1.11.2013

Phnom Penh, Tuol Sleng Prison, and the Russian Market

Cambodia was one of the toughest countries for me to visit due to the blatant poverty.  However, once you start to look into the history a little, especially what has happened in the last 50 years, it is easier to understand how and why the country has remained impoverished.  If you get a chance, due a bit of research on the Khmer Rogue, Tuol Sleng Prison (S-21), or The Killing Fields.  I am not quite sure why I was never taught any of this in school, but it is a sad period of time for humanity.  

Here are a few photos from Phnom Penh and its surrounding points of interest:



(Wat Phnom Penh) 


(Inside the temple)


(A different view with the statue.  I really enjoyed how colorful the ceiling was.)


 (A few miniature statues and or figurines with money underneath)


(View of the temple from the bottom of the steps.  It is located on the top of a hill.)


(Stop sign - the simple things in life)


(A guy hanging out by the side of the road charging his phone.  I'm not quite sure if this was his living quarters as well...)


(The Royal Palace of Cambodia)


(I believe this building housed the Cambodian Emerald Buddha.  So, I am not quite sure which country had the Emerald Buddha first or how it started, but there was one here as well.  There was a nice little garden, too.)


(Everybody could use a little protection)


(The big man's house - home to the King and the place he holds his royal banquets.  Unfortunately, since they were having a banquet that evening, we couldn't get too close.)


(Looks like they rolled out the red carpet for me...)


(A few Buddha statues...)


(A few masks...)


 (The thing that sits on top of an elephant where the king sits)


(Perhaps the saddest part of the trip for me was when I visited S-21 or Tuol Sleng Prison and the Killing Fields.  Both of them opened my eyes to the Khmer Rogue and a part of Cambodian history I have never known before...)


 (One of the hallways outside the rooms where prisoners would be kept)


 (When the Vietnamese liberated the country and the city they found 12 people dead upon entering the prison.  Hundreds were killed but the final 12 now have grave sites, which you can see here, located at the prison.)


(Room with a urinal/toilet)


(The rules - if you click on the picture, they are much easier to read.  While the translation isn't exactly the best, you get the idea...)


(Here you get an idea of how large each unit was and I believe there were 3 other similar units on the premises...)


 (The tubs below would be filled with excrement and someone would be hung by his or her feet and dunked in the filth until they were unconscious.  Then, they would be shocked back into a state of awareness and the whole process would start over again.  This prison was famous for forcing false confessions and torturing people until they confessed and named accomplices.)


(A few of the guards and prisoners)


(They used children as guards because it was easier to indoctrinate them and they were more willing to follow orders without questioning)


 (A single cell.  Unfortunately, since it was raining, I did not get any pictures of the killing fields, a place where thousands were murdered.  There were graves of women, children, babies, who were killed by smashing their heads against a tree, men, and a group of decapitated men, who were believed to be former soldiers.  It was mind boggling...)


(Russian Market)


(More from the Russian Market...)


 (A nick knack shop)


(Chicken delivery man...)

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