June
14 Thursday
National Museum of Cambodia
Inner courtyard and pond of the museum
Some of the satues displayed in the courtyard
We then crossed the street to the Royal Palace grounds.
This is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the King of Cambodia. The kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1860's, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge.
The palace was constructed after King Norodom relocated the royal capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh in the mid-19th century. It was gradually built atop an old citadel called Banteay Kev. It faces towards the East and is situated at the Western bank of the cross division of the Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River. The complex is divided by walls into three main compounds, on the north side is the Silver Pagoda (Houses many national treasures such as gold and jeweled Buddha statues. Most notable is a small 17th century baccarat crystal Buddha (the "Emerald Buddha" of Cambodia) and a near-life-size, Maitreya Buddha encrusted with 9,584 diamonds dressed in royal regalia commissioned by King Sisowath. During King Sihanouk's pre-Khmer Rouge reign, the Silver Pagoda was inlaid with more than 5,000 silver floor tiles and some of its outer facade was remodeled with Italian marble.) To the south is the Khemarin Palace (residence of the King and not accessible to the general public) and the central compound contains the Throne Hall (The central, 59 meter spire, is topped with the white, four-faced head of Brahma. Inside the Throne Hall contains a royal throne and busts of Cambodians kings of the past. This Throne Hall is the second to be built on this site. The first was constructed of wood in 1869-1870 under King Norodom. That Throne Hall was demolished in 1915. The present building was constructed in 1917 and inaugurated by King Sisowath in 1919. The building is 30x60 meters. As with all buildings and structure at the Palace, the Throne Hall faces east and is best photographed in the morning.” The buildings of the palace were built gradually overtime, and some were dismantled and rebuilt as late as the 1960s.
The Throne Hall
The Royal Coat of Arms
A zoom on the 4 faced head of Brahma
Silver Pagoda, or Wat Preah Keo Morakot, contains the Emerald Buddha
Beautiful setting, incredible gardens. guide provide a quick tour of the palace.
Tuol Sleng High School, became a Prison during Pol Pot's regime
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". The Khmer Rouge renamed the complex "Security Prison 21" (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison to the inmates: the buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent escapes.
From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng (some estimates suggest a number as high as 20,000, although the real number is unknown). At any one time, the prison held between 1,000–1,500 prisoners. They were repeatedly tortured and coerced into naming family members and close associates, who were in turn arrested, tortured and killed. In the early months of S-21's existence, most of the victims were from the previous Lon Nol regime and included soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc. Later, the party leadership's paranoia turned on its own ranks and purges throughout the country saw thousands of party activists and their families brought to Tuol Sleng and murdered. Those arrested included some of the highest ranking communist politicians such as Khoy Thoun, Vorn Vet and Hu Nim. Although the official reason for their arrest was "espionage", these men may have been viewed by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot as potential leaders of a coup against him. Prisoners' families were often brought en masse to be interrogated and later murdered at the Choeung Ek extermination center.
In 1979, the prison was uncovered by the invading Vietnamese army. In 1980, the prison was reopened by the government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea as a historical museum memorializing the actions of the Khmer Rouge regime.
They converted the classrooms into cells but using small bricks
They punched door holes into the walls to connect the classrooms from the inside
This is a sample of a cell, less than 5 feet across and slightly deeper than that. No toilet, no water, no beds, no blankets.... absolutely nothing other than the floor and a box to poop in.
These are photos of children who disappeared into the system from this prison. Some are just toddlers.
Mothers gave birth while incarcerated.
A gruesome display in one of the last rooms of the museum.
One of the notes in the Museum indicated: `Of Tuol Sleng`s 20,000 inmates, only 7 survived.`
From the Genocide Museum, we drove outside of the city to one of the Killing Fields
The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975).
Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million. In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime. Cambodian journalist Dith Pran coined the term 'killing fields' during his escape from the regime.
Choeung Ek Memorial
We visit Choeung Ek, which contains many of the mass graves as well as a commemorative stupa filled with the skulls of the victims.
Macabre, yes, but it really brings home the message of the massacres which took place in Cambodia, on the Cambodian people, by the Khmer Rouge.
The Killing Fields where the bodies were buried
Self-explanatory
This enclosure was protected. It was one of the sites where more than 100 women's and childrens' bodies were dug up. The posts were full of prayer bracelets that people had left behind. I added mine to the collection.
One of the museum notes: `Towards the end of 1980, it was discovered that 86 out of 129 mass graves were unearthed and 8,985 corpses were found; one of the graves contained 166 corpses without heads and another, more than 100 women whose majority were naked with their babies skulls beside them. The biggest mass grave contained up to 450 corpses.`
Genocide: The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Chams (Muslim Cambodians), Cambodian Christians, and the Buddhist monkhood were the demographic targets of persecution. As a result, Pol Pot is sometimes described as "the Hitler of Cambodia" and "a genocidal tyrant." Martin Shaw described the Cambodian genocide as "the purest genocide of the Cold War era."
“According to Michael Vickery, 750,000 people in Cambodia in a population of about 8 million died due to disease, overwork, and political repression. However many scholars disregard his claims because the number of victims of execution found in the mass graves is higher than his estimate for deaths from all causes during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and the civil war combined. The most widely accepted estimate, from scholar Ben Kiernan, is that about 1.7 million people were killed. It is described by the Yale University Cambodian Genocide Program as, "one of the worst human tragedies of the last century”.”
Another extremely difficult day, and a “reality check” that this type of genocide is going on still in parts of our world.
Agricultural fields near the Killing Fields
Along the back roads we took to get back to the city, huge expanse of rice fields as far as the eyes can see
Most adults wear helmets in the city, but they don't seem to bother to protect their yound ones. I saw many examples of this.
On the streets of Phnom Penh away from the tourist areas
Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables
After returning to the city we did not have to go far for dinner to a nice restaurant just across the street from our hotel.
First time we have a short walk after dinner.
Phnom Penh: Five
of us are up and ready to go at 9 am, during our free morning, to visit the
National Museum of Cambodia. It was only
a 10 minute walk away from the hotel but still incredibly hot at 9 in the
morning. The museum houses one of the world's largest collections of Khmer art. No photos allowed inside, but I got a few
pictures from the museum’s inner courtyard and from outside.
Inner courtyard and pond of the museum
Some of the satues displayed in the courtyard
We then crossed the street to the Royal Palace grounds.
The palace was constructed after King Norodom relocated the royal capital from Oudong to Phnom Penh in the mid-19th century. It was gradually built atop an old citadel called Banteay Kev. It faces towards the East and is situated at the Western bank of the cross division of the Tonle Sap River and the Mekong River. The complex is divided by walls into three main compounds, on the north side is the Silver Pagoda (Houses many national treasures such as gold and jeweled Buddha statues. Most notable is a small 17th century baccarat crystal Buddha (the "Emerald Buddha" of Cambodia) and a near-life-size, Maitreya Buddha encrusted with 9,584 diamonds dressed in royal regalia commissioned by King Sisowath. During King Sihanouk's pre-Khmer Rouge reign, the Silver Pagoda was inlaid with more than 5,000 silver floor tiles and some of its outer facade was remodeled with Italian marble.) To the south is the Khemarin Palace (residence of the King and not accessible to the general public) and the central compound contains the Throne Hall (The central, 59 meter spire, is topped with the white, four-faced head of Brahma. Inside the Throne Hall contains a royal throne and busts of Cambodians kings of the past. This Throne Hall is the second to be built on this site. The first was constructed of wood in 1869-1870 under King Norodom. That Throne Hall was demolished in 1915. The present building was constructed in 1917 and inaugurated by King Sisowath in 1919. The building is 30x60 meters. As with all buildings and structure at the Palace, the Throne Hall faces east and is best photographed in the morning.” The buildings of the palace were built gradually overtime, and some were dismantled and rebuilt as late as the 1960s.
Gates to Khemarin Palace, residence of the king and off limits to visitors
The Throne Hall
The Royal Coat of Arms
A zoom on the 4 faced head of Brahma
Silver Pagoda, or Wat Preah Keo Morakot, contains the Emerald Buddha
Beautiful setting, incredible gardens. guide provide a quick tour of the palace.
We had time to stop at a bakery/restaurant for lunch. I forget the exact name but it was something like the Green Mango. YUM
We returned to the hotel just in time for our afternoon bus excursions: Tuol Sleng Prison and then the Killing Fields
All of Phnom Penh’s residents,
including those who were wealthy and educated, were evacuated from the city and
forced to do labour on rural farms as "new people". Tuol Sleng High School was taken over by Pol Pot's forces and was turned into the S-21 prison camp, where people were detained and
tortured. Pol Pot sought a return to an agrarian economy and therefore killed
many people perceived as educated, "lazy", or political enemies. Many
others starved to death as a result of failure of the agrarian society and the
sale of Cambodia's rice to China in exchange for bullets and weaponry. The
former high school is now the Tuol Sleng
Genocide Museum, where
Khmer Rouge torture devices and photos of their victims are displayed. Choeung
Ek (The Killing
Fields), 15 kilometres (9
mi) away, where the Khmer Rouge marched prisoners from Tuol Sleng to be
murdered and buried in shallow pits, is also now a memorial to those who were
killed by the regime.
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". The Khmer Rouge renamed the complex "Security Prison 21" (S-21) and construction began to adapt the prison to the inmates: the buildings were enclosed in electrified barbed wire, the classrooms converted into tiny prison and torture chambers, and all windows were covered with iron bars and barbed wire to prevent escapes.
From 1975 to 1979, an estimated 17,000 people were imprisoned at Tuol Sleng (some estimates suggest a number as high as 20,000, although the real number is unknown). At any one time, the prison held between 1,000–1,500 prisoners. They were repeatedly tortured and coerced into naming family members and close associates, who were in turn arrested, tortured and killed. In the early months of S-21's existence, most of the victims were from the previous Lon Nol regime and included soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc. Later, the party leadership's paranoia turned on its own ranks and purges throughout the country saw thousands of party activists and their families brought to Tuol Sleng and murdered. Those arrested included some of the highest ranking communist politicians such as Khoy Thoun, Vorn Vet and Hu Nim. Although the official reason for their arrest was "espionage", these men may have been viewed by Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot as potential leaders of a coup against him. Prisoners' families were often brought en masse to be interrogated and later murdered at the Choeung Ek extermination center.
In 1979, the prison was uncovered by the invading Vietnamese army. In 1980, the prison was reopened by the government of the People's Republic of Kampuchea as a historical museum memorializing the actions of the Khmer Rouge regime.
They converted the classrooms into cells but using small bricks
They punched door holes into the walls to connect the classrooms from the inside
This is a sample of a cell, less than 5 feet across and slightly deeper than that. No toilet, no water, no beds, no blankets.... absolutely nothing other than the floor and a box to poop in.
These are photos of children who disappeared into the system from this prison. Some are just toddlers.
Mothers gave birth while incarcerated.
A gruesome display in one of the last rooms of the museum.
One of the notes in the Museum indicated: `Of Tuol Sleng`s 20,000 inmates, only 7 survived.`
From the Genocide Museum, we drove outside of the city to one of the Killing Fields
The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War (1970-1975).
Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites by the DC-Cam Mapping Program and Yale University indicate at least 1,386,734 victims. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a population of around 8 million. In 1979, communist Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime. Cambodian journalist Dith Pran coined the term 'killing fields' during his escape from the regime.
Choeung Ek Memorial
We visit Choeung Ek, which contains many of the mass graves as well as a commemorative stupa filled with the skulls of the victims.
Macabre, yes, but it really brings home the message of the massacres which took place in Cambodia, on the Cambodian people, by the Khmer Rouge.
The Killing Fields where the bodies were buried
Self-explanatory
This enclosure was protected. It was one of the sites where more than 100 women's and childrens' bodies were dug up. The posts were full of prayer bracelets that people had left behind. I added mine to the collection.
One of the museum notes: `Towards the end of 1980, it was discovered that 86 out of 129 mass graves were unearthed and 8,985 corpses were found; one of the graves contained 166 corpses without heads and another, more than 100 women whose majority were naked with their babies skulls beside them. The biggest mass grave contained up to 450 corpses.`
Genocide: The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Ethnic Vietnamese, ethnic Thai, ethnic Chinese, ethnic Chams (Muslim Cambodians), Cambodian Christians, and the Buddhist monkhood were the demographic targets of persecution. As a result, Pol Pot is sometimes described as "the Hitler of Cambodia" and "a genocidal tyrant." Martin Shaw described the Cambodian genocide as "the purest genocide of the Cold War era."
“According to Michael Vickery, 750,000 people in Cambodia in a population of about 8 million died due to disease, overwork, and political repression. However many scholars disregard his claims because the number of victims of execution found in the mass graves is higher than his estimate for deaths from all causes during the rule of the Khmer Rouge and the civil war combined. The most widely accepted estimate, from scholar Ben Kiernan, is that about 1.7 million people were killed. It is described by the Yale University Cambodian Genocide Program as, "one of the worst human tragedies of the last century”.”
Another extremely difficult day, and a “reality check” that this type of genocide is going on still in parts of our world.
Agricultural fields near the Killing Fields
Along the back roads we took to get back to the city, huge expanse of rice fields as far as the eyes can see
Most adults wear helmets in the city, but they don't seem to bother to protect their yound ones. I saw many examples of this.
On the streets of Phnom Penh away from the tourist areas
Lots of fresh fruits and vegetables
After returning to the city we did not have to go far for dinner to a nice restaurant just across the street from our hotel.
First time we have a short walk after dinner.
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