Cambodia Day 4

Been missing for quite a while

The last post was like half a month back

Its quite a hectic time now

School has started OFFICIALLY

And the final lap of journey has finally started

After so long

At the age of 22 somemore

Oh well

Today I shall continue with Day 4 of our Cambodia trip

Also regarded as the last day of the tour in Cambodia

Because the 5th and last day was pretty much just breakfast then flying off

Day 4 was visiting the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center

Check out the rows and rows of skulls on display

They are the skulls of those victims who were viciously killed

during the reign of Pol Pot

Pol Pot was also known as the short term for "Politician Potential"

Now that is sick!

Because he incited a Civil War in Cambodia itself

And that means killing lots of smart people who would have otherwise

brought Cambodia to greater heights than as of today

Those skulls were smashed / bashed / crushed in many ways unimaginable

And you can feel the cold air once you step inside the stupa that had 

been constructed to house these skulls even though the weather

was like freaking warm and humid outside

 

The infamous Killing Fields itself

Mass graves of the dead lay there

And you still can see visible shapes and white matters of the bone remains

The signage that are so disturbing to read

You got trees used to hang loudspeaker to prevent others from

from hearing the moaning of the victims

You got trees used to whack baby victims

You got graves of victims without heads and so on and so forth

You walk through every one of them you will feel the dark gloom of the place

Its just slowly creeping into the back of your mind

=/

Signage displaying what those places were original used as

As chemical rooms, detention places, executioners offices, storage etc

 

Palm tree

Familiar right?

Look at this carefully

And you can see the sharp edges on this so-called "blunt" object

Imagine it not being sharp enough

And the executioners using it to saw off the victim's head

Now tell me you thought the Iraqi hostage video in which the victim's head

was slowly saw off while the executioner was muttering a bunch of rubbish

which no one in the right frame of mind can translate wasnt R21 enough

This palm tree's branch makes me look at trees in a different way

=/

Actually the place is quite nice

I mean the surroundings

If you dont know the history of the place or what

It just......serene

Suitable as the place for the resting dead

The Khmer Rouge background

The skulls which highlight ways of how a person was killed
Either by knife or by club or by smashing the head against something
And the teeth remains
Plus the various weapons used by the Khmer Rouge back then

The place which had paintings depicting the actual scenarios back then
Just mindblowing

After the visit
We went on to another place
The S21 prison
I think the S21 prison just totally sucks your life out from your body
You come out shagged
You feel tired
And you feel emotionally detached

Gag Order

Rules and Regulations of the S21 prison
Back then
Not now of course

So we started off the visit with Building A

Building A have rows and rows of rooms which house single beds
And every room has a poster displaying how the bed was "utilized"
If the word can even be used in this context
That place was like a single street across to more civilization
And there were holes big enough for light to shine through
Giving those optimistic hope that life may carry on

But walking through the hallways
And entering every single room
You see that it's just too damn tough
Especially if you are being chained to a bed
Malnourished, tired, and giving up hope every day
Not forgetting the fact that you are being beaten up every single minute

Once we stepped out into the courtyard
We see this torture device
And it just speaks for itself I guess
You dont need to know rocket science to know how this works

I took photos of these photos
And it just seems.....wrong
As they pop up on my DSLR's LCD screen
It's just unexplainable
That these rows and rows of photos have lives of their own
And they are just staring back at you
And plus this lady
Being screwed up literally with some device
Forcing you to sit straight and face the camera
Now that is not right.......downright sick to the stomach
=.=

Unlimited leg chains
You cant count finish the amount here

The hallways are HP-draining
If you play games, you would know what it means

The 4-page summary of what happened
For those who would be interested
You can click on these photos
And you would almost have know the 80-90% of what happened back then

After Building B

Building C was the closest to Hell literally

This is not right
You got barbed wire everywhere
And the freaking gate is a barbed wire gate!
No where to run / hide / commit suicide

Adrian summed up the situation
You see all the cells
They are so small that I was so scared I wont be able to squeeze out
after I entered them
And the chains on the floor
Plus the narrow hallways
With the thicker-than-bomb-shelter kinda cell rooms
And yes there wasnt any place for you to defecate or urine
Now that is double sick
And each cell wasnt used to keep one person only
=(

Posters painting a thousand words
Plus some of the actual torture devices
And a skull-filled map of Cambodia
Looking at the posters is enough to say everything
Really

After the S21 prison visit
It was like clearing the entire major tourist attractions of Cambodia already
So the good lunch was well-deserved
Haha!
Oh well, we always eat damn good overseas
Because we saved on other stuff like air tickets and accomodations
:)

Russian Market tour
Followed by Central Market tour
Nothing much for the 2nd one though
Then night time was dinner beside the riverside walk
A tourist place
And the most lit place in the whole of Phnom Penh I guess?

Dinner was fan-ta-bulous
Especially the pineapple rice
Something to die for
And the pizza too!
No more alcohol for us
Come to think of it
It was like the only day we didnt drink
Ah ha!
Now I feel kinda thirsty while typing this
Thinking we should or shouldnt have drink back then

Trying to get the full focus half blurred background effect
Not bad for a few good tries
And in the slight drizzle somemore
:)

And ending off with the Phnom Penh night market tour
This was good!
Because we walked along the riverside
Enjoyed the cool breeze
Seeing the neon lights
And got entertained by Cambodian renditions of Hokkien songs
Seeing the locals just sit there chillax
And us going to grab bargains (as seen per last photo)

Well the only regret is not able to get the full-size doll back for my mom
And as expected
Got a scolding from her
But I also can expect it
Because an adult size soft-toy selling for only USD$25 bucks
OMG!
Singapore if dont have $100 I chop off lo
The only problem is how to get it onto the plane that is
And until now
I still cant see how I could have gotten it up
Without check in luggage too
Haiz

Like they say
"Should have would have could have" were the last words of a fool
Oh well
I still thought this Cambodia trip was worth it
Came back equipped with more knowledge about our South East Asian neighbours
And knowing that I cleared a lot of highlights in SEA
Leaving places like Philippines and Thailand
And I can move on to other places further away!
Woohoo!
$600 Singapore Dollars for this entire 5D4N trip
Damn worth it!
:)