Choeung EK, Killing Fields

Today is another day in Phnom Penh, and the optional tour we chose to tour the Killing Fields.
The best known monument of the killing fields is at the village of Choeung Ek.
Today it is the site of a Buddhist memorial to the victims and Tuol Sleng has a museum commemorating the genocide.
Between 1975 and 1978, about 20,000 men, women, children and infants who had been detained and tortured at S-21 prison were transported to the extermination camp of Choeung Ek.
It is a peaceful place today, where visitors can learn of the horrors that unfolded here decades ago.
The site was a former orchard and has mass graves of victims of the Khmer Rouge, killed between 1975 and 1979.
The Khmer Rouge executed over one million people between 1975 and 1979.
Our journey to the fields was just under an hour, most of our group was very somber, after we had seen the documentary on Pol Pot and this genocide, being just a little over 40 years ago, very recent we did not know what to expect.
The photos posted may cause some anxiety, if sensitive do not look at them.

 The entry in the killing fields

 The monument with thousands of skulls, bones and torture instruments.

The monument from a distance

 Sign boards explains the execution process.

 The truck stop.

The chemical execution 

 Skulls of victims between 40 to 60 years of age.

 Femur bones with wires still attached.

 Mass grave of 450 victims

 This tree has thousands of bracelets attached to the trunk, infants heads were bashed against this tree, many thousands died.

 The barbs if the sugar palm, were used as swords, to save the bullets.

 Sign says it all.

 This is a photo of bones still buried in the dirt, when walking through the fields, we were walking on buried bodies, not all have been recovered.

 Explanation on the tree.

 Mass grave of victims without heads

 More bones

Strips of clothing, still half buried in the dirt.

More skulls

After our visit to the killing fields we then went to the Tuol Sleng museum.

 The Tuol Sleng genocide museum.

 Monument to the people that died.

 This elderly gentleman is a survivor of Pol Pot and is selling his story.

 The rules of execution

 This statue shows how, victims were left in the sun, dehydrated near death and if they went unconscious, there head would be dunked into the water jars to either rouse them or drown them.

 Graves of victims, no photos were allowed of the photos of victims being tortured.

More skulls.

Why did all this happen, according to history, the chaos and devastation caused by the war was spread through Indochina due to the US carpet bombing in Laos and Cambodia.

This resulted in the collapse of the US puppet regime in Cambodia and the rise of the Khmer Rouge.

You may ask what was Pol Pots goal......

To recreate the lost glory of Cambodia by annihilating all forms of external influence, transforming a diverse group of people into a cohesive working unit, eradicating family and society and starting the country from zero. Any real or perceived threat was killed.

DH and I have visited many holocaust sites, we both feel that these killing fields, being so recent was a tragedy that should not have happened, let it never be repeated.

This will be our last day in Cambodia, tomorrow we cross the border into Vietnam.

The tour so far has been very busy, with two tours daily, so the majority of us are looking forward to having a day and night of cruising for some R & R.

Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia.

We docked at Phnom Penh in the early morning, after breakfast. Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia. We boarded our coaches to drive to Oudong, this took a good hour to get to where the monks live and study, after a tour of the grounds, we were then to have a blessing from the monks.

The tour of the compound was an eye opener, just to see where the monks live and study and the order of seniority was interesting. We saw where the nuns live and retire, rudimentary timber huts.

Different types of clothing on the status of the monks was enlightening as well.

The grounds are beautiful and buildings were well maintained and pristine.

The entry to the Buddhist Centre.

This is the photo of the monk, responsible for raising funds to finance and build this centre.

 Our blessing from the monks

 The monks eating area, shoes need to be removed before entering.

 Lovely gardens and sculptures with a large pond in the centre.

 Inside the temple.

 A golden Buddha

 The monks going about their daily duties.

 The snake represents protection and are depicted in all the sculptures surrounding the temple.

 Our two monks that gave us our blessing.

This is where the nuns reside.

Inside the temple.

 The walls and ceilings are very ornate with painting, symbolising life, these all tell a story.

The ceiling of the main temple.

After our visit to the temple, another optional tour was to do an ox cart ride, as we were up for some adventures we chose to do this tour, although it did take 1 1/2 hours to get to the village for the ride, it was fun and by doing this tour, helps local villages with some income.

 Here we are all set for the 20min ride to the village, 30 of us braved the ride, as we were pulled through the village the village children waved and was delighted to have us visit their village.

 Our ox cart, ready to board

 Off we set!

 The parade of oxen.

We concluded the ride in the village shrine area.

After our ride, we returned to the boat, had lunch and teamed up with another couple with a tuk tuk to go into the central market of Phnom Penh.

 Lots of jewellery for sale.

 Our ride ends.

 Lovely flowers for sale.

 More flowers, the Cambodians like US $ and so ever was priced in US $, I am pleased to say that I did not buy anything and neither did the other couple. It only took an hour to tour the markets, we then returned to the boat, for dinner. Tonight we were going to be entertained bu some school children just before dinner.

The school children performance.

We will stay a couple of days in the capital, tomorrow evening visit the killing fields.