For a bit of light relief today I went to a couple of 'must see' places on any Phnom Penh itinerary - the prison once called S-21 (now the Tuol Sleng genocide museum) and the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek.
Both were interesting and not nearly as grim as I'd anticipated. I think S-21 was the more interesting, thanks mainly to the meticulous records the Khmer Rouge maintained. Each prisoner (and by default torture victim) had their picture taken and there are copies and translations of their histories and also the bogus confession's they made (as a result of torture). Ultimately a lot of the Khmer Rouge top officials ended up there as intense paranoia lead them to turn on themselves.
The Killing Fields necessitated a death defying tuk-tuk ride to get there. This is where the inmates of S-21 were taken to be killed and disposed of. It's the first time I've been anywhere where there are signs saying 'Don't walk across the mass grave'! You can see fragments and pieces of bone everywhere. The main memorial, or Supa, has collection of skulls, most of which show signs of fracture or wounding with axes etc. - bullets were expensive.
All of it just highlights how utterly bonkers and evil the Khmer Rouge were. And because this happened in an era before mass communication and the Internet the world was blissfully unaware.
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