{"id":1891,"date":"2014-01-03T13:52:30","date_gmt":"2014-01-03T18:52:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/?page_id=1891"},"modified":"2014-10-25T11:52:03","modified_gmt":"2014-10-25T15:52:03","slug":"southeast-asia-with-peter-2013-page-09","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/southeast-asia-with-peter-2013-page-09\/","title":{"rendered":"Southeast Asia with Peter – Page 09"},"content":{"rendered":"

Southeast Asia with Peter – Day 13<\/strong><\/h1>\n

This day was saddest day of the trip. \u00a0We visited “The Killing Fields” and “The Genocide Museum”. A very sobering experience! \u00a0Please feel free to skip this page and go to Page 10 if you don’t like unpleasant pictures! \u00a0<\/strong>\"IMG_5075\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>The day started pleasant enough: a nice breakfast in the hotel and Will chatting with Nie at the lobby \u00a0Christmas tree.\"IMG_5084\"<\/a><\/strong>A neat pic of 5 Monks going to work in a Tuk Tuk.\u00a0<\/strong>\"IMG_5090\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>The usual street crowds in this city of 5 million people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5094\"<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

Then the visit to Choeung Ek.\u00a0This is the Memorial Stupa.<\/strong><\/p>\n

This is\u00a0<\/span>the site of a former orchard and mass grave of victims of the Khmer Rouge<\/span><\/a> – killed between 1975 and 1979 – about 17\u00a0km south of Phnom Penh<\/span><\/a>, Cambodia<\/span><\/a>, is the best-known of the sites known as The Killing Fields<\/span><\/a>.<\/span>\u00a0\u00a0Mass graves containing 8,895 bodies were discovered at Choeung Ek after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime. Many of the dead were former political prisoners who were kept by the Khmer Rouge in their Tuol Sleng detention center<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Today, Choeung Ek is a memorial, marked by this\u00a0Buddhist<\/span><\/a> stupa<\/span><\/a>. The stupa has acrylic glass<\/span><\/a> sides and is filled with more than 5,000 human skulls. Some of the lower levels are opened during the day so that the skulls can be seen directly. Many have been shattered or smashed in.<\/span><\/strong>\"IMG_5135\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Tourists are encouraged by the Cambodian Government<\/span><\/a> to visit Choeung Ek. Apart from the stupa, there are pits from which the bodies were exhumed. Human bones still litter the site.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5095\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Here is a map of this “Killing Field”. \u00a0The burial pits are shown at the top, the Stupa is in the center.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Killing Fields occupy a number of sites in Cambodia<\/span><\/a> where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge<\/span><\/a> regime \u00a0 during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979, immediately after the end of the Cambodian Civil War<\/span><\/a> (1970\u20131975).<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Analysis of 20,000 mass grave sites\u00a0indicate at least 1,386,734 victims of execution.\u00a0\u00a0Estimates of the total number of deaths resulting from Khmer Rouge policies, including disease and starvation, range from 1.7 to 2.5\u00a0million out of a 1975 population of roughly 8 million. In 1979, communist Vietnam<\/span><\/a> invaded Democratic Kampuchea<\/span><\/a> and toppled the Khmer Rouge regime and brought an end to the killings.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5096\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Nie showed us one of the pits and described how bones and clothing are still surfacing after flooding rains.\"IMG_5098\"<\/a> \"IMG_5099\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>Bones and bone fragments can be seen around the burial pits.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5103\"<\/a>\u00a0People occasionally pick up bones and clothing and put them on \u00a0this display of collected r<\/strong>emains.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5116\"<\/a> \"IMG_5117\"<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>\"IMG_5108\"<\/a> \"IMG_5109\"<\/a><\/strong>Some signs and rememberances<\/span><\/a><\/span>\u00a0left by visitors.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5126\"<\/a> <\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5113\"<\/a><\/strong>There were some signs of life there.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Here is Pol Pot, the leader of the Khmer Rouge and the architect of the Killing Fields:<\/strong>\"IMG_5001\"<\/a> \"IMG_5141\"<\/a>Pol Pot was a Cambodian<\/span><\/a> revolutionary<\/span><\/a> who led the Khmer Rouge<\/span><\/a>\u00a0from 1963 until 1997. From 1963 to 1981, he served as the General Secretary<\/span><\/a> of the Communist Party of Kampuchea<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0As such, he became the leader of Cambodia on April 17, 1975, when his forces captured Phnom Penh. From 1976 to 1979, he also served as the prime minister<\/span><\/a> of Democratic Kampuchea<\/span><\/a>. He presided over a communist dictatorship<\/span><\/a>\u00a0that imposed a radical form of agrarian socialism<\/span><\/a> on the country. His government forced urban dwellers to relocate to the countryside to work in collective farms and forced labor projects. The combined effects of executions, forced labor, malnutrition, and poor medical care caused the deaths of approximately 25 percent of the Cambodian population.\u00a0\u00a0In all, an estimated 1 to 3 million people (out of a population of slightly over 8 million) died due to the policies of his four-year premiership. \u00a0<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Pol Pot was driven from power by the invading Vietnamese in 1979. For the next few years he lived remotely on the Thai-Cambodian border, where he died either from heart failure or suicide in 1998. He had just heard on the Voice of America\u00a0<\/em>news broadcast that his former colleagues had decided to surrender him to an international tribunal investigating war crimes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5146\"<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

As we left Choeung Ek I snapped this pic of Pete with the Stupa in the background. \u00a0This a record of the event and is NOT<\/span> a post card picture.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Above the Stupa is a Sugar Palm \u00a0The National Tree of the Kingdom of Cambodia. \u00a0More about these trees later…<\/strong><\/h3>\n

\"IMG_5147\"<\/a>\u00a0\"IMG_5160\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5151\"<\/a> \"IMG_5155\"<\/a> \"IMG_5157\"<\/a>On the way back to town I shot some more street scenes.<\/strong><\/p>\n

We next went to the “Tuol Sieng Genocide Museum” also Known as “S-21”<\/strong>\"IMG_5161\"<\/a>\u00a0The site is a former high school<\/span><\/a> which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge<\/span><\/a> regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng \u00a0means “Hill of the Poisonous Trees” or “Strychnine<\/span><\/a> Hill”. Tuol Sleng was only one of at least 150 execution centers in the country,[1]<\/span><\/a><\/sup> and as many as 20,000 prisoners from there were killed in the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek<\/strong>\u00a0.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5164\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5162\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5165\"<\/a> \"IMG_5166\"<\/a>\u00a0This is one of many school offices converted into cells. Note the keg chains.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5167\"<\/a>Some of the S 21 rules and regulations<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5172\"<\/a>Everyone was photographed even these guards with military caps (above) as well as all the men, wome,and children victims (below).<\/strong>\"IMG_5173\"<\/a> \"IMG_5175\"<\/a> \"IMG_5178\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This womans badge states that she was the 462 prisoner admitted on 5\/14\/78. \u00a0Her baby was killed with her.<\/strong>\"IMG_5180\"<\/a><\/p>\n

This little girl is only known as “408”<\/strong>\"IMG_5186\"<\/a>\u00a0Barbed wire netting was placed on the outside balconies to prevent suicides by jumping. \u00a0Very few people were actully killed in S-21. \u00a0 After interrogations and confessions the prisoners were taken to the Choueng Ek killing fields for execution and burial.<\/strong> \"IMG_5193\"<\/a>\u00a0The perimeter of the prison was surrounded by steel sheets and topped with barbed wire. They are<\/strong>\u00a0still in place today.<\/strong><\/p>\n

s<\/strong>\"IMG_5191\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Bou Meng was a survivor. \u00a0He was allowed to live because he was a painter and Pol Pot liked his portraits. He was at the prison telling his story and selling his book ($10.00).<\/strong>\"IMG_5195\"<\/a>Bou Meng told his story in this book. Peter bought a copy and\u00a0he signed it. \u00a0I read the book and got creeped out reading of the horrible things done to innocent Cambodians by the Khmer Rouge in only 4 years 1975 to 1979 and visiting the actual place where it happened.<\/strong><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5194\"<\/a>Here is one of\u00a0Bou Meng’s (?) drawings done to illustrate the atrocities that occurred in S-21.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"IMG_5196\"<\/a>\u00a0On a lighter note – this is\u00a0Bou Meng’s lunch pail. \u00a0It’s rather pretty, don’t you think?<\/strong>\"IMG_5199\"<\/a><\/strong>One final picture of S-21 and we’ll move on to more pleasant stuff.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Go to Page 10
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 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Southeast Asia with Peter – Day 13 This day was saddest day of the trip. \u00a0We visited “The Killing Fields” and “The Genocide Museum”. A very sobering experience! \u00a0Please feel free to skip this page and go to Page 10 … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-1891","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1891","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1891"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1891\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2409,"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/1891\/revisions\/2409"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/prstevens.stonehippo.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1891"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}