Wandergliding: Phnom Penh

January 4^th, 2025

I flew from Con Dao to Ho Chi Minh City and after a 5-hour layover, headed to Phnom Penh.

Taking off from Con Dao.

Hello Ho Chi Minh City (HCMC)...this is the last day that I see you on this trip.

The international terminal in HCMC. It did have a good view for watching planes takeoff and land.

And also for watching hockey! Two of my high school buddies were at this game in Seattle against Vancouver. I was a bit shocked that the beer was more than twice the price at the domestic terminal, a 10 minute walk away.

It may be hard to tell in this pic unless you zoom in, but I got a kick out of this traveller. She has a nice skirt and blouse on, fancy sunglasses, but then the travel pillow around her neck and to top it all off, a single curler in her hair. Maybe it's the fashion, but to me it just looks like she left in a hurry from her house in the morning...

You don't see this often in the western world, an airport supervisor on a bicycle.

Well hello Cambodia!

After checking into my hotel, I went for a wander around the neighborhood to get the lay of the land. Just four blocks away was the Mekong River, the 12^th longest river in the world and 3^rd longest in Asia at over 4900 kilometres in length. Along the promenade by the river, there were a few vendors of snacks and drinks, joggers, walkers and strangely a lot of fortune tellers. I didn’t bother…

The Mekong River in Phnom Penh.

There were a lot of fortune tellers along the promenade, whether it was palm reading or looking at cards (they weren't Tarot cards, just regular ones).

Some ferries were taking commutes across the river.

Some fancy buildings in Phnom Penh.

The next morning, I took a tuktuk to one of the most visited sites (I don’t want to say attractions) by foreigners in the capital of Cambodia: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, better known as Prison S-21. Tuol Sleng means “hill of the poisonous trees”, perhaps an appropriate name. From 1976-1979, approximately 20,000 people, mostly Cambodians, passed through the establishment to be incarcerated and tortured until they confessed to crimes, often false ones, that allowed the Khmer Rouge to have justification to send them off to be executed in the Killing Fields.

The Independence Monument, passed by it on my tuk tuk ride to Prison S-21.

Let’s back up a bit, although I don’t plan on telling you the whole story behind the genocide that occurred in Cambodia in the late 70s, but here’s Dave’s take on it. I recall as a young kid hearing about the Khmer Rouge and Pol Pot, but it really didn’t mean too much to me at that time.

Poor Cambodia suffered massive bombing by the US during the Vietnam War since Cambodia allowed the North Vietnamese to have some of the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which brought weapons and supplies from the north to the south, pass through Cambodia.

Before that, the king, King Sihanouk, was ousted in a coup by the Prime Minister General Lon Nol in 1970, while the king was in Beijing. The new regime was anti-communist and it demanded that any Vietnamese communists leave the country. The king urged his followers to support him, and a civil war ensued.

Meanwhile, a man named Saloth Sar, who was born into a wealthy family, was educated in some of Cambodia’s wealthiest schools. He went to Paris to study radio electronics, and it was here that he joined the French Communist Party. When he returned to Cambodia, he was involved with the Khmer Viet Minh organisation and then started building a following, and eventually an army primarily consisting of young, uneducated men, which was called the Khmer Rouge. Khmer is an ethic group in Cambodia (they speak Khmer too) and the Rouge comes from the red for communism. So it was kind of ironic that Saloth came from a wealthy background as communists denounce all forms of wealth. Saloth now become known as Pol Pot (possible a pseudonym from “Political Potential”). He’s the main man behind the genocide that would occur in Cambodia.

The main bastard behind it all...Pol Pot. That was not his real name, that was Saloth Sar. Pol Pot was a political name that some surmise meant "Political Potential".

In April 1975, the Khmer Rouge seized control of the country. Pol Pot envisioned an agrarian society, meaning everyone was to be a farmer and work on the land. The use of modern machinery and even animals like oxen was forbidden. Only human toil would suffice. Within three days of entering Phnom Penh, almost every inhabitant was on the march out of the city, or face death. Schools, hospitals, factories…everything was shut down. How insane! “Hey everybody, let’s go back to the stone age.”

Prison S-21 was just one 150-200 detention centres set up by the Khmer Rouge. It used to be a school and had four classroom blocks, all of which were turned into torture rooms or prison cells. Anyone who was a dissident, non-communist, doctor, engineer, lawyer, machinist, mechanic… you name it, they were brought here. Children of parents who were brought to S-21 had to come along as well. Crazy stuff.

Building A of Prison S-21.

Some of the leftover barbed wire on a perimeter fence.

These are the graves of the last 14 victims of prison, who were hastily killed as the Vietnamese Army were approaching.

Prisoners were shackled to an iron bed like this for interrogation.

This was the gruesome scene that the liberators found in 14 different rooms.

These are the 7 adult survivors of the prison. I didn't know until later that the third guy from the right was actually at the prison and I would get to briefly meet him.

This wooden structure was originally set up as a playground for kids at the school. During the prison time, it was a torture device. Captives were strung up by their wrists, which were tied behind their back. Once they passed out, they were lowered and their heads were dunked in the big pots which were filled with human waste until they came to. How terrible.

The place was run by a man named Kang Kek Lew, better known as Comrade Duch. He was really the bastard of all bastards. In order to “justify” an execution of an inmate, they required a confession. Now someone like a doctor wouldn’t have done anything wrong, but they would be tortured until they came up with some plausible reason why they were guilty. If the confession was too outrageous, Comrade Duch would deny it and the torture would continue.

And this was the bastard who did the dirty work, Comrade Duch, he was responsible for the interrogation and torture of thousands of individuals, and was convicted for the execution of at least 12,272 individuals, including women and children, but up to 14,000 in total could have died under his oversight.

This was Khmer Rouge's plan. To become an agrarian (farming) society, everyone in the cities had to move out to the country.

Some pictures of the hard labour required to produce food. The Khmer Rouge didn't allow the use of modern machinery or even oxen to plow fields. Dumb asses...

This is a picture of the 5 children who survived the prison (for a total of 12 people out of 20,000 who passes through the gates). Unbeknownst to me, two of them were at the prison this day, selling their book.

Cell block B, where prisoners were incarcerated in tiny cells.

A statue of a figure falling over with their hands in prayer.

As genocidal regimes often tend to do, they documented everything. Photographs and records were kept of each person who passed through this horrific place. As the informative audio guide I was listening to stated: “Record keeping helped the ordinary guard feel removed from the terrible crimes that were being committed…they were simply doing their job.”

These were the young men who worked at the prison. They were from the countryside and most of them had very limited education, in fact, most of them couldn't read or write.

These were the women who worked at the prison, primarily doing housekeeping type chores but there were a few who were involved with the interrogation of prisoners.

Some of the victims of the prison...tough photos to look at.

These guys were some of the handful of foreigners who were caught up in the fray of the Khmer Rouge. Some of them were simply sailing and ended up in the wrong waters... The guy in the bottom left is Kerry Hamill from Australia. He was sailing with his friend and was apprehended off of the coast of Cambodia with the co-owner of the boat Canadian sailor, Stuart Glass and he was shot while being apprehended and died at sea. They ended up in Prison S-21 and later killed. While being interrogated, he fictious confession stated that one of his commanding officers was Colonel Sanders (KFC), his family's home phone number as his CIA operative number, and also reported to Major S. Star, a tribute to his mother who was name Esther.

I just thought that this young man's eyes looked so defiant.

And this guy was a deer in headlights.

He just looks pissed off that he was caught.

She looks somewhat defiant, or at least not broken.

Look at how young this boy is...to have chains around his neck.

And how old is this poor dude?!?

Iron shackles used in larger rooms with up to 60 people lying on the floor.

Where they would cram 60 prisoners.

One of the four cell blocks still had the barbed wire installed. It was mainly to prevent prisoners from committing suicide after one guy did just that, jumping from the third floor.

On the first floor of Cell Block B, they created tiny cells with brick.

That's probably 4 feet by 8 feet.

That's an ammo box on the floor. The prisoners had to relive themselves in it and be very careful about it. If they spilled it, they were made to lick it up.

These markings were made by a guard who was counting something. You can see that he didn't know how to count apart from single lines.

On the second and third floors, the cells were made of wood.

There were multiple signs to not write any graffiti, but you can't argue with this message.

A painting by Bou Meng, one of the 7 adult survivors out of thousands, who was at the prison that day.

Another by Bou, showing the torture method of from the wooden frame that used to be for a playground for the school that was once there.

Various implements used for torture.

This is for waterboarding a prisoner...a simulated type of drowning, which sometimes left the victim dead.

In the last building, there were some of the remains of the victims of Prison S-21.

It might be hard to see unless you zoom in, but this is a photograph of hundreds of bones found in the Killing Fields, about 20 minutes outside of Phnom Penh, where prisioners would be take to be executed.

This shows one of the common methods of execution, a blow to the head with a hammer, a hoe or some other blunt instrument. It was cheaper than using bullets.

A small shrine in the last room of the last building.

Coming out of the last building, I saw this display, where two survivors hang out and sell their book.

After a gut-wrenching couple of hours wandering around the grounds and through the buildings, learning a lot from the audio guide, I was blown away by the fact that 2 of the 5 child survivors and 1 of the 7 adult survivors (remember, there were only 12 survivors out of about 20,000) were actually present that day at the prison. The first two, the child survivors, had a small stand outside of the last building, Cell Block D. They looked to be around my age, if not younger, and they were selling a book. I said hello and passed by before I really clued in who they were. I sat down on a nearby bench in the shade to listen to the last few excerpts of the audio guide and it was interesting to see other visitors come up and interact with them. A few bought their book, a few posed for photographs, and one woman walked away with tears in her eyes. Can’t blame her.

The guy on the right is one of the children survivors.

A memorial to the victims. The black tablets contain the names of many of those who lost their lives.

I headed towards the exit, and then saw that there was one of the adult survivors, Bou Meng, now an 83 or 84-year-old, sitting under a shelter with some books in front of him and a couple of women helping him out. I watched as a couple of people bought his book and had their photo with him and I thought that I couldn’t pass up this opportunity. Bou is an artist who created a number of paintings about the atrocities that occurred here. He would have been in his mid-forties when he was imprisoned and tortured, so unlike the child survivors, he definitely remembered what transpired, and the terrible hardship he endured.

Behind the post is Boh Meng, one of the 7 adult survivors.

I bought his book to learn about his ordeal.

I bought his book and had a photo taken with him. Unfortunately, he doesn’t speak English. I asked one of the caretakers how often he is present at the prison these days, but her English wasn’t too good, but she did convey that it’s not that often anymore due to his age. Wow. What a survival story.

Whew…that was heavy. But something we all need to learn about, as genocides keep recurring in our societies. Is there a way to stop that in the future? I’m not so sure…

My next stop was Wat Phnom (wat meaning “temple”). It’s a major pagoda in the city and symbolized the name of Phnom Penh. Standing at 46 meters on top of a small hill surrounded by a road, it was a pretty site…although I have to admit that I spent all of 3-4 minutes there. I snapped some photos, and it was time to move on.

The entrance to Wat Phnom (wat means "temple").

Inside this building was the standard golden Buddha statue and other intricate ornaments. I've seen so many in Thailand that I just poked my head through the door and continued on.

The main stupa.

This big clock kinda worked...the second hand and minute hand moved, but the second hand seemed to have a tough time going up hill (when it passed 6), and it definitely wasn't accurate.

The clock trying to keep time...

My last haircut was over a month and a half ago in Thailand so I walked to a barber, found some lunch and then wandered back to my hotel while passing by the Royal Palace of Cambodia. Looking at online reviews and pictures, I had already decided that I would just walk by place, and not bother paying the entrance fee to look at the outside of some fancy buildings up closer…it had been a tiring day.

Walking back to my hotel...some kind of market building.

Another temple.

Good advice! At least the first one...

This was some park that you couldn't enter, the gates were locked. Looked like it needed some mowing too.

Part of the Royal Palace, that I didn't bother going in to check out. You could only see the buildings from the outside if you paid your $10 USD to enter, so I didn't bother.