Yikes guys! I hadn't realized my last post was from New Years Day. I thought I'd at least gotten in a post about Cambodia.
So sorry!
Well quick recap...oh my. I dont think I can make it quick. I mean...I don't want to make it quick. I thought I wasnt gonna have anything to blog about but perhaps I was mistaken.
So Cambodia had me tooooooootally charmed. LOVED it! I think it reinvigorated my thrill for South East Asia.
Ok, that's not true. It just sparked an interest to go to Laos...but I think i'm still done with the rest of the region. Don't get me wrong, if I get a chance to see Malaysia or Singapore or Indonesia...I'd have no complaints. But there's too many other (different) places on the list that need to be seen first. But Lao can sort of sneak into the top 5 if it wants.
Anyway, most of the week we spent in Cambodia revolved around the Khmer Rouge. SOOOO many movies and museums and monuments and stories and exhibits and books everywhere. Which was great. Sadly, I admit, I'd never heard of the Khmer Rouge before this year. Never heard of the genocide. Never heard of the atrocities. I'd heard of the name "Pol Pot". But I probably couldn't have even told you he was the Cambodian Communist leader. or Khmer Rouge leader. or whatever. =/
My defense - don't know about you guys (well...Sarah, I know you know cuz it was your area of expertise uni study, but other readers...) dont't know about you, but we NEVER touched based on anything related to Cambodia. OK, maybe a little bit sprinkled in when we grazed over the Vietnam War. But that's it. Never heard about it in JHS, HS, or uni.
Suuure, Andy could (would) say "well pick up a book you idiot". but hey now, there are only so many books and films that I can fit in at any given amount of time. there are so many other issues and events and stories and legends i need to educate myself on...if I've got noone to point me in any direction like "hey, you should read about the Khmer Rouge and what they did. Don't bother me with questions. just type in Khmer Rouge into your google bar". then so be it...the quest for knowledge can begin.
Well anyhow, so excuses aside, this is one huge reason why i like to travel. People have been asking me a lot lately why I do. Most people don't understand the passion I have for it. The thrive. The total exhilaration and excitement to always be exploring new cultures and trying new foods, and experiencing bowel movements most of the world will never be fortunate enough to take part in. This trip helped me realize that one large reason why I love to travel is because it allows me to learn about history and culture and people and psychology and social behaviors that I would otherwise never know existed outside my surbaban middle class bubble. i'm so thankful for the ableness to travel, and the people around me who share the same curiosity and wonderment about it.
Basically, in short, the day the civil war in Cambodia ended, Pol Pot and authorities sent in teenagers dressed in black to evacauate the ENTIRE capital city of Phnom Penh. Everyone was ordered out of the city, within 3 days, into the countryside, without any possessions - being told that the US was going to bomb any moment, and that the speediness was for their safety. Well, everyone turns up in the countryside, and for the next 3 years and 9 months, are forced into hard labor. Class is wiped out. Money is wiped out. Free exchange and free will, wiped out. It's Pol Pot's agenda to achieve what Mao failed in China. Well...so people are forced to work day and night, plowing and harvesting rice. The rice goes to China. Cambodians starve. The solution? Well...rather than let the people who harvest the rice, eat the rice...let's just kill people. Old, young, educated (especially), children. Why children? Because they cannot help the group now and will only exact revenge later. They serve no purpose, so they must die too.
So this high school (among many others around the country) in Phenom Pehn was turned into a prison. Prison S-21. 20,000 men, women, and children were brought in, only 7 survived. All were tortued and interrogated. All were taking to the nearby Killing Fields, a few km outside the city. Babies' heads were thrown against trees. Men had crowbars taken to the back of their necks while blindfolded, then their throats slashed. All were buried here. The largest grave contained 450 bodies. Everyone who came in and out was recorded in detail. All documentation still exists. At the killing fields, there's a momenument with 8,000 real human skulls, dug out from the graves, to give a reminder of the atrocities that happened. Still, not all graves have been dug up yet. (This all happened from 1974-1978). At the accompanying exhibit, there was a caption that claimed the Khmer Rouge was the worst atrocity ever committed by man, worst than the Holocaust. At first I thought this was a pretty bold statement. But I can sort of see the reasoning. I mean..."reasoning" isnt the right word. nor is it a contest among genocides who's more atrocious, etc. But in the Khmer Rouge, of the 2 million who died (25% of the population at the time), ALL 2 million were killed by the hands of another Cambodian. At least, (one could say), that the Holocaust wasn't AS atrocious in that one man sent 200 bodies into a room and another man pressed a button that released gas and then another man burned them and so on. So you could "reason" that the officers didn't reeeeally know what they were doing. being brainwashed and all. societal pressures. etc.
None of the regime leaders were taken to trial except for one (his trial started last year in May 09). Well, Pol Pot was charged with killing his family, so he was sent to house arrest in the countryside until he died in the 90s. Or he fled to Thailand...and then later found and tried. Seems a pretty lax judgement if you ask me.
So that's the congested history lesson. Just about.
So in Phenom Pehn, you get a chance to visit the prison, and you see the photos of everyone who was admitted and later killed. And you see the beds where people were tortued. The cells people were kept in. Nothing has been altered or removed. It's quite incredibly. And there's this amazing exhibit of a Sweedish news team who were the only foreigners during the Khmer Rouge regime allowed to enter and take photos inside the country. So the lead reporter/photographer has these photos and on the left side, he's got in captions, his thoughts from 1974 (ie: what are people talking about? Clearly not all children are slave workers. Clearly not all school has been banned. Look, here's two children sitting in a classroom). *frown*
Then on the right, is a caption from 2004, where he realizes, in retrospect, that many things he saw on his 10 day trip were probably staged. and how even a foreigner can be easily persuaded about the ideal of the communist regime and the "good" it hoped to achieve.
Whew. So that's that. So much more to write. But yea, I think that's the jist. And if I've mistaken any details, sorry Sarah! heh...since I know you're the expert on these things. Please, feel free to correct me if I've written anything wrong.
Well ok, so on a lighter note....that aside...Cambodia was charming and beautiful and the people so friendly. Saw Angkor Wat for a day. LOVED the small town of Siem Riep. Great food. Didn't know what Cambodian food was before arriving, but I can tell you now, I love it. A lot of coconut milk. Sort of a mix of Chinese and Thai fusion. Curries and stir-fry stuff.
Fruit Shakes as good as ever - except in Cambodia, they add ice cream and egg. Whereas Thailand, it's just the fruit and ice.
Bought some good counterfeit books. And some good counterfeit movies. Yes yes...I know...I should be ashamed.
Ate some happy herb pizza. ;)
as herby as it was, it wasn't very happy by the end. nonetheless, the pizza itself tasted fantastic.
got a blind massage for $6. it was wonderful.
ate an amazing greek salad. -- miss those!
currently reading Breakfast for Champions by Vonnegut (a book i picked up in Cambodia for $3). I'm about half way through. It's alright. I think it's my least favorite Vonnegut book as of date. The humor isn't has wry or witty i feel, as the others. It's much too obvious. But some of the pictures are quite entertaining. I mean, it's still funny. It obviously has some true Vonnegut moments. But...I think he's done better. Though, I still have 150 more pages to read, so we'll see if my view changes by the end of the book.
alrighty...that was heavy and light all at once, ne? gotta run! hence the quick exit,
hope you enjoyed <3
j9
