27th October 2006
On our last day in Saigon, Lizzi and I went to the waterpark with Pete and Victor from trekking. We had a great day, fun packed with lots of laughter. I went on some kamikaze slide that was practically vertical at 19m high. We attracted the attention of the local navy, who were also there – doing some kind kind of parade.
After coming down a particularly forceful slide, Lizzie stood up in the water at the bottom only for me to realise she was flashing, pretty indiscreetly. Unsure of how best to get her attention for a quick cover up, I shouted BOOB! But it was too late, all the little Vietnamese (and some big ones) had already spotted the mishap. Lizzie casually covered herself and shrugged it off, leaving the children gawping in her wake.
In the evening, I ventured into Saigon city with Victor, away from the backpacker area too see the Saigon river, Opera house among other highlights.
We headed off about 7pm and wandered around the city until about 10pm. We thought it would be a nice idea to eat on one of the boats on the river but by the time we’d decided on that, all the boats had left.
We scoured the city for something to eat but everyone kept saying they were closing – in the capital city, at 10pm! I said we should find the tallest hotel and eat on their top floor restaurant overlooking all the city but even that was closed! We randomly ended up in the Sheraton lobby, eating cheese, ham and tomato panini’s and listening to a live New Orleans style soul band, who were very good.
On route back to the hostel, we found a roof terrace bar and enjoyed some nice cocktails. Saigon is actually very nice with a feel Parisian feel; big wide streets, French architecture, street lined avenues.
WEDNESDAY
The bus journey to between Vietnam and Cambodia was great; compared to our previous experiences anyway. The bus had nice reclining seats, there were no bandits with guns, no drugs and they didn’t play bollywood music at high volume. So really, it couldn’t have been better.
The boarder crossing was the most relaxed and uncomplicated yet. The entire process took about 10mins. The officials simply took all our passports, had a quick look on the bus and then we set off. Brilliantly efficient.
We arrived in Phnom Penh opted to stay in the city, rather than by the lake; as the guide book intimated that the lake was an unwise option and a haven for mosquitos. The area where we are staying in the city is like the ghetto and feels completely unsafe. Our room at Narind II guest house was a hovel. The owner encouraged us to use a padlock on the door. We decided to check out the lake for dinner. The lake was so nice, we have decided to move there instead. It is a backpacker haven.
As always, Pete and Victor were already there. We moved to a hostel called Simon’s II guest house simply on the basis that the building was pink and it had hot water. The girls went back home and I ended up staying out drinking with the boys until 5.30am.
TUOL SLENG PRISON (S:21)
During the drinking session the previous evening, I head agreed to go to Tuol Sleng Prison and the Killing Fields with the boys. The tour of the prison began with a documentary on Pol Pot, the history of the prison and the history of the regime. This was excellent, particularly because I was pretty much ignorant of everything that had happened.
The prison was oringally a high school called ‘Ponhea Yat’ but during the Khymer Rouge’s dictatorship, the regime took it over and used it as a prison. It still stands today as a live museum; literally there is blood marks staining the walls and on the tiles.
The prison was used to detain people accused of opposing ‘Angkor’ (which is what the Khymer Rouge called themselves). The prison was apparantly, the “secret organ” of the Khmer regime and was used for interrogation and torture.
The prison rules still stand for every to read and have been translated in to English:
It is made up of several different buildings and within each building there were different sub-sections for male, female and children. The children, aged between about 10-15 were selected and then trained by the S-21 prison to work as prison guards. They were just normal kids but in order to stay alive, they adapted to regime and became evil and were sometimes forced to torture or kill their own family.
The total number of prisoners that went through this prison was 10,499 and that figure doesn’t even include the children. They were all kept in small cells and shackled to the floor or the wall. The cells still stand, exactly as they were.
Walking around the prison or standing in a cell, where normal people were kept locked up for crimes they never committed and then tortured and killed is truly harrowing. To actually see, first hand, a piece of history felt very emotional and so much more poignant that reading about it second hand.
When the ordinary people who first caught, they were photographed and detailed and then put in the cells. All the records still remain and are displayed in the prison in memory of those who died. Even when the prisoners were killed or ‘terminated’ records kept were very precise.
One of the most famous prisoners who escaped, Vann Nath, painted pictures of the scenes of life in prison and the means of torture that were used on them.These pictures now hang in the prison. After one of the senior prison officers discovered Vann Nath could paint, he was used as the prison’s artist, painting portraits of the guards etc and was allowed much more freedom that the other prisoners. As such, he saw a lot of what went on behind the closed doors of S:21 prison.
To truly bring the matter home, many of the physical weapons of torture were actually sitting in the prison still, in the very rooms they had been used in. The blood stains; restraints; harnesses etc were all left as stark reminder of what had happened. It was very moving and very sad. The documentary and museum tour prepared us for the killing fields trip we were about to go on and made us understand what happened a bit more clearly.
KILLING FIELDS
After 3 hours at Tuol Sleng, a tuctuc man took us to the Killing Fields. A journey over the most horrific, bumpy road I have ever traversed. We hired a guide for $5 to lead us around the Killing Fields and explain the history to us. The Killing fields were where the Prisoners of Tuol Sleng were taken to be murdered. They were taken there in late afternoon or night, blind folded and shackled. They were taken during darkness, to hide what was happening. No one knew about the killing fields until many, many years after the event.
They prisoners were taken in carts and walked along the little raised walkways in between the sunken pits. They were made to kneel while music was played (to drown out the screams) and they were either beaten with bamboo poles until they died, or electricuted.
The elite intellects were all beheaded, as were any guards who disobeyed orders. To be an intellectual consisted of wearing glasses, being an academic or teacher, among other professions.
Women and children were killed together. Babies were killed first, in front of their mothers. They were held by their feet and smashed against a tree until they died, or they were thrown in the air and and impaled on a spike held by the guards. After the women saw this, they were usually subjected to rape, then murdered.
The whole place and the acts that were carried out there were a well kept secret. The music was used for discretion and the bodies were thrown in to deep pits and covered over.
After the amnesty in 1979 the killing stopped but still noone knew about the Killing Fields. The guards wouldn’t dare reveal it and the majority of prisoners had died, those that escaped would have been too afraid to speak out, especially after seeing the atrocities they could be subjected to first hand.
It was only in 1980, when the holes started emitting a smell, that the atrocities that had taken place were revealed. Approximately 19,000 skulls were found buried in those pits and there is still a huge area that has not been excavated. Of all the prisoners at Toul Sleng prison, almost all who were murdered have been accounted for at the Killing Fields.
None of the regime members, although many of them are still alive, have not been held accountable or tried for what happened. Some still work in government positions.
Our guide was very knowledgable and very emotional, he despaired at what had happened. Although the regime only lasted 4 years from 1975-79, 2 million people (mainly Cambodians) were killed. This didn’t sound too that high a figure to me, for a war or dictatorship, until I found out that at the time the entire country’s population was only 7 million!
Walking around the pits where innocent people had been murdered was extremely moving. Bones, teeth and clothes are still stuck in the ground. It’s crazy to think it only took place in the 1970’s and nobody but Vietnam did anything to try and stop it.
………..
After a very emotional day we spent the afternoon back to the lake, lounging in hammocks at the lakeside. We watched the sunset and while today’s information sunk in.
Later we went to a pub quiz in one of the little restaurants called The Lazy Gecko with Pete, Victor and some random Aussie called Alexia. We came 2nd. After dinner, we went to a bar, which has a little boat moored up along side it and you can drink on the roof, with candles all around. We stayed there having a smoke and drinking until 3.30am. Excellent day all round.
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