From Indonesia we went by plane,
with a stopover in Singapore, to Cambodia, our next country on the list! :)
Arrived at the airport, we took a
taxi to the hotel. We already knew what was gonna happen, of course the taxi
driver had "no change", so we had to pay 14 instead of 13 USD! Yes, you
read that right, we paid with U.S. dollars. Around Cambodia everything is paid
in Dollars. Everything less than one dollar is paid in Riel – confusing enough?
But it is 4000 Riel to the Dollar, which means 10 cents is 400 Riel, so you
really had to watch your change.
Two things why you should come to
Phnom Penh are the S-21 Museum and the Killing Fields. They are both about the
mass murder in the 70's in Cambodia. Pol Pot had killed three million people within
four years. All academics, educated people, even someone who wore glasses -
just everybody who was in Pol Pot´s way.
S-21
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| rules in the prion |
First
we went to the S-21 museum. There we took a guide. She told us about how the
Khmer Rouge had made a prison out of the former high school. There they brought
all the victims and tortured them until they told names of their family or
other educated people, who might have been a threat to the new system. When the
time of the victim was over and they survived it, they were afterwards brought
to one of the over 300 Killing Fields. Our guide even has lost a great part of
her family. She was 13 years old and can still remember everything exactly.
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| the prison |
Killing
Fields
With
a tuk tuk we went the next day to one of the largest killing fields. We had
already heard from many travellers that it will get under your skin, so we were
excited to see what we could expect there. We got a German-language audio guide
and everything was explained very well. It also comprised stories of some
survivors. When we were there we had the feeling of seeing a beautiful green
lawn. All around were wooden huts surrounded by fence. It all looked very
peaceful, but that was different in the 70's. On the largest green field, a
mass grave was found where about 450 people were killed. Or the baby tree,
which is named so because the babies were beaten against that tree and afterwards
thrown on the top of the other dead bodies. If you looked closely, where you walked,
you could see bones and clothes - terrible! You can still find bones, skulls,
teeth, and clothing emerging from the ground after heavy rain falls. This day
was very depressing for us, but we are glad to have done this tour. The
terrifying end of the tour was that our audio guide said that something like
that could happen again, we hope it doesn´t!
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| The Killing Fields |
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| Monument |
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| bone on the pathway |
In
the evening we went to the cinema and watched the movie “The Killing Fields”.
The film is based on a true story and shows well what happened during this time.
The cinema was actually very comfortable. There were large pillows on the floor
and you could order food and eat it in front of the screen! :)
More
attractions in Phnom Penh:
The
Royal Palace
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| The Royal Palace |
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| The Royal Palace |
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| The Royal Palace |
Wat Phnom
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| Wat Phnom |
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Wat Phnom
|
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| Wat Phnom |
The Independence Monument.
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| The Indepence Monument |
Actually,
the wet season should already have started. But, fortunately there was no rain
yet. The only thing that gives an idea of it, was the heat (felt about 40
degrees) and the high humidity!
