So here it goes! I have never blogged before so this is my maiden voyage! I want to share with everyone my expereinces in Cambodia and this will be the easiet way!
I have now been in Phnom Penh a day over week. I have seen a lot and learned so much! It is a beautiful place with a tragic history that is slowly recovering. My first week here I visited S21 (also known as the place where the Khmer Rouge tortured and killed many Khmer people, most notable intellectuals, woman, children- anyone they considered a threat). It was a school that had been converted into a prison. There was still blood on the floor which was amazing being that these horrific things occured back from 1974-1979. The pictures of the babies and the children got to me the most.
After the prison we visited the Killing Fields. This is where Khmer people were taken after the prison (if they survivied that long) and were killed. I cannot wrap my brain around what happened at this place. There is a huge memorial which holds the skulls and bones that have been recovered in the mass graves. Not all the graves have been excavated yet so there are still remains left to be uncovered. the hardest was seeing the tree where they would kill children. They would hold the children and babies by the feet and smash their heads and bodies against the tree. Then they would throw them in a mass grave beside the tree.Absolutely horrific!
Quite a first day in Cambodia! As hard as it was to see these things it is necessary so they never occur again and the people lost are not forgotten!
Have to go for now. Will write on Day 2 soon!
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