Traveling is a passion and one of the most beautiful things you can do but every now and then you are being confronted with the horrible past of a country.
I love traveling in Asia, most of the time history shows itself from her best side, temples, shrines, statues and even nature that was formed during thousands of years.
Visiting famous places in Cambodia like Ankor Wat, Ankor Tom or Ta Prohm shows excactly that, incredible architecture combined with heroic stories, you will feel like you are walking on a movie set and in some cases thats even true (tomb raider for instance)
But what I really remember from my visit to Cambodia are the Tuol Sleng museum and Choeung Ek, better known as the Killing fields. Results of a communist party, with its Khmer Rouge military and its leader Pol Pot
The Khmer Rouge , was the name given to Cambodian (Khmer) communists (rouge, French for red) and later the followers of the Communist Party of Kampuchea in Cambodia who infamously carried out the Cambodian genocide
1.5 - 3 million people were killed, about 25% of the Cambodia's population.
The Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979
They used this site to torture and execute prisoners and if you read the "rules"you can imagine how terrible this place has been.
The classrooms were used as torturing rooms. The torture system at Tuol Sleng was designed to make prisoners confess to whatever crimes they were charged with by their captors.
The bloody footsteps that soaked in to the tiles and are still visible were pretty shocking, they used torturing techniques like: waterboarding, electric shocks, suffocation with plastic bags, beating and many more.
Some "classrooms" were devided in to small cells, it must have been a nightmare here.
The mugshots of the victims were heartbreaking, especially those of the children.
Out of an estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at Tuol Sleng, there were only seven known survivors and about 170 people were released for several reasons.
Choeung Ek is one of the killing fields were more then a million people were killed. Walking around this place gives you the shivers, you still feel death is present.
You can see the holes in the ground were they found all the bodies, you are literally walking inbetween mass graves.
Most shocking is the killing tree, they used it to beat children to death.
Every time there is heavy rain, more bone fragments and pieces of clothing are washed up out of the dirt.
the picture i took of the pieces of cloths and the tiny little flower growing next to it as a sign of hope tells the story....i really mean it if i tell you i didnt sleep good for a while after visiting this place.
I normally write happy stories, adventures, with a wink and a smile. That doesnt mean i only see good things in the world and therefor a good reason to tell this sad story as well.
Cambodia is a very poor country, combined with these horrible stories very different from many other countries in Asia.
It gave me a bitter taste in my mouth and like i said its hard to forget the cruelness and only think of the beauty Cambodia has to offer. I am grateful to all the kind Cambodian people i met and i am very impressed how this country moved on, there may be scars but i also saw a lot of smiles.
Thank you for reading my blog, most probably a happy story in my next blog again!
Note: all pictures taken by myself.
Please feel free to resteem my blog so more people get a chance to read it!
The beautiful country with very heavy history
Oh that is pretty heavy to watch, let alone to visit. Bloody footsteps, children beaten to death at that tree with all these bracelets.. man.. I am a bit in shock..
sorry for the shocking post, unfortunately something that really happened :-(
My next blogs will hopefully make you smile again!
Thank you for your comment!
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Thank you very much for sharing my blog!
WOW Bloody foot prints! That is scary.
Traveling is always the best way to open you up to the world, the good and the bad.
I love traveling in asia. I have never been to Cambodia though.
Very cool post.
thank you for your comment @acromott ...horrible story...i agree!
Asia is great for traveling and Cambodia has more to offer then its cruel history, worth a visit!
Enjoy your day!
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Thank you so much! Thats Always appreciated big time!
I know quite some people who have been there and all of them said that it was such a confronting and sad place. And the worst thing is that it did not even happen such a long time ago, that shocked me most when I first heard about it.
Thats true steef, not that long ago! And whats also terrible is that most people involved got away unpunished...just a few got what they deserved.
Yep, this is one of the saddest places I've been too as well.
:-( ...unfortunately we cant make it better….hopefully people learned from it.
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Thank you travelfeed! Always glad with your help!
Shame it is a sad one Lucky, I would be disturbed for day if I visit there too, the foot print on the floor shows mercy never existed it was just death all over.
Good to see another side of your travel experience which have always been the happy ones.
Your time in putting this post together is appreciated, thanks for sharing!
Thank you Joe....sad story yes...lots of happy ones left for future posts!
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You took a lot of similar photos as I did of the same things.
You took a lot of
Similar photos as I
Did of the same things.
- izzynoel
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