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The Entrance to the Choeung Ek Genocide Center (More commonly known as the Killing Fields) I'm gonna do this page in the order that I travelled it in Cambodia. After I got off the plane and cleared customs, I found myself a motorcycle rider right outside the exit door, and for $2 he took me into town and to my hotel, by the Ton Le Sap River. Not wanting to waste any time in Cambodia, I got the guy to wait for me while I checked in and threw my bags in the room and then went straight to the killing fields. My memory's not so great, but I think it was about 45 mins to an hour ride (it's not that far really).This is at the main entrance to the Killing Fields and where the story really begins. |
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Monument Where The Skulls of the Killing Fields Victims are Housed Inside the glass doors in the middle, there are shelves upon shelves of victims' skulls, all the way up to the top. |
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A closer Look? You are a Morbid Bunch! |
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Pretty Gruesome Stuff The skulls have been categorized into age groups, from 15-20 years, 20-40 years etc. |
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Victims Clothing That Has Also Been Recovered You can actually see holes in the victims skulls, an indication of just what a horrible death these people endured. At the bottom, you can also see the clothes recovered from the victims. |
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Had Enough Yet? Actually, this wasn't the most depressing place. Seeing hundreds of human skulls wasn't so bad; it was a little dehumanized as there were no faces to go with the skulls. After here I went to the High School which the Khmer Rouge turned into a concentration camp - S-21, Tuol Sleng; now that was disturbing! More on that later. |
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Children Playing Around The Tree Where Children Before Were Beaten to Death Yes, the irony wasn't lost on me. I wonder if these kids have any idea what transpired here. Saying that, being a kid in Cambodia's tough enough in today's world; they probably have enough to worry about as it is. |
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A Mass Grave The sign in the middle says "Mass Grave". If you look at all the depressions in the ground, these are all mass graves. In the top right corner you will see what looks like a wooden hut. These are all covers for more mass graves. |
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The Sign Speaks for Itself |
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And This one, too. The signs not too clear: 450 People. |
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Human Remains Still Wash Up When it rains, the remains of victims and their clothes wash up to the surface. The entire area is covered with fragments of human bones. |
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OK, enough of The Killing Fields. We're gonna go to a much more depressing place next, if you van believe that. After the Killing Fields, on the way back to the hotel, I went to Tuol Sleng, the highschool converted into a concentration camp by the Khmer Rouge. It was codenamed S-21 by by the Khmer Rouge.
Tuol Sleng S-21 Phnom Penh Cambodia Here are some quick links to the other Cambodia Pages |
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No! this really is the bottom line; there is no more; it is the end of this page; well except for the ubiquitous... |
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