History 401: The Kingdom of Cambodia

In Phnom Phen, the capital of Cambodia, Mike and I bore witness of one of the largest genocides the world has seen in the 20th century. From 1975-1979, 2-3 million Cambodians died from execution, malnutrition, exhaustion and disease.

How could this atrocity occur? It started with an internal battle for power, where the ousted President, King Nordom, started to support a small indigenous rebel group called the Khmer Rouge. Coupled with the US B52 bombers tearing up the Cambodian country side, in an attempt to draw out the communist Viet Congs believed to be in hiding, the rebel group became strong enough to overthrow the Army gov’t and become the leaders. Under this new order, called ANGKA, the leader Pol Pot, decreed that it was “Year Zero” and forced all citizens to vacate their homes and return to the fields to work as equals. Everyone received the same lodging, food rations, and black pajama like uniforms. This radical idea was further accentuated with the indoctrination of love for only Angka – family loyalty was strongly rejected. Labour camps for children and adults were established where over the years, the food rations declined to nothing, yet the hard, manual labour never slowed, resulting in countless deaths.

If you were educated, spoke a foreign language, opposed the creed of Angka or even wore glasses, you were executed by the loyal Khmer Rouge soldiers. Over 17,000 Cambodians suspected of being against the KR were taken to Tuaol Suay Prey High School, which was converted into a torture and interrogation prison called Security Prison 21 (S21). Men, women and children were shackled in chains, locked in small rooms, interrogated, tortured by dubious means and when they finally “confessed” for their treason, then were taken to Choeung Ek. Here, the prisoners dug massive holes, were blindfolded, bound, and then bludgeoned to death in an attempt to save bullets. Thus the mass grave site became known as the Killing Fields.

Eventually the Vietnamese Army overthrew the KR, who continued guerrilla warfare throughout the 80’s. The memory of the Khmer Rouge era haunts those who survived. Awareness and understanding of this genocide is critical in helping deter the current civil genocides ongoing: Bosnia, Rwanda and Dar Fur just to name a few. Perhaps with education, we can force our governments’ involvement to stop the killings.


Memorial Tower at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek which houses the skulls of thousands of victims of the Khmer Rouge.


One of the many signs found at the Killing Fields.

The sign reads: "After escavating the mass graves, Victims' clothes were cleaned by deodorants in 1988".


One of the torture rooms at the S21 prision. Along the faded walls, you can imagine prisoners sitting, waiting for their interrogation.


These are only a handful of the victims at S21. Walking around the museam, looking into their faces, I saw fear, shock, indignation, anger and tears. I cried myself.

After my eye opening, heart wrenching, soul piercing experience in Phnom Phen, we continued our history lesson north in Siem Reap. For 3 days, Mike and I explored the architectural haven of Ankor – the temples that are the essence of Cambodian pride. The monuments were built from the 9th – 13th century. The most widely known, Angkor Wat, is the largest religious building in the world. Our first glimpse of Angkor Wat was at the stroke of dawn. The sky turned from a midnight blue and into an orange, then pink hue and the magnitude of the temple was revealed.


Mike & I standing outside the entrance to Angkor Wat.


I'm climbing (crawling?) the steep steps that lead to the highest tower of Angkor Wat. This is the only side that has a iron rod handle to cling onto when going down. Mike was able to go up and down 5x faster than me!


Angkor Wat is covered in Bas-Reliefs, images scuplted right from the original stone. We spent hours roaming around the temples looking at the pictures.


View from the highest tower of Angkor, looking out at its front yard.

The many temples distributed throughout this 200 km2 of land vary in style, composite material and meaning, but all are awe inspiring. Some of my favourites were the Bayon Temple, where faces are carved into the numerous towers and Ta Pronhm whose corridors with cornered towers and gapuras has tree roots slithering down gates trying to dislodge the building.


The Bayon Temple


Talk about Jungle Mania! This is a part of Ta Pronhm complex.

On our final day of visiting the temples, we were bike riding to Angkor Wat to see the sun set, when we saw families of monkeys along the roadside. I was so excited and thought of my mom who LOVES monkeys! We had heard we would be inundated by two things at Angkor: 1) children selling souvenirs and 2) monkeys. Well the former was bang on, the kids were everywhere, selling everything and always asking in a singsong voice “Where are you from”… “The capital of Canada is Ottawa, they speak 2 languages”. The first 5 times were endearing, and then it just became repetitive and finally a little annoying. As for the later, we thought that monkeys in SE Asia were a myth, but we were finally rewarded with a sighting!

Instead of a setting sun, we saw the release of rainstorm clouds and got drenched racing home in the dark, torrential downpour. Somehow it seemed a fitting end for our last day in Cambodia. To sum up our experience in Cambodia, I found it was a dark journey with a lot of sorrow and tears, but there is an underlying force in the people and as in the Angkor temples, a strength and endurance to survive.

Love and peace,

Kendra & Mike

P.S. Book Recommendation: "When Broken Glass Floats" by Chanrithy Him (her personal account about growing up under the Khmer Rouge)