The dark side of Cambodia: The Killing Fields and S-21 Prison (blog and vlog)

Hey steemit friends

It was so hard for me to blog about this because it brought back so many bad memories but sometimes you have to do the hard things to benefit others. Take time to read and watch my vlog because it is not easy going to these kinds of places!!

Choeung Ek Phnom Penh is one of the notorious Killing Fields of the Khmer Rouge and the largest one found with around 20,000 people were brutally murdered and buried in mass graves. In the killing felids there actually isn’t so much to see, but what you do see will stay with you forever. I would recommend taking the audio guide you will hear firsthand accounts. It will also go with the grisly pieces of evidence scattered around the site. The thing that I first notice straight away was the silence here, the still and sad atmosphere. another thing I notice when I looked around was the faces of shock faces as people heard the same extraordinarily punishing stories of the horrors that took places at Choeung Ek Phnom Penh.

Every time it rains here more teeth, scraps of clothing and bones are revealed. on a dry day, you can still see many bones sticking out of the soil and pieces of clothing were tangled with the roots of trees. Seeing these things really emphasise the truth of what happened here and the lives that were lost.

Probably the most disgusting part was when I heard about the killing tree where babies would be smashed against its rugged bark until their brains were painted on it. Their mothers made to look on in torment only to be killed after they had underwent the ultimate loss.

At the centre of the site, there was a monument of 8,000 skulls staring back at us.

The next stop was back to the city to visit the S-21 prison in Phnom Penh which was originally a high school, but it was transformed into the notorious “Security 21” prison by Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979. The reason why it was called 21 was because that was the radio number of a former prison chief. The Khmer Rouge arrested and killed anyone they saw as a threat for example people linked to the previous government, as well as educated people and scholars. Thousands of Cambodians were restrained, questioned, and tortured.

IN 1979 the invading Vietnamese army discovered the prison, and then was opened as a historical museum in 1980. When you inside you can learn about the terrible and cruel things that happened under Pol Pot’s rule. Upon imprisonment and entrance at S-21, prisoners were systematically documented and photographed. The walls of the lower level exhibits are covered with photos of prisoners - now all dead. The reason why they did that was because they had to provide proof that they were carrying out their duties to their superiors or risk falling victim to their own forces' violence.

The Khmer Rouge liked to use water torture by suspending people by their feet into barrels of water. It got so bad that people admitted to things they hadn’t done, just so that the torture would stop. Once they gave up the names, their family members were arrested, tortured and killed too.

A visit to the killing felids and prison 21 makes you feel angry and sad, and I could never understand why human beings would do this but as part of my travels, I want to see and understand a country’s history.

Ps. Remember though, there is more to Cambodia than its dark past, so make time to explore other parts of Cambodia like Siem Reap Angkor Wat or even different places in Phnom Penh. It’s a beautiful country, with amazing people.