phnom Penh
In a country that has been plunged into hell, it's ironic that it seems like we can touch the clouds of the heavens in Cambodia. When our plane landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, we were looking for the airport. Finally we saw an orangish pink strip mall like structure, and there it was.
Going from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, I thought it was a bit smaller than I had expected. Low buildings by the Tonle Sap river, markets and motos everywhere, and streets numbers that don't quite make sense.
Forced to spend one day in Phnom Penh before heading to Siem Reap by boat, I went to the Killing Fields 15km from town. In the middle of the field, a pagoda structure stood tall. There was something inside, the only remains of the killing fields is a tower made from human bones and skulls, locked in glass inside the memorial pagoda. The killing fields is a soul wretching lesson in Cambodia history.
In a small field no bigger than the park near my house in Canada, over 20,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge communist regime. The revolution for a farmer utopia executed families of intellectuals, engineers, teachers, basically anyone with education. They killed men, women, children, and even babies. Everything in the field has been excavated, but documents reveal approximately the number of people who died along with how they died. These tales of horror were told to us by our Khmer tour guide, who added "this is was very very cruel, very very sad" after almost every sentence. Cambodians are still recovering from the trauma of the Khmer Rouge days.
I asked the tour guide how he does his job. I not only admired his emotional restraint, but was shocked by how calm he could say the shocking things he said. He told me that he couldn't at first, but then he realized that this story was something he could give. And if he doesn't give, people will never know. Just like the Cambodian people never got an answer from Pol Pot as he died naturally without any arrest. And now, all the ex-Khmer Rouge officials put the blame on the dead man.
Many people lost their families and ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers or officials keep their past as quiet as possible, although they are not actually in any danger. I asked another Cambodia in Phnom Penh why they don't confront the well known Khmer Rouge officials still living near the Thai border in Cambodia. His answer was as poignent as it was moving. He said: "We all want answers, and some of us might want revenge. But we are so grateful now that there is some law and order in our country that we would not break the law for our own cause."
I have never been to such a sad place in my whole life. I was moved to tears. In fact, I couldn't stop crying at all the entire hour I was there.
Coincidentally, that night Nick informed me about "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea's arrest that day. I told the news to our friend Vuthy, whose internet cafe we frequented in PP. Seeing him print out the Reuters article and traslating it excitedly to the other Cambodians at the cafe gave me only a little reassurance after the day's hard lessons.
In a country that has been plunged into hell, it's ironic that it seems like we can touch the clouds of the heavens in Cambodia. When our plane landed in Phnom Penh, Cambodia's capital, we were looking for the airport. Finally we saw an orangish pink strip mall like structure, and there it was.Going from Bangkok to Phnom Penh, I thought it was a bit smaller than I had expected. Low buildings by the Tonle Sap river, markets and motos everywhere, and streets numbers that don't quite make sense.
Forced to spend one day in Phnom Penh before heading to Siem Reap by boat, I went to the Killing Fields 15km from town. In the middle of the field, a pagoda structure stood tall. There was something inside, the only remains of the killing fields is a tower made from human bones and skulls, locked in glass inside the memorial pagoda. The killing fields is a soul wretching lesson in Cambodia history.
In a small field no bigger than the park near my house in Canada, over 20,000 people were executed by the Khmer Rouge communist regime. The revolution for a farmer utopia executed families of intellectuals, engineers, teachers, basically anyone with education. They killed men, women, children, and even babies. Everything in the field has been excavated, but documents reveal approximately the number of people who died along with how they died. These tales of horror were told to us by our Khmer tour guide, who added "this is was very very cruel, very very sad" after almost every sentence. Cambodians are still recovering from the trauma of the Khmer Rouge days.
I asked the tour guide how he does his job. I not only admired his emotional restraint, but was shocked by how calm he could say the shocking things he said. He told me that he couldn't at first, but then he realized that this story was something he could give. And if he doesn't give, people will never know. Just like the Cambodian people never got an answer from Pol Pot as he died naturally without any arrest. And now, all the ex-Khmer Rouge officials put the blame on the dead man.
Many people lost their families and ex-Khmer Rouge soldiers or officials keep their past as quiet as possible, although they are not actually in any danger. I asked another Cambodia in Phnom Penh why they don't confront the well known Khmer Rouge officials still living near the Thai border in Cambodia. His answer was as poignent as it was moving. He said: "We all want answers, and some of us might want revenge. But we are so grateful now that there is some law and order in our country that we would not break the law for our own cause."
I have never been to such a sad place in my whole life. I was moved to tears. In fact, I couldn't stop crying at all the entire hour I was there.
Coincidentally, that night Nick informed me about "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea's arrest that day. I told the news to our friend Vuthy, whose internet cafe we frequented in PP. Seeing him print out the Reuters article and traslating it excitedly to the other Cambodians at the cafe gave me only a little reassurance after the day's hard lessons.
This entry was posted by cheapculture, on
Thursday, October 04, 2007.
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