The Killing Fields

**This post may be distressing for some. It has some pretty horrific descriptions and a couple of graphic in it**

This morning's activities were interesting but quite depressing. I learnt a lot but it was so sad to see the horrible atrocities humans can commit. We were picked up by a bus from our hostel at around 8:45. There was about 10 people in our group, but we only really did the journeys together as the rest was more of a self-guided visit.

Our first stop was at S21 prison within the city of Phnom Penh, where we did a self guided audio tour. S21 is a former school transformed into a prison by the Khmer Rouge. During its four years of operation it held about 17,000 prisoners in total, of which the majority where Cambodian, but held about 1250 at a time in either tiny single cells or in mas detention cells with up to 60 other prisoners, all shackled together. Most prisoners were held for 2-3 months, before meeting a horrendous end.

Outside the first building we came to as we went in were 14 graves of the last prisoners that were held at the prison. They were murdered as the staff fled as Vietnamese troops defeated Pol Pot. These prisoners were unable to be identified due to the way they were killed. Their bodies were cremated and the simple concrete graves were erected in memory.

The prison had been preserved as it was left. We wandered through the first building that had metal beds with shackles attached to them. Outside the front of this building was a wooden frame that had originally been used by school children for playing and exercising. During the years that the buildings were a prison it was used as a torture device. Prisoners were hoisted by their bound wrists until the passed out, and then they were lowered and dunked into one of 3 large concrete jars that were filled with human waste and dirty water until they came round. This procedure was repeated several times.

We wandered through the other buildings. There were hundreds of photos of the prisoners and there were many instruments of torture displayed. There were single cells for prisoners who were being interrogated and big cells for those who weren't. The buildings looked so ordinary from the outside but held such a horrible history. Methods of interrogation where perfected and routinely applied until innocent people 'confessed' to their crimes. Woman and children weren't immune from this either. And the next stop of the trip was even more depressing.

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On the bus to the next stop we watched a documentary of the so called killing fields. Essentially the best and brightest Cambodians, anyone who had the potential to start a uprising, were rounded up and murdered. As many as 300 killing fields were discovered all over Cambodia. We visited the Cheng Ek killing field, the largest. As many as 20,000 people died here. For the first few years 50 - 70 people every couple of weeks were brought on trucks bound and blindfolded during the night to be executed. They were told they were being taken to a new home. During 1978 it was around 300 a day.

As many as 129 mass graves were found in 2.4 hectares at this site. The largest held 450 bodies. Bone fragments are still being uncovered today. Bullets were seen as too expensive to waste on executing these victims. Instead they were taken to the edge of a large pit blindfolded ad made to kneel. Then using a multitude of different weapons they were beaten about the head or hacked to death before being pushed into the pit. One particularly disturbing point of the visit was at a large tree where it was reported that babies were held by the legs and swung against the tree. The tree was reportedly found covered in bloods and brains. It was heartbreaking and shocking how people could do this to others. Around 1 in 4 Cambodians were killed. It was reported that no family remained untouched. The killing field these days is so green and peaceful it's hard to comprehend, but as I walked around I could see fragments of bones sticking out the ground.

In the centre of the killing field centre was a monument to the victims. Inside it contained around 9000 skulls, across ten layers, many bearing signs of the method used to kill them.

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We left the killing field centre in quite a sombre mood. As you can imagine it wasn't exactly a happy place. But hopefully it can serve as a reminder and warning so something like this never happens again.

We returned to the hostel around one and spent a couple of hours relaxing. We got changed into more conservative clothes and got a tuktuk to the royal palace for a slightly less depressing visit. We wandered round the ground and building. There were some very fancy buildings and statues. We then went for an early dinner before heading back to the hostel to shower and pack.