She thinks the capital of Cambodia is 'Sean Penn'
Phnom Penh, Cambodia
Along the road to the capital city, we stopped at a market in a place called 'Spider City'. Here a few of our crew elected to try fried tarantulas, while everyone left the cockroaches and whole plucked quails untouched. Little kids came around with bags of fruit to sell, and also to show us their pet spiders. I held one for a while, but after I gave it back with a shudder and turned to talk to a friend, she put it on my chest. I think somebody got a picture of the look of shock and horror.
Upon arriving in Phnom Penh, we took a sobering and nauseating visit to the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum. In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge political party dragged Cambodia back into the Dark Ages, killing anyone who was educated or who disagreed with their revolution. By the end of their less than 4 year regime, 3 million people had died, either tortured and killed by the party, or by starvation and overwork on farms.
The mass graves have mostly been excavated, and the skulls analysed to study cause of death. It was difficult to read the long list of instruments used in these executions.
Along the road to the capital city, we stopped at a market in a place called 'Spider City'. Here a few of our crew elected to try fried tarantulas, while everyone left the cockroaches and whole plucked quails untouched. Little kids came around with bags of fruit to sell, and also to show us their pet spiders. I held one for a while, but after I gave it back with a shudder and turned to talk to a friend, she put it on my chest. I think somebody got a picture of the look of shock and horror.
Upon arriving in Phnom Penh, we took a sobering and nauseating visit to the Killing Fields and the Genocide Museum. In the 1970s, the Khmer Rouge political party dragged Cambodia back into the Dark Ages, killing anyone who was educated or who disagreed with their revolution. By the end of their less than 4 year regime, 3 million people had died, either tortured and killed by the party, or by starvation and overwork on farms.
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| Prayer bracelets at the mass grave |
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| Memorial at the Killing Fields |
At the Genocide Museum, there were boards with pictures of those detained at the prison and tortured for information before being brought to the Killing Fields. Looking at these pictures was painful, but then there were several more rooms filled with these boards, and most of us had to leave the building.
The trial for the Khmer Rouge leaders is still ongoing. Cambodia is now democratic on paper, but it sounds like they have far to go.
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