november_12_2001

Again, we rented a moto drive to take us around for the day. We arrived at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. This is one of hundreds of such fields located through Camodia. An estimated 17,000 people we killed, most clubbed to death to save amunition. These people were first incarcerated at Tuol Sleng. There they we coerced into signing confessions, tortured, and many put to death through devious means. At the killing field our moto driver acted as a tour guide. There are over 120 mass graves in the area. If you look closely, you can see human bones on the paths we walked between them. They set up a monument in 1988 with thousands of skulls to commemorate the dead. It really moved us to realize these tragic events were happening just after Jen was born. Brad was busy as kid playing football and hockey.

From the Choeung Ek we went to the Tuol Sleng musem. A bit much to tackle emotionally in one day. Jennifer was not prepare for what she saw. It was a good thing we watched "The Killing Fields" in Bangkok because this was the first she had learned about this historical event. Tuel Sleng is a former high school transformed into a prison and torture chamber. We walked into the rooms where officals were tortured and strapped to beds. We read the rules the prisoners were to follow. In another section the picture of the victims were posted on the walls. The Khmer guards were meticulous in their record keeping. We touched devices used to torture and murder innocent victimes. One of the school buildings was turned into prison with individual cells on the bottom and mass detentions in the upper floors were 20 people were shackeled by their legs to a long pole. The final section had an artist renditions of the way the Khmer Rough tortured its victims. One pictured a man throwing a baby into the air with another shooting it as if it were a clay pigeon. Jen was left crying at the horrible sights. Who would do such a thing? After a full morning our moto drivers were ready to take us to the next atraction, but needed to go our room and just relax. We were definately overwhelmed. Our drivers had lost family during these events and yet carry such a positive approach to life.

Since then we have been walking around the city. We bought a cast iron Buddha that is awesome. He is in the pose of the first sermon which puts the wheels of Dharma in motion. We visited the National Museum which holds many artifacts from the various temples, and saw the silver pagoda with the Emerald Buddha.

This has been a hard place for us to be we and we have talked much about our experiences. The two things that nourish ours souls are being in beautiful places and interacting with people on a personal level. Neither of these exists here. Well, actually, the beauty of this place is the people, but because we are easily identifiable as tourists, they are always pulling at us to buy something. To survive, one has to ignore, tune out and move on. I bet we say "no thank you" 200 times a day. The problem is not them but us. They are excellent sales people and do not take anything personally, but we take everything personally. It is not our nature to shut out people, especially kids and people with disabilities. These two things exist every where. Since Cambodia is so heavily land mined, there are mine victims everywhere begging for money. It is impossible to walk out of our gated Guesthouse and not be confronted with horrible sites and sounds. And yet the people are happy. They have survived, and the future looks bright. It is good for us to be confronted daily, because it makes us realize how easy it is to divert our gaze or avoid the ugliness at home. Out of sight out of mind is too often the popular approach whwer we come from. We are saddened to see tourist obsessed with ticking off the sights to see in the Lonely Planet, and we wonder if they take a moment to really see the people. Or maybe we are just to sappy, but we do not want to change our approach to life.

Well, we can say we survived Phnom Phen. It is the wild, wild west of SE Asia, where anything goes if you know the ins and outs.. Motorcycles instead of horses, vans instead of stagecoaches and dirt roads and dust. It has been a wild ride to say the least. Tomorrow we are off to Saigon, Vietnam. We hear the kids and moto drivers are more relentless and we are trying to prepare ourselves. We are thinking about looking into renting a moto ourselves and driving up the coast. We want to get off the tourist trail and create our own experiences if we can. Vietnam is probably not the place for this happen as they are less tourist friendly so if not there, then in Laos.

Pictures of Phnom Phen
Pictures of the Killing Fields and Tuol Sleng
Pictures of Ankgor Wat and temples

Talk with you on down the road partner.....