Day 3 - Palaces, prisons and the killing fields of Cambodia

Team Itinerary Overview

Royal Palace

Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Security Prison 21 (S-21)

Killing Field of Choeung Ek

Cycling: none!

Terrain: hot and flat
Team Spirit: interested in Cambodia's past

Overnight: Phnom Penh

WARNING: Content of today's blog may distress some readers.

Tigers don’t kill tigers

It was a largely sombre fourth day for the Windermere Adventure Challenge team as they were given an intimate insight into one of the world’s greatest modern tragedies – the murder and starvation by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot of over two million of his countrymen from 1975 to ’79.

The tour took in the S21 Genocide Centre, a converted school where 17,000 prisoners were tortured before being taken to an old Chinese cemetery on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, brutally executed and buried in series of mass graves. It is now known as the Killing Fields.

“A tiger is a very savage beast, but tigers don’t kill tigers. Not Pol Pot, he is Khmer but killed millions of Khmer people,” said our guide Bunnareth, who was a child at the time and lost four of his direct family members in the killing spree.

  

When assuming power, the Khmer Rouge burned the markets, abolished the monetary system, tore down schools, hospitals and monuments and eliminated national culture. Cities were cleared as people were forced into rural areas, effectively to starve. Skilled people were the first on the list for execution and anyone who could impart any knowledge of the past. That’s why there are few older people visible when touring around the country. A generation was effectively wiped out.

An inscription on the wall of the Killing Fields Museum explained that the Khmer Rouge had “transformed Cambodian soil into a mountain of bones and a sea of blood driving society back to the Stone Age”.

The Challenge team went from S21 to the Killing Fields and came away with more questions than answers.

How could someone do this to his own people? Why was he allowed to die a natural death, albeit under house arrest? Why haven’t most of those responsible been brought to justice in the three decades that have passed?

The Cambodians have left S21 pretty much as it was when it was liberated in 1979, with only seven of the 17,000 that passed through its walls alive to tell the tale. Photos of the victims adorn the walls, torture equipment still sits in the cells and blood stain remains on the walls. The prisoners were not allowed to even talk back then, for fear of a conspiracy or uprising.

They are talking now though. They don’t want the world to forget the atrocities.

Tour guide Bron scuttled off to check the photos, as he does every time he comes. His aunty is up there somewhere. In the bus on the way home he shared his experience, saying his mother didn’t say a lot about that period, but did occasionally speak through unexpected tears.

Bunnareth pointed to a photo on the wall of a mother holding a baby. “He is a crazy man, Pol Pot, he kill anything. Why would he kill a baby, babies don’t know anything, they don’t talk.”

Melbourne businessman Geoff Bainbridge was fascinated by the faces staring back at us as we moved through the four blocks.

 “It’s probably not right to say this, but the photography was so brilliant, raw human emotion coming out of the images. If you saw them hanging in a gallery you would comment on how brilliant they were,” he said

Pakenham hairdresser Suellen Conway cried through most of the tour and couldn’t talk about it for a while afterwards.

  

“I just felt so sorry for the guides and their connection with the whole thing… the fact they shared their stories made it more personal.

“Looking at the photos on the wall and standing in the room where it all happened was a bit confronting, especially when you realise it wasn’t that long ago. They were not allowed any emotion. They couldn’t talk, cry, anything. It’s just so sad.”

James Wynne found it all a bit hard to comprehend.

“I haven’t heard of genocide when you kill your own people. The Nazis killed Jews, not their own people,” he mused.

“It was incredible Pol Pot was able to flee. Where’s the justice in that?”

Of the seven who survived S21, only two are still alive. One of those. Chum Mey, had a stand signing books at $10 a pop. Most in the group now own one.

After lunch, it was on to the Killing Fields and an equally confronting tour of the mass graves.

At one stage Bunnareth squatted before one of the pits and took the group through the methods used to kill the prisoners. He pointed out bone and clothing fragments protruding out of the ground.

  

There were 450 bodies found in one mass grave and 166 in another… headless. Only six months ago a farmer was excavating nearby and found another 20 bodies.

Bunnareth pointed out the branches of a sugarplum tree, which have a sharp, serrated edge and were used to cut the throats of prisoners.

Perhaps the most confronting for most was the place where soldiers picked up babies by the feet, cracked them against the tree and threw their lifeless bodies into the nearby pit. The fence around that infant mass grave is now adorned with a colourful array of bands and bracelets.

Shanae ‘Shorty’ Brookes took off her orange Windermere band and added to the collection. Thanks to Shorty, we had left our mark.

The day began on a brighter note with a trip to the Royal Palace – its magnificent buildings and pristine grounds.

Our guides came dressed for the occasion as a mark of respect. We had to comply as well. In sweltering conditions, we had to have knees and shoulders covered and shoes and hats had to be removed when entering the room full of trinkets

 

When leaving the palace, our guides deliberately kept co-team leader Carina Tomietto busy while everyone piled on the bus and they surprised her with a cake for her birthday. The day ended with another celebration for Carina’s birthday with the team at the riverside Titanic restaurant.

Tomorrow it’s off to the New Hope for Cambodian Children Orphanage.

How people saw the day...

Geoff Bainbridge

I made a note while walking around that it amounted to two and a half million people killed between my 5^th and 11^th birthdays. The rules of death were clearly spelled out – keep quiet, stand still, don’t speak, do what I tell you.

Eva Foster

It was important we got the opportunity to learn about that period in history and pay our respects to the people who went through that atrocity. It was great to hear their personal stories and connect with the country in that way.

Olivia Lyon

Such a sad experience. It is so tragic that happened to such beautiful people.

Brooke Hayward

I found myself oscillating between sadness and anger, but it does make you feel fortunate to have our way of life.

Samantha Smith

It is incredible that half the people responsible for doing that are still living a normal life in this city. It is so sad and tragic.

James Wynne

I left feeling frustrated at the lack of justice. That’s what annoyed me. It has been over 30 years and they are still squabbling through the courts. Those people should have been executed by now.

Ross Cheesewright

It was a sobering day, with thoughts for a resilient race of people.

Cath Zulian

It was a very sombre day and it’s hard to still get it all into perspective – and I can remember it happening. It was so hard for these people.

Simon Crowe.

We value life in Australia and sometimes we forget that in a lot of other parts of the world it is not that precious.

Meleea Wood

It’s hard to find words to describe it – very confronting and a bit hard to fathom how people can be that atrocious to each other.

Cath Sharp

It was just overwhelming and incomprehensible.

Brooke Thomlinson

It was a real eye opener and hard to believe. You can’t help but feel frustrated by it and feeling a little horrible for being so interested in it.

Krista Thomlinson

Distressing.

Quote of the day came from James Wynne

“We witness mass genocide and then head off to a market to buy a few trinkets… life goes on I suppose.”

Garry Howe - Editor of Star News Group
Carina Tomietto and Ann Selby, Windermere Adventure Challenge team leaders.