WT034 - KILLING FIELDS

After the easy border crossing (visa on arrival) to Cambodia and 8 hours by bus, we arrived in the evening in Phnom Penh. The city is full with temples and monuments to explore and because of that we made the decision (again!) of renting a motorbike for 24h.

We started with a short stop in the Wat Langka, an intricate and bustling Buddhist pagoda with gilded accents, beautiful tombs and public meditation sessions close to the Independence Monument. Wat means "enclosure" and is a type of Buddhist and Hindu Temple that can be found around Cambodia, Laos and Thailand. The Independence Monument is a 20m landmark built in 1958 to celebrate Cambodia's conquered independence from France and is located in the roundabout in front of the temple, marking the start point of the Preah Suramarit Boulevard. Along the boulevard is the memorial park for Norodom Sihanouk, the king-father of Cambodia, with a statue in his honour and some water fountains to contemplate.

On the opposite side of the park, you can find the Samdech Chuon Nath Statue, which is a tribute to the late Supreme Patriarch of Cambodia and prime figure in the protection of the Khmer identity. During the night, all monuments are covered in colourful lights and are wonderful to see.

The Samdech Chuon Nath Statue is also confined in a roundabout and if you turn left, in direction of the Preah Sisowath Quay, you'll get to see the Royal Palace and its front park, other temples, as well as the riverfront.

Unknown to almost tourists, there's a way to have glimpse of the skyline around the Central Market - just go to the Sorya Center Point, a shopping mall with 8 floors containing shops and restaurants. The last floor, at least when I was there, was closed, but you can get around it if you go one level down, and then through the restaurant and up the stairs again.

On the second day, we went to visit one of the most important places in Phnom Penh, the Khmer Rouge Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. This is just one of a number of sites in Cambodia where collectively more than a million people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country between 1975-1979. The mass killings are widely regarded as part of a broad state-sponsored genocide. The Khmer Rouge regime arrested and eventually executed almost everyone suspected of connections with the former government or with foreign governments, as well as professionals and intellectuals. Alsot ethnic Vietnamese, Thai, Chinese, Cham, Cambodian Christians, and Buddhist monks were the demographic targets of persecution. The Cambodian journalist Dith Pran coined the term "killing fields" after his escape from the regime. Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5 million out of a 1975 population of roughly 8 million. In 1979, Vietnam invaded Democratic Kampuchea and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime.

During the visit, you get an audio guide that explains the history of the sites as long as you walk, sometimes with testimonies of the surviving victims or the aggressors.

The trunk of this tree was used to cut the necks of many prisoners in order to keep them quiet.

At least three mass graves are well-marked in the complex, and now decorated by tourists and locals with armbands in memory of the dead.

It is said that many bodies still lie below the waters of the pond, but due to resources and also a bit of religion, it was decided to leave them there for their last rest.

Before the site was used as a Khmer Killing Field, it was a former Chinese grave. Nowadays, you can still see the contour of the grounds that before were filled with graves.

Besides the mass graves, several bones, pieces of cloth and other articles can still be found monthly by the supervisors of the site, many times uncovered by the rain and movement of the soil, sometimes by the tourists that walk by. The executed were buried in mass graves. In order to save ammunition, the executions were often carried out using poison, spades or sharpened bamboo sticks. In some cases the children and infants of adult victims were killed by having their heads bashed against the trunks of Chankiri trees, and then were thrown into the pits alongside their parents. Some victims were required to dig their own graves, their weakness often meant that they were unable to dig very deep.

This commemorative stupa was built in honour of the people that suffered and perished in Choeung Ek and is filled with the skulls of the victims. Each skull and bone is documented per age, gender, disease and/or type of death.

The museum explains in detail and with more objects the horrible life and plan of extermination taken forward by the "military" of the regime. Even though, some soldiers who carried out the executions were mostly young men or women from peasant families, that were threatened to do it. In case they didn't follow orders, they also had to pay with their lives.

Back in the city, the National Museum of Cambodia is such a nice piece of architecture that you cannot miss it. It was built in the '20s inspired by a temple to exhibit the traditional Khmer art and religious artifacts. The space outside is perfect to chill out in an afternoon or family walks.

I chose not to buy the full ticket for the visit to the Royal Palace, because I wouldn't get the same experience with the renovation works occurring at the time. Nevertheless, some ornamented parts can be seen from the outside walls and gates.

The riverfront promenade is fantastic for a day out in the sun and walking, but the best time to actually do it is during the morning, as many tourist busses still haven't arrived.

The Wat Ounalom is a monumental Buddhist temple compound, opened in 1443, featuring elaborate stupas and a monastery. It is mostly ornamented in gold leave and details of the Khmer architecture.

We still had time to visit one last place before leaving Phnom Penh - the Wat Phnom - from where the city gets its name. This Buddhist temple was built on site of a 14th-century pagoda and at the top of a 27m-high hilltop, making it the tallest religious structure in the city. The whole temple complex is also a roundabout, with a garden trail, a gigantic clock and statues as decoration. Entrance costs only 1 USD.