April 13-14
Hi All,
After cruising all night we arrived at the docks in Phnom Penh around 7am in time for our 8:30am tour to the Killing Fields. The night before we watched a documentary on the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot…….ugh, this is going to be a very emotional day in the Killing Fields. Maybe half the boat decided not to go but we thought it was important to understand this horrible and tragic part of modern day history……do you remember what you were doing between 1975-1979……we were graduating Tulane University in New Orleans, getting married and starting our careers while over 2 million people we being murdered by Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge!!
“Phnom Penh, Cambodia’s busy capital, sits at the junction of the Mekong and Tonlé Sap rivers. It was a hub for both the Khmer Empire and French colonialists. On its walkable riverfront, lined with parks, restaurants and bars, are the ornate Royal Palace, Silver Pagoda and the National Museum, displaying artifacts from around the country. At the city’s heart is the massive, art deco Central Market.”
A good article on Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot: http://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-pacific-10684399
“The Khmer Rouge “Red Khmers” was the name given to the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia. It was formed in 1968 as an offshoot of the Vietnam People’s Army from North Vietnam, and allied with North Vietnam, the Viet Cong, and the Pathet Lao during the Vietnam War against the anti-communist forces from 1968 to 1975. The Khmer Rouge emerged victorious in the Cambodian Civil War, overthrew the military dictatorship of the Khmer Republic and installed their own government Democratic Kampuchea in 1975, led by Pol Pot, Nuon Chea, Ieng Sary, Son Sen, and Khieu Samphan. This was followed by the Cambodian genocide from 1975 until 1979, when the Khmer Rouge was finally removed from power by Vietnam in the Cambodian–Vietnamese War. The military power of the Khmer Rouge organization was not broken however, and a long era of guerrilla warfare involving large swaths of the Cambodian countryside began. Many different military factions were involved in the guerrilla war era and it ended around 1994.
The Khmer Rouge organization is remembered especially for orchestrating the Cambodian genocide, which resulted from the enforcement of its social engineering policies. Its attempts at agricultural reform led to widespread famine, while its insistence on absolute self-sufficiency, even in the supply of medicine, led to the death of thousands from treatable diseases such as malaria. Arbitrary executions and torture carried out by its cadres against perceived subversive elements, or during purges of its own ranks between 1975 and 1978, are considered to have constituted genocide.
The governments-in-exile (including the Khmer Rouge) held onto Cambodia’s UN seat (with considerable international support) until 1993, when the monarchy was restored and the country underwent a name change to the Kingdom of Cambodia. A year later, thousands of Khmer Rouge guerrillas surrendered themselves in a government amnesty. In 1996, a new political party, the Democratic National Union Movement, was formed by Ieng Sary, who was granted amnesty for his role as the deputy leader of the Khmer Rouge. The organization (Khmer Rouge) was largely dissolved by the mid-1990s, and finally surrendered completely in 1999. In 2014, two Khmer Rouge leaders, Nuon Chea and Kheiu Samphan, were jailed for life by a UN-backed court, which found them guilty of crimes against humanity and responsible for the deaths of up to 2 million Cambodians (Khmer), nearly a quarter of the country’s then population, during the “Killing Fields” era between 1975–1979.”
We went to the the Choeung EK killing fields (one of ~400 fields, ~20,000 killed and buried in this one field) and the S21 Prison. Somewhat like the Tibetan refugees in Nepal, we knew about the Pol Pot story but really nothing in detail. This was a most horrifying story and APT did a good job of providing guides with very personal stories. Ry, our guide, was 9-12 years old during this time……he told of his families forced evacuation of Phnom Penh….they were told the Americans were going to bomb the city and they could return in 3 days, over 2 million people were forced to leave their homes in Phnom Penh. He told us stories of not enough to eat, of his grandfather giving up his food so his sister and Ry could live, of the deaths of his aunt, uncle and both grandparents, of being taken away from his parents to live in the children’s camp, being sick and bloated, stealing food and being caught and beaten, but saved by the Commandant as Ry had saved his son earlier crossing a river (this turned out to be Sean, a guide we would have the next day), he told of the Khmer Rouge cooking them a celebratory dinner for building 3 reservoirs…..turned out the dinner was poisoned and the reservoirs were to be their graves but they were saved in time by the Vietnamese, he told of the bombs dropping and the Khmer Rouge running away from the liberating Vietnamese army and finally, he told of his family’s return to Phnom Penh and not getting their old house back…….these were very emotional stories and effected us a great deal. There was not a dry eye among us!!!
A good article on Choeung EK: http://www.cekillingfield.org/index.php/en/about-us/choeung-ek-genocidal-center.html
After the Killing Fields we went to S21 Prison: https://www.lonelyplanet.com/cambodia/phnom-penh/attractions/tuol-sleng-museum-of-genocidal-crimes/a/poi-sig/441640/355881
Seeing the brutality of the Killing Fields and the torture at the prison left many of us asking how could all this happen and nothing was done at the time…..it led to some interesting conversations on the ship for the next several days. Ry’s take on why the international community did not respond was due to China and Russia’s veto in the UN’s security council. China especially was a large supporter of the Khmer Rouge and of course Russia was supporting Vietnam.
As Kathy wrote in an email……It was a very moving experience, hearing some of the personal experiences of the people under the Khmer Rouge siege….The human ability to overcome such horrendous experiences and survive in tact is amazing! Anyway, a difficult thing to hear about, but so important to try and understand it…
That evening APT did a good job again of having local Cambodian children perform some local dances….it was delightful to see such smiling faces and certainly helped lift our spirits!!
After such a moving and emotional day before, we were on our own the next morning. We took a motorized tuk tuk to the Royal Palace and Silver Pagoda……whoa, impressive!!!
“The Royal Palace 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 1860s, 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 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 called Chaktomuk (an allusion to Brahma).
The Throne Hall is where the king’s confidants, generals and royal officials once carried out their duties. It is still in use today as a place for religious and royal ceremonies (such as coronations and royal weddings) as well as a meeting place for guests of the King.
The Silver Pagoda is a compound located on the South side of the palace complex. It features a royal temple officially called Its main building houses many national treasures such as gold and jeweled Buddha statues. Most notable is a small crystal Buddha (the “Emerald Buddha” of Cambodia) — undetermined whether made of Baccarat Crystal in 19th century or of other kind of crystal in 17th century — 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 tiles and some of its outer facade was remodeled with Italian marble.”
This was a massive display of wealth and architectural design……very impressive!!! There was some destruction by the Khmer Rouge as they cut off the heads of many Buddha statues…..religions were not allowed under their rule! We had a very good guide that walked us through the complex in little over an hour. After that it was back on our tuk tuk and off to the Central Market. Kathy bought a few items and then back to the ship.
So that was PhnomPenh and the Khmer Rouge…..on to more of the Mekong Delta and Cambodia!!
John
still on the Mekong Delta
PS: Pictures on the website: http://mysticmoonvoyages.com/photo-gallery/nggallery/main-album/Phnom-Penh-Cambodia
