The main reason I wanted to take the trip to Phnom Penh was to see the killing feilds. I have always had a fascination with mans ability to be horrible. We went to the old school in town first. It was turned into a prison/interrogation camp after Pol Pot sent everyone to the country side to work in forced farming communes. Everyone was brutally tortured and sent off to the killing fields. When they liberated the prison only 7 people survived. We bought a book from one of the survivors, but he didn't speak any English. He did show me where his finger was broken while trying to avoid being whipped. We had to take a Tuk Tuk to get to the killing fields, a crazy driver followed us from our hostel and was hugging me and trying to pull me into his Tuk Tuk to take us. He wanted our business so bad that he waited over an hour while we were in the museum. He ended up being a great driver. One the way there it is polluted and under construction, so it didn't make a pleasant ride. The grounds of the death camp are beautiful. They offer an excellent audio tour that really answers any questions you could possibly have. There are bones, teeth, and clothes that come to the surface during the rainy season. The spots where they excavated the mass graves are now just huge green indents in the earth. They built a huge stupa in the center of the ground filled with thousands of the recovered bones. Unlike in other cases of genocide there are still many mass graves uncovered due to landmines and lack of public support. Very much worth the trip and just as emotional as going to Auchwitz (there were a few locals crying who had clearly lost loved ones to Pol Pots regime).
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