oday we continue our journey east on HW NH6, which connects Siem Reab to the capital of Phnom Penh; the total distant being 315 km. The ride on the NH6 was terrible with many potholes, narrow two-lane road and speeding taxis running between Phnom Penh and Siem Reab, who had no regards whatsoever for motorcyclist. Between the NH67 (from last week) and NH6, I would have to say my ride in Cambodia so far had been disappointing and uninspiring.
We stopped in Kampong Thom, located midway between Siem Reab and Phnom Penh, to spend the night in a home-stay that also doubled as a daycare/ school for the local teenage and children. That night the teacher asked me to sit in with the class and to converse with the students in English. We spoke about the histories of Thailand and Cambodia, the resent boom in the tourism industry (lead by Angkor Wat) and various pop culture topics – music, movies and so forth. The students were especially interested in current trends and fashion and to my surprise none of them had access to the internet/computer. Most of them had never even been to Siem Reab nor Phnom Penh and that when it hit me how truly poor they were. For the pass 2 years Cambodia had gone through an economic boom; yet, judging from what I’ve seen, the wealth clearly hasn’t trickled down to the general masses. On the other hand, the prosperity has been concentrated in the big cities among the country’s elite.
The following day we continued on the NH6 for the capital of Phnom Penh. As we were approaching the city I couldn’t believe all the Lexus and Hummer’s I saw on the road, there were construction everywhere and clearly Phnom Penh was a city on the move. From the outskirt of the city we rode towards our hotel, which was located downtown directly across from the Royal Palace. On the way you could see a lot of old colonial architecture being renovated, the wats was gleaming and they were many modern restaurants all over the city. Driving along the riverfront you could swear it was the French Rivera, it looked just like Nice, St.Tropez or even Cannes. We passed the central market better known as Psar Thmei, an old dark-yellow Art Deco structure located in the middle of the city. I had never seen a building like this in my life and was surprised to find it in Phnom Penh - which was exactly my point; Phnom Penh was a city full of surprises.
It was also hard to believe that only 33 years ago in 1975 the Khmer Rouge came in an evacuated the entire city, announcing that Phnom Penh was about to be bomb by the Americans and all residents must leave the city for their own safety. Little did they know this was to be the beginning of one of bloodiest revolution in history with million of lives being lost, an auto genocide. The entire population was forced into slave labor working 15 hours a day. Any form of disobedience was dealt with through execution. Cambodia was cut off from the outside world and the arrival of Khmer Rouge rule was known as Year Zero. Our local guide, Suwat, was 13 at the time - he told us the only thing on his mind then was having enough to eat and surviving day by day; furthermore, he also told us half of his family died during this horrendous period.
The following day we visited remnants of the Khmer Rouge regime under the leadership of Pol Pot. The Tuol Sleng Museum was a former high school converted into a prison known as Security Prison 21 (S-21). From 1975 to 1978 it served as the largest detention and torture center in the entire country. It plainly provided evidence to the crimes of the Khmer Rouge: former classrooms were converted into torture chambers, instruments of torture were left untouched, black & white photograph of prisoners were displayed throughout the corridor. Walking through the museum was very depressing; the fact the prison was a former high school with playing fields and basketball courts only made things gloomier.
After Tuol Sleng we rode 15 km from central Phnom Penh to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. From 1975 -1978 roughly 17,000 prisoners detained and tortured at Tuol Sleng were sent to the Killing Fields for extermination. The place was literally a slaughterhouse, fragments of human bone and cloth can still be found through out the grounds. To save bullets, the Khmer Rouge bludgeoned the prisoners while at the same time blaring loud music so people in the surrounding area couldn’t hear the cries & moans - the prisoners were then buried in mass graves throughout the fields.
I had heard and read many accounts of the brutality of the Khmer Rouge regime. I had seen the movie “The Killing Fields” many times. However, once you were actually there, where these atrocities occurred, the magnitude of the horror hits you even harder. You truly see what human beings were capable of doing once taken over by their dark side. Very rarely had I seen and experienced evil of this enormity. I asked myself was it necessary for the presence Cambodian authorities to leave Tuol Sleng and the Killing Fields untouched like the way I saw it – my conclusion was it was needed so history does not repeat itself. Some people may ask how can a genocide of this proportion possibly happen again in this day and age, it’s 2008 for Christ sake! It doesn’t take much to answer the question, just look at Darfur.
I left Phnom Penh with mixed feelings. A part of me was happily surprised by a city that was truly rediscovering itself. Another part of me was horridly affected by the events that took placed there 30 odd years ago. Next week we visit a promising orphanage, we then continue our journey to the southern coast of Cambodia where we were in for more surprises.
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