Phnom Penh

1.13.16

What a day.  If you visit this part of the world, you must go to Phnom Penh, Cambodia.  Not because of it’s people or the beauty.  It is not happy or uplifting.  It is somber, depressing, emotional, thought provoking, terrifying and hard to process.  It is mandatory to experience.  

We started our day with a quick hour flight from Siem Reap.  Siem Reap was just a small warm up for the complete poverty and reality that haunts Phnom Penh.  Originally booked at an airbnb downtown, we found out late last night we couldn’t check into our apt until about 3pm and there would be nowhere to check our bags.  Considering we were planning on being in town for less than 24 hours, we decided last minute to make alternate plans.  While waiting at the airport we booked a hotel near the Phnom Penh airport.  It leaves a lot to be desired, but it provided a bed and a place to drop our bags to maximize time while here.  From the moment we stepped off of the plan we felt ripped off, dirty and sad.  Constantly being overcharged, emotionally exhausted, it was easier to just pay the inflated prices than to try to bargain.  

After we dropped our bags in our less than clean, buggy, muggy room, we headed to a restaurant downtown called Sugar and Spice.  This was a magical little find.  The restaurant is owned by an organization called Daughters of Cambodia.  This non-profit takes women out of the sex trafficking industry and offers them a chance at a new life, it’s a place to learn a skill and break the cycle they are in, an opportunity to turn their lives around.  All of the employees are recovering from an old life style, through new skills, therapy, treatment, and a support system, 98% of the girls and lady boys are successfully able to re-assimilate into society.  The food was delicious (mostly western cuisine), there was also a gift shop with beautiful hand made goods and a spa on site. This organization also helps lady boys get out of the sex trade world.  It is one thing to watch a movie or read about it, but to be there was a real slap in the face, watching these sweet girls, probably all of 16 years of age, practicing their english, with big smiles on their faces.  It was a very emotional start to a very heavy hearted day.  The food was tasty and the environment was warm, loving and inclusive.  A true gem.  This place is doing brilliant work, having expanded to 8 locations they are taking in 5-10 new girls a week.  There is a huge stigma associated with sex workers here and the treatment of these young innocent girls/lady boys is just disgusting.  Unfortunately this is not a life these people chose, most of them are sold into the trade at a young age by their family, who rely on the income.  If you have 12 minutes to spare, it is worth watching the video on their website: http://daughtersofcambodia.org/.  As someone who can’t make it through commercials or reality tv without tearing up (Julie – I’m looking at you), this was a very long, teary filled day.  It is hard to comphrend how more people aren’t fighting for equality here.  It is a huge huge problem (not only in Cambodia!) that is silently accepted by the community and government.  How can you treat another human being like a dirty object.  Abuse, hatred, objectification.  Mind numbing.  

To carry on with the mood, we went straight to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum.  This building was an old school that was boarded up, wrapped in electrified barbed wire and converted into a Security Prison (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge regime in August of 1975.  This is completely horrific.  The terror that was known as Pol Pot wanted to exterminate an entire class and turn 80% of the country into farms (forcing urban dwellers to move to collective farms with aggressive goals and forced labor).  In order to accomplish this, the Khmer Rouge (translated as red communism) wanted to wipe out the Cambodian population in order to “start fresh” and re-set to year zero.  Entirely too successful, in just 3 years and 8 months, over 2 million people (out of the countries population of 8 million) were killed.  1 in 4 people.  No one was immune – not women, not children, not babies.  Not the torture guards, not the family or friends of the notorious leader Pol Pot.  Once people were sent to this awful place in the middle of the city, they were tortured in terrible, disgusting, inhumane ways.  Tortured to confess being a part of the CIA or KGB, potential conspiracies, treasonous conversations, etc.  Tortured to give the names of their family, friends, close associates, who were in turn collected from their homes, imprisioned and tortured.  Tortured until they accidentally starved to death or once confessed, were brutally killed.  The craziest part is that everything was heavily documented and photographed.  Upon arrival, each prisoner was given a number and took a mug shot.  Two survivors have since made paintings to capture their memories and experiences.  There are detailed and disgusting photos, paintings, torture tools and cells on display at this well preserved museum.  There is even discoloration on the floors/walls from blood.  It’s hard to stomach, but worth the visit.  It’s also hard to fathom that this was only 1 of 150 execution centers in the country.  There are currently only 12 known survivors from this particular prison (which held an estimated 17,000 people), 3 of whom are still alive.  

After a treacherous walk through the museum (strongly recommend the audio tour for anyone who visits), we headed about 15km away to the village of Choeung Ek.  As the death toll increased, the Khmer Rouge ran out of space for bodies at the prison.  They overtook an old Chinese burial field for the bodies and used this as a place to kill hundreds of prisoners at a time.  This is known as the Killing Fields.  This audio tour was also very informative and somber.  As bullets were expensive, prisoners were blindfolded and bludgeoned to death with axes, lead poles, knives, spades, sharpened bamboo sticks, poison, you name it.  One of the memorials is a tree where they bashed heads of babies before throwing them into pits – they wanted to prevent children from growing up and seeking revenge for their deceased family members, just wiped out entire families.  The site was eerie but beautiful.  It was a little before sunset so the little lake was quite scenic and moving.  When walking around there are visible mass graves that have not been fully excavated, you can still see leftover clothes, and some have seen bones and teeth in the dirt after heavy rainfalls.  It is horrific and hard to understand or explain how something like this could happen, the memorial is very moving and respective to the victims.  

clothes

the bashing tree

sunset

I remember learning about the Killing Fields in 7th grade, but at age 12 you cannot fully comprehend the horror.  When I think of genocide, I think of the Holocaust.  I’m not sure if the Holocaust resonated more because of my personal ties with my Oma and Opa’s survival in hiding and at death camps.  Or if it’s because that maybe it is more readily talked about in our society.  Or if it is because the death toll was that much higher.  Or if it is because a religion that is practiced in the US was effected.  I’m not trying to compare hatred, terrible actions and wrong doings, neither are justifiable, but I guess I was just a little shocked about how little I knew about a fairly recent tragedy.  If you don’t know this history or need a refresher, I strongly urge you to do some research and learn about it.  Visit this country.  Share this information so we can hopefully one day learn what not to do.  

As a society we need to learn from our past.  It is insane how many countries have gone through genocide, how many cold dictators have been blindly followed, how many young, uneducated people have been brainwashed to follow, how we continue to repeat the wrong doings of our predecessors, how we repeat history.  We need to learn how to love, not hate.  We need to learn acceptance, not rejection.  We need to learn tolerance, not prejudice.  We need to accept every human for just that – a beautiful, breathing, living, feeling person who deserves health, education and love. 

Unfortunately we ended our heavy, emotional, taxing day, with a very terrifying ride back to our hotel.  Our tuk tuk driver took us on some very gnarly, impoverished, dirty, dusty, toxic back roads.  There are no real rules on the road.  In theory, traffic runs on the right side of the road, but bicycles, motorcycles and tuk tuks can drive anywhere, at any point, on any side of the road.  Intersections do not have traffic lights so it’s a big, terrifying cluster when approaching an intersection.  Generally approaching it while holding your breathe, everyone inches up and weaves around one another (bicycles to 18 wheelers).  There is a lot of honking to signal “I’m passing you” or “I am here” or anything else!  Photos and video don’t properly capture this experience, but we certainly tried.  Our driver kept telling us to hold our belongings tight as people driving by could try to grab our bags.  At one point we approached some road work and had to drop down to another level, into traffic, by about 2 feet, damaging the tuk tuk.  We truly believed we were going to be stranded, in the dark, in a very scary situation.  Luckily we made it home.  We passed on dinner and got right into bed attempting to process the extremely intense day.  

chaos

damaged road

traffic jam