The four of us headed to Phnom Penh for a night in a minibus - from Siem Reap to Phom Penh took about 5 hours. Our plan was to go see the killing fields, S21 and the Grand Palace then head back to Siem Reap the next afternoon at the latest - because J and Lyn had a flight to Switzerland the day after.
It was a short and sweet trip down to the Capital, it was also a bit depressing considering the places and events we were visiting. Unfortunately we didn't get to visit the grand Palace and see the Silver Pagoda because just days before we arrived in Phnom Penh the Old King of Cambodia had died, so the Palace was shut.
Ann's hand was attacked by some sort of insect, bud bug, flee, alien from one of the guest houses!!! Dirty Beasts!!!
The Old King of Cambodia passed away at the beginning of the week - the country had gone into mourning and many were gathering at the Grand Palace in the Capital to pay their respects and pray.
Cambodians wore a little black or white ribbon on their shirts as symbol of their great loss, many shops and businesses were closed and people milled around.
 |
| Gates of the Grand Palace |
We got our tuk tuk man to take us around the city for an hour to show us some of the sights so we didn't feel so rush rush rush and we got a bit better perspective of Phnom Penh.
S21 and the Killing Fields are spaces that belong to the legacy of the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide Regime they imposed on Cambodia. Most people in Cambodia would have a family member or close friend who was taken and killed during this crazy dictatorship. Over a 3rd of the population was slaughtered. S21 was a holding prison where torturous things happened and the Killing Fields was a place where peoples lives were secretly ended. Now they are amazing - eye-opening - informative spaces, and you would have to be heartless not to feel moved by the recollections of the events that lead to the horrible death of so many innocent Cambodians. The eeriness of these spaces echoed a message to the world. Never let this happen again! There is much to say about these spaces but words feel pathetic in extending the horror of what happened - all we could do was take in the information and show our respects to those who were taken from their families so abruptly. We didn't take many photos of this area as it doesn't feel right or respectful - what did happen though was we all went at our own pace through the spaces, listened to the audio guide and ended up shocked and moved, slightly depressed and ultimately struck for words.
 |
| memorial at the killing fields |
 |
| One of the only living survivors of S21 - he was useful to the Khmer Rouge - as an artist. |
On a lighter note, we did see some fun stuff in Phnom Penh - like the Chuck Norris Dim Sum shop - where we Kung-Fu'ed ourselves silly with delicious Dim Sums.
The Palace was all lit up and many people gathered and Monks prayed for their Old King - it was a spectacular sight and very respectful.
No comments:
Post a Comment