Today was definitely a highlight of the trip, but also probably the heaviest and darkest day of the trip. Today we went to S21 and the killing fields, home to millions of Cambodian deaths in only 3 years.
S21 is a former high school converted into a prison and torture centre. Much of the building hasn't been touched...right down to the blood stains still visible on the floors and the piles of sculls left on the site as a warning to other prisoners. Out of the tens of thousands of people imprisoned there in the 3 years it was operational, only 7 survives remained when it was liberated by the Vietnamese in 1978.
40 minutes out of town is the other half of the story Home to over 20 thousand deaths, part of the overall 2-3 million deaths that took place in the span of 3 years, the killing fields are exactly what they say they are. After the guards had extracted all they could from the prisoners, they were loaded into trucks in the middle of the night and taken to mass graves in the countryside to be exterminated. They warned us it would be graphic, but much of the graves have only been partially excavated, leaving bones and teeth and bits of clothing to come out of the soil over time. It's a completely eerie sensation of having to watch where you step to keep from stepping on people's bones. The centre of the grounds features a huge tower maybe 3-4 stories high, with level upon level of human sculls that they've excavated. It was definitely a lot to take in.
We were eager to get away from all that death. After a fantastic lunch at the foreign correspondents club (where all the rich English journalists hang out) we went to the royal palace (lots of photos there) and finally took a tuktuk back to the hotel.
Now it's time for a quick shower, then a nap before a nice dinner at the best restaurant in town! You're finally caught up!
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