Cambodia

Hello! I am currently in Sihanoukville,Cambodia. It is in the Southeast Cambodia on the coast. Today was a rather relaxing day of riding on a bus for 4 hours from Phnom Penh, finding a hostel for $2 a person, getting bombarded by children on the beach, and having dinner. It's very strange to be using US dollars in another country, but Cambodians would rather use them than their own currency. As we were looking for a good place to eat on the beach, a restaurant owner came up to me and said their fabulous deals for the night. Are you ready?? Ok, .25 cents for a pint of beer. So, I had TWO beers for .50 cents. I am still in shock. That's amazing. Today was very refreshing from our very emotionally draining day in Phnom Penh.

Phnom Penh....

We decided to have our hostel take us around to the different locations that we wanted to see being we were on a tight schedule and were still unsure about how safe and easy it was to travel around in Cambodia. We started the day off at the Killing Fields. I'm not sure if you are aware about what happened here from 1975-1979? I wasn't and I am a social studies major. So, here we go...

Pol Pot was the leader of the Cambodian communist movement known as the Khmer Rouge. He wanted to change Cambodia's government into complete communism and force the country to run only on rice production. To do this, he needed to kill basically everyone who was not a farmer or who wouldn't cooperate. This included officers, children, foreigners, intellectuals, the educated, diplomats, and important people. They wanted to get rid of everything- money, schools, communication, religion, culture, etc. They were killed in horrific ways, mostly through injuries from torture and blunt object to their skulls. They estimate that AT LEAST 500,000 people were killed to due Khmer Rouge.

The killing Fields were found in 1979 and more than 15,000 people were killed there. Before the war, it was used as an orchard and a Chinese cemetery. The Khmer Rouge turned it into a place to kill the innocent.They would bring around 300 people a day there and would kill them all immediately. Once the numbers of captured became too large, they could no longer meet their daily "goal". The area is virtually untouched. You can still see teeth and clothes lying on the ground from the victims. There was a big and beautiful looking tree called "The Magic Tree", but it was pure evil. There were microphones hooked up to it that would play music, so no one could hear the cries from victims. There, people were executed and children were smashed against the tree. Awful. In the front of the Fields is a remembering monument that contains bones and skulls that are visible through the glass cases.

Next, we went to the Killing fields museum prison called Tuol Sleng. Before the war it was used a school. It was very graphic and raw as well. There was still blood on the walls and floors. Bats had made it their home. As I entered the school, I felt a feeling of heaviness and almost evil. You could feel that horrible things took place not so long ago. You could tell the school used to be so beautiful and children would have loved learning there. Many of the victims were those who were caught within the Khmer Rouge as traitors. They became very paranoid and killed many, as many as 30,000- 20,000 of them were children.

It was a very tough day. I felt very sad and didn't feel a lot of hope for humanity. The world knew what was going on there, yet we didn't do anything to help them. The Khmer Rouge fell in 1978, but they still held raids well into the 90's. The United Nations allowed them to hold a seat in the UN for 10 years after they fell because they were enemies with Vietnam, who were also ours at the time (Vietnam War). Sickening.

We ended the day on a high note though. My friend Christina's best friend's aunt is the US Ambassador of Cambodia, so we had dinner at her house. It was absolutely amazing. The bathroom had two stalls and Three sinks. It was HUGE, well secured with guards, and was decorated quite well. We had a 5 course meal outside next to the pool. I felt very out of place, but she was really nice and not stuffy. I had to follow her lead on which silverware to use. It was a great experience and she gave us information and advice about our trip. She told us of her secret competition with the Chinese ambassador. She wants to be on TV more than her and she is currently winning. ha.


So, Cambodia. It's a wonderful, dirty, heartbreaking, and happy place. The people are very kind and will usually leave you alone when you tell them you aren't interested- unlike Korea. There is a huge French and Indian presence here. We will spend one more day here and then head up to Angkor Wat, the famous temple that I think is one of the "7 wonders of the world"". Then off to Thailand.

Sorry, I can't really post pictures until I get home. I don't know how.

I hope you learned something.

xoxo
I miss my students already. I hope their new teacher is good to them.