Hotel-bus they call it. A night bus with beds so that you can sleep at night. A brilliant idea that I haven’t seen before. For $14, I took the bus overnight to Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia! I slept almost all the road. You actually share a tiny bed with one other passenger! You can’t really turn or sleep on your side of you are not a couple. My neighbour was "Ahmed" from Bahrain! Such an unexpected surprise! Ahmed runs his own business in Siem Reap, a wine bar. Not very common for a gulf-state citizen as far as I know. Ahmed offered me "Valium" again! He took some himself and told me he had several "happy" meals today to help him sleep at night!
We arrived around 8 in the morning.. Arrived to a random hostel called "lovely jubbly place" and it was both lovely and whatever is the meaning of jubbly, it was jubbly! I hanged out there writing and waiting for the check-in. Then I went to the street to look for lunch and a motorbike driver. Motorbike is my favorite way of transportation now. Can’t wait to get back to Germany and make a license. Everyone here is on a motorbike, young, old, grandmothers and even children.
I found Sun, he agreed to take me to the killing fields. As the name suggests, it is a horrible story which was the main motivation to visit Cambodia after I came to know about them from Daniel!
The ride went through the chaotic city of Phnom Penh, big highways, small alleys, and some dusty roads. At the beginning, I was concerned with safety and a bit worried and shouted "becareful", then I decided to drop it and let go! Sun knew what he was doing!
We arrived at the field! We arrived to the beginning of a few hours of sadness and deep sorrow that took over me!
Imagine that tomorrow, your country is in the hand of a regime that recruited uneducated, young low IQ soldiers.
That they decided that anyone who is smart can be a threat to the state. They all must die! Anyone who is an intellectual! Anyone who wears glasses! Anyone who speaks a foreign language! And their families, so that they don’t seek revenge! And the innocents, because "it is better to kill an innocent by mistake than to spare an enemy by mistake". Imagine that hundreds of thousands of people believe in this and they start arresting and killing people. That was Khmer Rouge. Lead by Pol Pott. In 1970s. Killed around 3 millions out of 8 million people living in Cambodia! I was there, in the place where 40 years ago, killing was being done with axes, bamboo sticks, palm branches, knives.. Etc! Bullets were too expensive to kill all these people! Loud music was played on loud speakers to cover the moans and cries of the victims! Mothers and children included. Children were held from the legs and their heads smashed against trees! Then thrown in pits! I was walking in the field. An auditory guide on my ears.. trying to mind my steps not to step on bone fragments and teeth!
A horrible feeling and concern. I visited the Auschwitz 6 years ago, the biggest concentration camp for the Nazis. I could remember. Humanity seems to have the disease of hatred and aggression deep under cover. Surfaces when enough people are on board, and then expands exponentially! It is not the history that bothered me a lot. Rather the fear of the future.
I finished my tour, will leave it a mission for you to google the Khmer Rouge and read more. It is a recent event in the lives and the memory of Cambodians. Many of these criminals are still alive. Some are being trialed.
Sun was waiting for me outside, I appeared with a different face. He thanked me for coming to this place. He said "I want everyone to know about this" I promised him I will write about what I saw! Sun’s brother in law was murdered by Khmer Rouge 20 years ago. Because he had Chinese blood. They thought he was Vietnamese and that was enough to die! His daughter is now 23! This is how much the story is still alive in the country. A country that strives to emerge to the world after it was sent decades back in history by the loss of its talents and elites!
The rest of the day had actually nothing! I rested in the hostel. Then went to the cinema in the evening to watch the movie "The Killing Fields". An old movie based on a true story during that era! The movie is played in the theater everyday at 8:30. One more way not to forget!
It was my last night in Cambodia. I didn’t want to meet anyone or talk to anyone! I wanted to be left alone. Sun will pick me up at 6:00 in the morning to take me to the airport where I leave Cambodia to Kuala Lumpur and then to my new destination, Indonesia!
