Skip to main content

The Killing Fields

I love touring and sightseeing. I don't hesitate to visit an interesting place twice if there's a chance. But I am not visiting this place again even if you paid me to do it.

Cheong Ek Genocidal Center in a distance

After many whispers of wows at the splendor of Angkor Wat in Siem Reap, my companions and I proceeded to Phnom Pehn. I was kicking to finally see the Killing Fields. "This is it," I mused as my 12-year old self: "those rows of 'cabbages' (skulls) in a documentary with John Lennon singing Imagine, now the Killing Fields for real." We then started exploring.

At first I thought this was an old pigsty. What we saw were...
 
  bones

And that was when we fell silent -


especially when we realized that much of the ground is still strewn with clothes of victims.

 more clothes

'Truck Stop:' "place where trucks transporting victims to be exterminated from Toul Sleng Prison, stopped."

Truly depressing. I wanted to get out as much as I was in a hurry to get in at the beginning of the tour. 

"'Killing Tree' (left) against which executioners beat children.  'Magic Tree' (right) where a loudspeaker was hung to muffle victims' screams."

Did they say children?!? I fought back tears while reading the signs. 


Some skulls showed signs of bashing. They have forensic shots of those in the Center (top photo). Our quiet chat branched out to Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot's cousins - butchers Idi Amin, Milosevic, Saddam, Hitler... ethnic cleansing :(

While trying to be brave in front of these skulls, I wondered about the kind of tour I got myself into. Did I just pay to be subjected to something so raw as hell on earth?

I like to think I learned something out of such an experience.

'shelves' of skulls at the stupa

Comments

  1. Such an overwhelmingly sad place. That last photo is an incredible sight.

    ReplyDelete
  2. a place that holds so many sad memories.

    ReplyDelete
  3. oh what a horrible place and horrible testimony to the tragedy and madness of man to his fellow man. It fills me with sadness even to see it on your blog. That we are capable of doing this to one another is something that we as human beings need to be aware of. History repeats itself again and again and yet we turn the other way and pretend it could never happen where we live. It's good that you posted this so that people can see and guard against such tragedies.

    ReplyDelete
  4. How can people be like that! Even beasts are not killing just for fun. In our concentration camps the guards never killed children. They never beat children under ten. Thank you for sharing. I can understand that you won't see this place again.Have a great week!
    Wil, ABCW Team

    ReplyDelete
  5. people can be so awful. not sure I'd visit once...
    ROG, ABCW

    ReplyDelete
  6. The tragedy of Man's inhumanity to man.

    ReplyDelete
  7. The place was full of sad and black memories. I won't visit this kind of place, Hazel.
    Too sad to see.

    ReplyDelete
  8. So sad. I can see why you'd never want to return...

    ReplyDelete
  9. Very sad indeed. I read some stories about this.

    ReplyDelete
  10. Holy moly, that is devastating!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

THANK YOU from the bottom of our hearts!

Tacloban . It's where I spent two months of great adventure with college buddies at about the same age as the young adult artists in this video  We Are The World for Philippines ( Cover by Filipino Artsts ) This is the church where I served as piano accompanist for the 1990 summer student choir, and some of the services. According to reports it was filled with dead bodies when this shot was taken. Photo Courtesy: AUP Network on FB On Saturday, November 24th, Central World management (the former WTC Bangkok) lent space for a Haiyan fundraiser without charge. I'd like to commemorate the highlights:   One Voice: Help Haiyan Victims was a serendipity. Organizing events is something I had to pay money to study in grad school. But it was live learning right there that night and observing the process was free. Skywatch : Mission Tacloban The Bangkok Charity Orchestra   reflected tranquility in their music. Poor typhoon victims would benef

Dyslexics and Developmental Pediatricians

Let me begin with an observation on the latter.  Developmental pediatricians in the Philippines are a rare breed. Or that's what I noticed. From society and organization websites, to forums, to word-of-mouth, to my own experience, they seem to be outnumbered by people who need their expertise. A parent of a child with developmental delays has to wait weeks or months to see one developmental pediatrician. Only thirty are listed on the Philippine Society of Developmental and Behavioral Pediatrics. Twenty-five in one Filipino autism blog, and that is not purely DevPeds. A child psychologist, child psychiatrist, and pediatric neurologist are mixed in the list, although they certainly are a big help too. At my son's speech therapy and psychology center I hear the same account from other parents - securing a time slot with a DevPed is hard. They are all fully booked throughout what could turn into a year. You may be lucky if someone withdraws but that rarely happens. I'm playing

Honor, Awards and a Game

Tuesday Couch Potatoes: Made of Honor Awards and a Game/Meme follow. Please scroll down a bit. My pick for this week's TCP theme (wedding movie) is Made of Honor. I like the humor in it. We've all been to several weddings but how many of us can say I've been to one in which the maid of honor was a he? The scene which particularly cracked me up is when the priest mistook the maid of honor for a gay man =) If you're familiar with some of my likes, you'd know why I also love the Scotland location of the wedding. For more of the synopsis click here ; and here's the trailer: Head over to Just About Anything for more wedding movies. ************ My super duper bloggy friend Thom of Thom's Place for Well Whatever and fellow Mom Tetcha of Pensive Thoughts awarded me this Beautiful Blogger award. I have to list seven things about me so here they are: 1. I love wearing jeans more than skirts. 2. One of my favorite colors is purple. 3. I don't mind spending su