One of the most impressionable days on this trip has been the one we spent in Phnom Penh. We arrived late afternoon on the 28th and were picked up by a tuk-tuk driver, Mr. Borith, who patiently took us to a few hotels until we found a reasonably-priced one. His personality warmed us and we hired him the next day for a city tour.
The next morning we spent visiting the S-21 prison and the Killing Fields memorial, sites of the Cambodian genocide under Pol Pot.
S-21. A former secondary school turned to Security Center (prison) in 1975 after the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh. Classrooms were converted into prison cells and interrogation rooms. Graphic photos of the prisoners held and tortured here - mostly former doctors, teachers, intellectuals - now hang on the walls.
The Killing Fields. 8000+ people were tortured, killed and buried here in heaps on mass graves. Often entire families, elderly and children. In memoriam, their clothes and bones have been placed in a Buddhist shrine in the compound.
For more info:
What made the day particularly emotional was hearing a first-hand account from Mr. Borith, now the sole survivor of his entire family. In 1975, his father, a professor, his mother, a clerk, his older brother, an electrician, his sister, a university student were separated and sent to different camps. Their traces disappeared among the estimated 1.2 million people who lost their lives during the Khmer Rouge.
Mr. Borith is now married, has 2 kids and drives a tuk-tuk for a living. His story humbled us.
If you ever go to Phnom Penh and need a guide, you can reach him by e-mail:borith1964@yahoo.com
EK
No comments:
Post a Comment