The previous Cambodia-related post already hinted at the existence of countless "killing fields" within an only now gradually recovering country. Being tourists and all, we visited the most renowned of these sites, Choeung Ek, a former orchard / Chinese graveyard just outside of the capital. Most people will know this site from the movie "The Killing Fields" (worth checking out on video/DVD btw!).
The Choeung Ek site features several mass graves. 8895 bodies have already been uncovered in several shallow graves, but there remain many more. The government has decided not to dig up the estimated remaining 9000 bodies because they believe the point has been made. Many of the dead were former inmates of the earlier discussed Tuol Sleng prison camp.
Grasping your mind around the reasons behind and the amount of executions at Choeung Ek (remember, this was only one of an estimated 150+ killing fields), we were also troubled by the brutal way most were executed. In order to save ammunition, most "traitors" were struck and tortured to death and often even buried alive. Children and women were also not spared. To step right back into the reality of that time, just examine the above picture closely.
At present, Choeung Ek fulfills a role as a memorial with a grand white Buddhist stupa in the center of the site. All four sides of the stupa are made from glass so visitors can see the +5000 human skulls displayed inside. The lower section is also open to the public, which gives visitors the chance to view the skulls op close. From up close, you can see that many skulls have fractures or even miss whole pieces of bone. But the signs, stories, pictures, and skulls are not the only links to the awful Khmer Rouge legacy.
Walking around the grounds and the many shallow mass graves, you literally walk over unrecovered bones and pieces of worn-out clothing. It is impossible to describe the feeling that lingers over this place, even in between all the kackling and photo-snapping tourists. The picture below, for instance, is a human jawbone (incl. teeth) that we came across. Our guide told us that bones got washed up all time, especially during the wet season.
The whole experience was deeply disturbing and remained difficult to comprehend as our generation has fortunately never experienced any war or genocides. The feeling we got when walking over so many people's graves remains one of our strongest and darkest memories of our world trip.
Konichiwa loyal viewers! What happened to the blog? Where's our frequent dose of travel tales and woes? Well, we have been quite busy from the moment we got home. In fact, we are so busy that we did not get the opportunity yet to further develop the blog with the final destinations: Vietnam, China, Japan, Hong Kong, and Dubai. Any available free time was used to develop a 2-hour road movie and a photo DVD instead. At the moment, we are not sure when we can continue to build the site. We'll try to keep you posted though. Hopefully you won't have to wait until Chel & Sois' WorldWide Adventures - Part II ;-) Anyways, thanks for the support and the warm homecoming. Keep those fingers crossed, and... till we blog again! Best wishes,
