Reality

17.01.2014

Phnom Penh is the ultimate Cambodian reality check - they say that coming here helps you truly understand this country, especially for those that manage to stay hidden within the tourist bubble, who only hit up the temples of Angkor, with perhaps a few days lazing about on the country's beaches. While there is no shortage of fun diversions in Phnom Penh, there is a serious side to the city that can only be seen if you step outside of the tourist bubble, and take the time to learn something about Cambodia's dark and tragic history.

There are two key sights in Phnom Penh that allow you to see the horrors inflicted upon Cambodians by Pot Pot and his Khmer Rouge - the Tuol Sleng Museum and the Killing Fields. It's difficult to say which is the sadder memorial, as each one of them offers countless stories of misery and human suffering that are nearly beyond comprehension ... combined, these two form the worst one-two punch possible, blowing your mind with the impossible depravity of men.

The closest experience I have ever had to this was a visit to Auschwitz, which is another one of those places that give you a completely different perspective on the World. Memorial sights like these aren't places you necessarily want to see, but are places you are compelled to see, and quite frankly, places you must see. As much as people would probably like to forget some of the atrocities humans have inflicted upon other humans, it's important to acknowledge and try to understand exactly what has happened, if for no other reason than to honour the memories of those who suffered and died so senselessly.

The horrors perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge were as sadistic as they can be, and were supposedly committed in the name of upholding Pol Pot's worker's revolution, by exposing dissidents and rebels who would oppose that revolution. However, history shows that these sad, sick bastards were no better than twisted individuals who seemed to revel in torturing the masses, and coming up with more and more depraved methods of doing so.

Pol Pot and his regime represented the pinnacle of paranoia, randomly arresting people under the presumption that they were guilty and with something to hide, torturing their prisoners to the point that they would invent stories to end their suffering. It was a vicious cycle, as these coerced confessions often resulted in the naming of other innocent Cambodians, who would then be captured and tortured until they gave up another of their innocent compatriots.

Even worse was the Khmer Rouge's philosophy that it wasn't enough to kill only the "guilty" - it was necessary to also wipe out that person's entire family, including children, to ensure that there would be no chance of reprisal or revenge against the regime. This continued for years, with the genocide toll tabbed by various experts at anywhere between one to three million Cambodians. Little of what Pol Pot did made any sense, as his level of paranoia was so high that he eventually killed many of his most-trusted advisors - his delusional mind had a knack for seeing nonexistent conspiracies everywhere he looked.

Perhaps the saddest aspect of what Cambodians had suffered through during those long years under his oppressive rule is the fact that to this day, nobody seems to understand why Pol Pot did what he did. It's actually a testament to the heart and beauty of the Cambodian people, as they aren't necessarily looking for any revenge or even justice, only closure in the form of answers. But sadly, Cambodians will never receive what they so deserve - if there ever really was any rhyme or reason to anything that he did, any hope of knowing those answers died long ago, along with Pol Pot

The Stupa at the Killing Fields