PHNOM PHEN

Somehow I was under the impression that Phenom Phen was primitive, dirty, and seedy.  Instead, I found a charming city overlooking a river, full of nice restaurants, cafes, bars, hotels, and shops.

I will concede that the backpacker area by the lake is a little dirty (filthy sheep are permitted to wander the dirt roads).

We went to the shooting range (on an old army training base) to fire off some pistols and AK-47s.   Before we started, the guy running the range offered us chickens, claiming “moving target more fun.”   He was probably right, but we declined.  Shooting the pistol was fun, but was nothing compared to the AK-47.  Just a little squeeze of the trigger unleashes so much destructive power, and even with the ear protection, it was deafening.  I was actually somewhat relieved when my 30 rounds were up.

It’s hard to believe kids 10 years younger than I were drafted to run around the jungle shooting these things.

The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum stands on the site of the Khmer Rouge’s S-21 prison camp.  As you might already know, Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 until 1978.  Their aim was to turn the country back to “Year Zero,” where people lived off the land.  To this end, the entire population of Cambodia’s urban areas was evacuated from their homes and forced to march into rural areas to work the fields (Phenom Penh was emptied in 48 hours).  Every man, woman, and child was forced into slave labor for 12-15 hours each day.  The Khmer Rouge executed anyone who was deemed “educated” (including anyone wearing glasses), and destroyed most of the vehicles and machines in the city.  An estimated two million people (21% of Cambodia's population) lost their lives.  Many of these victims were brutally tortured and executed; many more died of starvation, exhaustion, and disease.  It’s hard to comprehend the motivations behind the Cambodian genocide.  How can anyone think it’s a good idea to evacuate the cities, force everyone to work in the fields, and torture and kill anyone perceived to be educated, anyone who may disagree with the grand plan, and a good number of people at random (just to keep everyone else in line)?  And how could someone so insane actually come to power?

Fear was a prevailing motivator in the regime, and S-21 was instrumental in this.  You did not want to get sent to S-21.  Prisoners were comprised of engineers, technicians, intellectuals, teachers, students, etc.  Whole families of the prisoners, including newly born babies, were taken there en masse to be exterminated.

Prisoners were shackled to iron bars in the most horrendous living conditions, and subjected to the following regulations:

The guards routinely tortured and executed prisoners.  But the guards were also, in a way, victims.  The Khmer Rouge selected and trained children between the ages of 10 and 15 to work as guards.  One has to think these kids started out all right, but they apparently grew accustomed to committing horrendous acts of torture and murder.  How could they do this?  At the outset, at least, probably for fear that if they didn’t, they would suffer the same fate as the prisoners.

On a brighter note, we celebrated Keith’s 29th birthday in Phnom Penh.  You may recognize the guy to my right from the Hmong Hill Tribe trek pictures (Wayne the Brit).  You probably won’t recognize the other guy (Trevor from Pacific Beach).

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