Sunday, April 29, 2007

Penom Penh

After heading back from the island to Penom Penh I rendezvoused with my buddy Clint. We hit the ground running and on the first day spent the afternoon sightseeing . First we drove to the 'killing fields', a morbid site but one that I admit I felt fairly desensitized to. At one point our guide showed us a tree where soldiers of the Khmer Rouge would smash babies head's to kill them; it's a strange experience going as a 'tourist' to a place where people were killed en masse, one gets caught between wondering if being there and being aware of what happened is of importance and that I 'should know' by seeing it or if it's commercializing and in so doing trivializing the tragedy.

From the killing fields we stopped at the Stung Treng aka S-21, an old school turned prison that was notorious during the genocide for torture and killings and from which a lot of people were transferred to the killing fields. Another depressing site, mostly of rooms containing old rusted beds where prisoners were held or photographs of what went on there. We tried watching a documentary about the site but heat and fatigue caught up with us, so we called it a day.

Photos: Penom Penh

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