what the trees have seen

Less than twenty-four hours after returning from the trekking tour, it was time for my good pal, Katie, and me to hop on a plane to Cambodia where we had planned to spend the rest of our fall break. After weeks of deliberating over routes that would take us all over Southeast Asia in our week-long vacation, we finally decided to stay in just one country and split our time between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. With the relatively cheap price of bus, train, and plane tickets here, it is tempting to spend every weekend in a different country. The carbon footprint of jetting around begins to add up, however, which I am trying to keep in mind. 

We landed in Phnom Penh in the early evening, the setting sun casting a golden glow over the city as we rode down the highway in a tuk-tuk. After dropping our backpacks off at our hostel, we ventured out into the city on foot to explore the neighborhood around us. As we were walking down a market street where vendors were just beginning to close up for the evening, the sky opened up on us. We had gotten used to the daily afternoon showers back in Chiang Mai, but this storm was a torrential downpour of water that would have instantly drenched us had we not found shelter underneath a nearby food stall’s tarp roof. 

Within a few minutes, however, the storm faded to a light rain, and we continued on down the road, unexpectedly ending up at Friends the Restaurant – an institution that I had read about when searching for places not to miss in Phnom Penh. Friends International is a social enterprise with over twenty different businesses scattered throughout Thailand, Laos, and Cambodia whose model emphasizes social sustainability by directly involving (through employment in their stores and restaurants) the individuals whose lives they seek to improve. After looking around the store filled with funky handmade items (including up-cycled bicycle tire purses, re-usable shopping bags, and wallets made from recycled local newspapers) and eating a delicious dinner at the restaurant, we headed back to our hostel to sleep after a long day of traveling. 

The steely skies and misty drizzle set the tone for our next day, which started out with a visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, also known as S-21. Formerly a high school, the building was converted into one of the 150-200 security prisons used by the Khmer Rouge during their regime from 1976 to 1979. During this time, an estimated 20,000 prisoners were interrogated and tortured here; of these individuals, there were twelve confirmed survivors. 

Barbed wire was strung across the windows and balconies of S-21, preventing prisoners from attempting to jump to their death before they could be tortured

Looking through the narrow doorways that were hacked into the cement walls separating the prison rooms

As we made our way through the grounds, we listened to an audio guide describing what we were seeing. There are few words that can even begin to describe the heartache that one feels while looking at the hundreds upon hundreds of photos of victims, the crumbling brick holding cells inside rooms that were once filled with desks and books, and listening to the first-hand stories being read to us as we walked. 

In the afternoon, we ventured out of the city through rice paddies and semi-rural villages to the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. Before being turned into one of the Khmer Rouge’s largest mass grave sites where nearly 9,000 bodies have been found, the area was an orchard where a nearby Chinese village buried their deceased. As we walked through the fields and trees, we were again guided by the voices of witnesses telling their stories and describing what happened where we were standing. Below the surface of quiet peace and natural beauty is a deep sadness for the needless loss that happened here just four decades ago. 

Bracelets left by visitors to one of the mass graves where over one-hundred headless bodies were found

To get a sense of Cambodia’s current state – and to understand the wonder of Angkor Wat, its headless Buddha figures, and the fact that it is still standing – one must have an awareness of the country’s recent past. People in rural areas and those who have returned to the cities have lived through this horrific period of time, and today’s rapid re-development of cities like Phnom Penh bears witness to the fact that Cambodia is in a state of recovery and transformation following this dark period of time. 

Flower vines wrap around the “Magic Tree” – during the regime, a loudspeaker blasting patriotic music was hung from its branches in an attempt to drown out the sounds of victims being beaten to death

Loung Ung, a human rights activist and the author of "First They Killed My Father," escaped Cambodia at the age of ten during the Khmer Rouge’s regime. She says, “The Angkar has taught me to hate so deeply that I now know I have the power to destroy and kill.” Both victims and survivors express similar sentiments of rage, of brokenness, and of sorrow – but also of hope. To forget these atrocities means that they will continue to be repeated, and without a glimmer of hope for the future, we as humanity will remain divided.