The next day, we decided to visit the Tuol Svay Prey High School that was taken over by Pol Pot’s security forces in 1975. They had transformed the classrooms into torture chambers and renamed the school to Security Prison 21. The only way to describe the place was disturbing. Each classroom looked like the scene out of the movie Saw. In each room, there would be metal wire beds with chains attached to them and a photographed picture above showing how each prisoner was tortured. Other rooms were transformed into brick jail cells where they would keep the prisoners before they were tortured or killed. They estimated about 100 prisoners were killed each day. Only seven prisoners survived because of their painting and photography skills. With this, they would paint and photograph how the Khmer Rouge leaders tortured their victims.
Later, we took a cab to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. This is where the Khmer Rouge leaders killed most of the detainees that were held at Prison 21. Once you arrive, there were 8000 skulls of victims and their ragged clothes on display for everyone to see. An audio tour took us through the now very peaceful, orchard like area. Each station that the victims would go through once they were dropped off were labeled by a different number on the audio tape. The disturbing part was you could still see the teeth and bones of people that were brutality beaten, killed and then pushed into the dirt trenches.
After a very depressing day, we wanted a pick-me-upper, so our Tuk-Tuk driver volunteered to take us to an authentic Cambodian boxing match. Not knowing what to expect, the stadium ended up being huge and there was over a thousand spectators. Us being the only foreigners, we really stood out. The boxing was fascinating. The boys were about 17 years old and so fit. There was even a girls boxing match, which ended up being just as intense and entertaining as the boy matches. It was a great way to end the day.
The next day, we were off to Siem Reap. We took the day bus and arrived in the evening. We ended up staying in a Hostel called “I Win” (potentially named after Charlie Shean?) The Hostel was in a great location, aside from the fact we could hear the music from the Reggae bar beside us blaring all night. Oh and the thousands of the crickets the filled the hallway at night time. The next day, we were up early to go see the sunrise at the famous Angkor Wat. The temples of Angkor is the eighth wonder of the world, so my excitement was through the roof. The sunset ended up being absolutely spectacular. The sun rose beautifully behind the Angkor Wat’s unique towers while you could see the reflection of the temple on the lake beside it. We spent the rest of the day exploring the other temples, including the famous Angkor Thom, the Bayon, the Baphuon, the Terrace of Elephants and finally the Ta Prohm. The Ta Prohm is actually the set for shooting the movies Tomb Raider and Two Brothers. This one was really unique because the roots of the trees were all twisted into the stone of the temple. Every temple was beautiful in its own way. It was easy to get lost in the multiple doorways, hidden paths, and endless staircases.
I knew it was too good to be true when the next morning I came down with a 24 hour flu. I woke up feeling awful and knew that I was in no shape to go volunteer at the local school with the rest of the gang. Sad to have missed the opportunity, I decided to stay home and recover. It was a good thing I did, since I spent the entire day over the toilet bowl and lying in my bed staring at the ceiling. I ended up missing out on volunteering at the school and Angkor Wat sunset, but it needed to be done.
The final day, I woke up feeling a lot better…thank god. Since I had actually missed going into the Angkor Wat temple, we decided to spend the morning doing that and finishing up other major temples. It ended up being another great sunny day, although it felt like the Sahara desert outside. It was another great day before Robyn and I had to split from the group and head home for our exams.
After thoughts…
I think Cambodia was my most life changing trip thus far. Cambodia was unlike any other place I had visited in Southeast Asia. The fact that it was so underdeveloped allowed me to fully see how the Cambodians lived. Through our random excursion to our Tuk-Tuk drivers home village and by going to the local boxing match, I really was really able to embrace their culture. Most people have such little money, yet they were the most genuine and friendly people I have ever met. In Cambodia, it is all about supporting your family and community. They don’t look at us and envy us for what we have, but rather are so willing and excited to show us their own way of living. It was such a refreshing and eye-opening experience, and for that I am so thankful I have been given this opportunity.
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