Royal Palace, S-21, Killing Fields

Monday, March 17-18, 2025 

Oh drat!  It's our last day in Cambodia.  Well, except for the first fifteen minutes of the 18th.  Our flight to Nagoya leaves at fifteen minutes past midnight with a four hour stop over in Singapore (we later learn that it's actually Shangai!).  But first, on to today's adventures.  I finally get the breakfast soup and nothing else except a piece of unknown fruit.  The flavor is familiar and I finally resort to Google Lens to learn that it's passion fruit.

This oil burner is why the hallway always smells so good!

We're downstairs right on time and Ginger explains about last night's misadventure.  She says that we'll see how it goes and when we have to quit, we'll quit.  Kim escorts us to our chariot and first we're off to find a pharmacy/drug store for ibuprofen and Tylenol.  The first place we stop is still closed so Kim finds a corner pharmacy with a window that opens onto the street.  All they have is real drugs and Ginger is able to get one of each, and I get an ibuprofen since I've blown through my supply dealing with my stupid throat.  

Yay

The Bodhi tree.  It blooms and fruits all year round!

(I don't know why this is here!  But anyway, the household staff wears a different color each day of the week!)

Typical street scene

Now we're really off to see the royal palace and grounds.  There are magnificent buildings and stupas for three of the past kinds and the Silver Pagoda, where the king and his mother go to pray. Each building in the complex is more beautiful than the last and one of the temples has a life-sized golden buddha and an emerald one that must be at least two feet tall, in addition to all the other gold and precious metals on display. The room where the king receives his advisors has a golden throne that he only sits on for his coronation and a golden chair where he sits for meetings.

Even the royal palace has a spirit house!

One of the king's stupas.  Everyone here is cremated.  If they can afford a stupa they are buried there.  If not there ashes are at the local temple.

After the palace we go to S-21 which is the school that the Khmer Rouge converted to a prison which they used to detain and torture everyone they believed to be an enemy of the state.  They called about two million of their fellow Cambodians under Pol Pot. It is interesting to note the similarities between their techniques and those of the Nazis, keeping detailed records, including photographs and physical descriptions, housing prisoners in deplorable conditions, and killing massive numbers of the intelligent and skilled classes.  Kim points to a photo of young boys and says he could have been one of them;  but he was lucky because he people were farmers and didn't live in the city.  City boys weren't strong and didn't know how to work in the country, so they were killed.

These were seven survivors.  Only two are left and they have both written books and sell them at the facility.  You can get yours signed and your picture taken with the author.

Very reminiscent of the clothing piles at Auschwitz.

The playground became the torture arena.

Meticulous record keeping and creative torture routines

The Killing Fields used to be out is the rural outskirts of the city, and executions only took place there at night, under the cover of darkness.  And they used a loudspeaker to broadcast music to cover the noise of the screams.  Also, they didn't waste expensive bullets but rather beat prisoners to death or cut their throats with the stem of a palm frond. The stupa in the middle of the field houses the remains which were dug up from the mass graves here.  Undoubtedly there are more that haven't yet been uncovered, and clothing still washes up out of the soil after heavy rains. You'd think that this national monument would be government property but it has been sold to a private family that charges admission to visit.  Apparently there is a massive amount of corruption in the Cambodian government and it is only a constitution monarch in name, not in practice.  The common people are not allowed to voice any dissenting opinions and never post anything controversial on social media.  One must be ever vigilant about speaking out where others can hear you.

This conclave it being built by the Chinese. Kim isn't happy about it!

The remains of most of the bodies that have been recovered here are buried in this stupa.  Many of the skulls are on display.  Many victims were decapitated.

More clothing is washed up with every rain.

People working in the fields

Well, on that note, it's time for lunch at the Banana Tree Restaurant, where we once again have the fixed menu;  but since it's out last meal here, we each have a cocktail.  Ginger gets a White Russian and I have a B52 with Kahlua, Baileys, and Cointreau. Lunch is lovely and we chat briefly with two Australian ladies sitting next to us.

 

Kim comes to say he's leaving because he has to pick up a new group from Viet Nam at 2:30.  We hug and give him our thanks and his tip and he escorts us back to the car one last time.  Our lovely driver take us back to the hotel and promised to return at eight to take us to the airport for our 00:15 a.m. flight to Singapore and then Nagoya.  There's a four-hour layover.  Groan. The really good news is that Ginger's leg is much better! The ice and a decent night's rest have been very helpful and alternating the Tylenol and ibuprofen has been good, too.  In fact she's missed a couple of pills and, while not perfect, she's pretty good!!

Our massages are at five, so we've got some much-needed down time.  There's packing to do and blogging to catch up on and also napping before then! We'll be back at the room by 6:40 to shower, dress, finish last-minute packing and meet our driver (we never learned his name!) at 8:00.  We should be at the airport well before our three-hour window!

Well our delightful driver's name is Brof and he drops us off at 8:30 p.m. We wander a bit looking for the China Eastern counter and finally ask for help.  Turns out they won't be open (so there won't be an electronic sign) until 9:45!  That's time to walk down to the food court and find the Burger King (don't judge!). A burger and fries is sometimes called for!

We head back in time to get in line fairly early and check in with no problem, even though we couldn't do it on line.  Upstairs to international departures and we wait once again.  They don't board by zones or rows or anything.  A lady just says that the flight to Shanghai is boarding and people begin heading for the line! Someone is actually sitting in my seat and it's just like the Tampa Theatre - she was one row off! The flight is about five hours and they serve a full meal; but it's not all that great.  The little cubed potatoes are nice and the packets of salted peanuts and crispy snacks are fine and a whole bottle of water in addition to a sealed cup of water can never go amiss.  The entree is a bit unidentifiable with noodles and maybe vegetables and mystery meat. But it's plentiful!

We arrive in Shanghai and decide the airport is kind of industrial. We go through all the Disney lines for passport control and security and find our gate.  I'm in need of some crackers and go to Hudson News for things that look promising and will probably settle my tummy.  all the post nasal drip and coughing and cough drops are not making happy, so I have high hopes for the Saltines look-alikes.

Before we can board the flight to Nagoya we have to go through security again. They are really really picky in China!  They search our and find both of our teeny tiny fold up scissors and our battery packs make them apoplectic! Everthing they've pulled has to go back through the machine a second time! But they didn't confiscate anything, so that's good!

We finally board another flight but this one is the final leg to Nagoya and we arrive right on time!  There are two different kinds of card to fill out and no one likes that we don't have Andy's address!  The lady at passport control actually looks him up on her computer and finds his address but she doesn't give it to us, so we still don't have it to put on the second card! I explain that to my guy and customs and he just waves me through.  Ginger's lady is not so easily swayed and she winds up taking EVERYTHING out of Ginger's suitcase!  Happily she is neat and puts everything back!! And this is after the dog has sniffed both of our suitcases and backpacks!

We're released and there are Andy, Tae, and Satchiko!! What a great reunion with grins and hugs and it's like we've been gone for forever and only a week! And I'm so beat that there aren't any photos!!