Phnom Penh, Cambodia - history lesson of Cambodia!

Phnom Penh was a culture shock and a strong history lesson rolled into one.

This built up city of Cambodia is bathed in the blood of its past and has always had its struggled throughout its existence.

The constant changing monarchy and religion finally took its toll on the country in 1975 as the king desperately tried to get his country back. He looked for a solution and like so many developing countries at this time in history, they turned to communism. 

As the king was in exile he left his country in the hands of a local educated man, Pol Pot to get his kingdom back in shape. This man Pol Pot managed like so many other dictators to pray on the weak and poor by giving them hope. 

Pol Pot - the dictator.

People being made to work all day with no food, if they didn't comply they were taken prisoner. 

But by the afternoon of his first day in power he had shut the banking system down, closed all schools and hospitals and started rounding up all educated and foreign members of the public sending them to S21. S21 is a converted school which was now being used as a concentration camp to torture false confessions out of the people and then ship them off blind-folded to the most infamous place in Cambodia - "The Killing Fields". 

The rooms that the prisoners were tortured in

The prison in itself was a depressing but real reminder of the horrors that occurred during this time. 

There are only 2 survivors out of 7 alive today and we met one if them - Mr Chum Mey. He explained that he is nearly deaf from electrocution to his ears. He was constantly tortured if he moved as the chains would make a noise a give him away. If they didn't comply with the guards in any way his toe nails were pulled out, his fingers were broken or he was beaten repeatedly. There was little to no food given to them and he resorted to eating bugs that came into his cell. This also got him beaten if he got caught! He managed to escape as the war ended but  his wife and children were tortured and killed there. For him to come back everyday and relive his past must be torture. To meet this man was so inspirational but also very sad and was too much for Steffie who got upset. 

The cell that prisoners lived in. 

Tortured prisoners found dead at the end if the regime. 

Prisoners had their photo taken when arriving. This lady and her baby did not survive. 

So many people died in "The Killing Fields" that even today, after strong rainfall you can still see bones, rags of clothes and tooth fragments in the mud. 

Seeing all of the areas in "The Killing Fields" where people had been buried in mass graves, mostly naked and headless was disturbing. There is one particular tree that was used only for killing babies, bracelets and candles have been placed there in remembrance to these innocent little babes. 

The tree.

One of the mass graves. 

This tree was used to hang a speaker and to play loud music whilst the prisoners where being killed. This way the locals couldn't hear them scream. 

The sad sight of the hundreds of skulls that we're dug up. 

An estimated 3 million people where killed during this era with another 3 million still missing, all killed by children as young as 10. 

Pol Pot and his regime wiped out half the population and today you rarely see a person over the age of 40. 

Vietnam put a stop the the regime 5 years later but unfortunately like many genocides in our past, this went mainly undiscovered by the western world until 1997. By the time of the war crime trials in the early 2000's all of the people responsible where either dead or in exile. 

Unfortunately the government today is still the same as it was back then and a lot of the war criminals got away with their crimes. 

As Cambodia had full scale economic  collapse, they finally opened its doors to tourism to try and stay afloat. But with the combination of foreigners and a poverty stricken nation, along came the sex industry. We saw this first hand and we would say this has affected us the most on this tour.

Cambodia is filled with old, fat, ugly western men praying on the young and vulnerable. Parading their exploits around as if they have no shame. You can buy the company of a little girl for as little as $100 a night. This is why charities like "New Hope" are so valued in these devoping countries. 

Phnom Penh was a fascinating and thought provoking city and we are leaving this place more educated and culturally aware of the difficulties developing countries have. 

Next stop the beach! Sihanoukville!