The Killing Fields

10/12/12

There's a different tone to this post as The Killing Fields took us all a bit by surprise and is by far the most interesting and shocking thing we've seen on the cultural portion of the tour.

After a typically thrilling 14km Tuk Tuk ride through the suburbs of Phnom Penh and out into the countryside we were all brought pretty firmly down to earth by the first stop on The Killing Fields audio tour given by a survivor of the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot (read your history books guys). The tour involved a walk around an area used for the killing and burial of thousands of people during Pol Pot's regime and I don't think we said more than a few words to each other the whole time we were there. It was strangely peaceful despite the horrors on show and when you stepped out of the monument, containing victims skulls, at the end of the tour it was pretty much silent despite there being a lot of people around. We've added a few pics from the trip but be warned they are pretty graphic.

An unusually somber post I think you'll agree but the subject matter deserved it. However, we will leave you with a bit of irony...
At the end of the tour there's a small museum with pictures and information about the fields and the Khmer Rouge. We were in there for about 20 minutes and the place was pretty much silent apart from the odd bit of music. As we came to leave the classic Nokia trigger happy tv ringtone started up (and it was loud). Everyone in the room (mostly westerners) started looking around to see who's phone was not only on but on extra loud (if u can turn it off at orange Wednesdays surely you can turn it off in The Killing Fields). But who was it? Was it you tall American man? or you old Japanese lady? or maybe even you young australian sheila? I mean surely not...not you Cambodian Buddhist monk in full garb with 4 man Buddhist wolf pack? Yes it was you wasn't it and didn't you speak oh so very loudly all the way out of the museum past the 'please keep quiet' signs...bet you didn't even pay the entrance fee either!

G.R