This week started off heavy when we visited S-21 and the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh. For those of you who don’t know, S-21 stands for Security Office 21 which was originally a high school but was turned into a prison during the ruling of Pol Pot and the genocide (1975-1979). The number 21 stands for the 21st prison out of 167 prisons that existed during the genocide. At the prison all victims were tortured endlessly until they confessed that they committed treason against the reign of Pol Pot and his political ideas. People who were arrested were normally anyone who was educated or looked educated along with their whole families. They ranged in age from babies to the elderly. As we quietly walked around the eerie abandoned prison we saw old rusty wire beds, prisoner cells, and pictures of prisoners before and after they were tortured. It was a dreadful place but taught us a lot about Cambodia and what the people here went through. At the end of our tour there we had the opportunity of meeting the last two survivors from S-21 who are trying to share their experience with the community and raise awareness around the genocide.
All silent mulling over what we had just experienced, packed into tuktuks to head over to the Killing Fields. This is where Pol Pot and his followers would bring the prisoners after they were tortured to be violently killed and put into mass grave sites. The fields were cleared of most the bones and clothing from the victims when they were discovered, but as you walked past the large holes that made up the fields you could spy left over bones and tattered clothing sticking out of the ground. 25% of Cambodia’s population was killed during the genocide. Seeing everything that day hit all of us pretty hard and made us aware of how affected most of Cambodia’s population was from the genocide.
The rest of our time in Phnom Penh was spent much more cheerfully as we all wondered around the capital and got lost more times then we can count. We also all got a little taste of home and went to see Spectre in a mall cinema that we stumbled across. Half way through the week we all woke up early and stuffed all 13 of us plus our packs into a small white van and headed south to Kampot. The claustrophobic van ride was definitely worth it when we arrived at the Mangrove conservation and education center and settled into our bamboo bungalows located right on the Kampot River. We all immediately dropped our bags and jumped into the river for a long swim until the sunset. Here we got to plant our very own mangrove trees, help with the growing and keep up of previously planted trees, and learn all there is to know about how important mangroves are to Cambodia. We ate lots of yummy seafood, road in longboats, swam for hours, and read and relaxed under the shade of the mangrove trees.
The week has only gotten better now that we have moved onto SUP Asia where we will be paddle boarding and kayaking along the river for the next several days. There are also a new litter of 7 puppies here! Who we have already all claimed and want to smuggle them back home with us, so parents be prepared for a new member of the family for the holidays.
P.S. To give you all some reassurance that our brains are staying active we have successfully made it through a couple of different book series as a group including, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Game of Thrones, The Name of the Wind, and of course the ultimate adventure story; The Hobbit. Actually we probably spend more of our free time reading then talking to each other. Before, after, or sometimes even during meals and activities you will always find a number of us reading a book from one of these series.
