Day 13 Saturday 4th April Phenom Penh City Tour, Royal Palace, Killing Fields, Markets and Genocide Museum

It is hard to describe how we felt about today. Our excursion was so good in the sense, we had our eyes opened to many things that we really only had a sketchy knowledge about, and we learnt so much about the terrible atrocities committed here. I think we were extremely lucky to have our guide, Borey take us to the more confronting places as his family had been directly affected by the Pol Pot regime. We started the day with a visit to magnificent the Royal Palace. Beautiful gardens, grand buildings, gold and silver everywhere, a 600mt frieze depicting historical stories, were all appreciated. The current King is the son of the much-beloved King who ruled Cambodia while it was under various regimes. From here we were driven to The Killing Fields. Here we walked around just one of the killing fields used by the Pol Pot regime to kill men, women and children. There were over 340 killing fields in Cambodia and estimated that 3 million people were killed. Educated people, doctors, professionals, lawyers, politicians, academics and their families were all killed to ensure no one would question or challenge what was happening. The guides for the fields must have some direct connection to what happened and our guide told us his story. His Mother, Father, older sister and brother were living in Phenom Pehn in 1975 when Pol Pot took over. (Borey was born, in the early 1980’s and so wasn’t around then.) Pol Pot did not like Phenom Pehn and people living there were warned that the US would start bombing the city due to the new regime. People left the city in droves including his family.  His father was a doctor but had dark brown skin and so said he was a driver. This meant he wasn’t targeted. Borey said his Uncle who was an academic was taken away and killed. The family walked for several days to go to Siem Reap and his brother died on the way. The family worked on farms from 1975 until 1979, three years and eight months. They returned to devastation in Phenom Phen but gradually rebuilt their lives. We walked through the killing fields and saw the places where so many people had been murdered. It was absolutely overwhelming, but we are glad we saw it. We returned to the city and enjoyed a delicious lunch at a restaurant overlooking the Sap River. From here we went to a huge market and spent 45 minutes walking around and some of our group made purchases. Our final stop was Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This museum was once a high school and the regime turned it into a prison and interrogation centre, one of many spread throughout Phenom Phen and the rest of Cambodia. There were four school buildings and once again the various displays were extremely confronting. The tiny cells had been left and there were many photos of people who had passed through the centre. Most were interrogated and killed. The outside yard had the graves of fourteen men who were still in the prison when the new government took over, and they were given graves as a memorial to all who had been killed there. There were many trees planted and lots of grass and greenery to try to soften the environment. We met two brothers who were survivors of the prison. They were there as young boys with their parents. Their parents were killed but the boys were taken by a family and went to an orphanage and survived the regime. Borey said it took his father until 1983 to tell the government he was a doctor as he just didn’t trust anyone. He was able to go back to practising medicine. After such a an emotionally draining day, we returned to the hotel for a swim in the rooftop pool and drinks and dinner in the bar, as the sun was setting. We were so grateful we are to have had the lives we have had.

















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