Phnom Penh
Back in the 1960’s Phnom
Penh was bulging at the seams as peasants from the countryside
and refugees from across the border sought refuge from the
overspill from the war between the US and Vietnam. By the
middle the 1970’s its population had reached two million.
Four years later, it was a few thousand!
In April, 1975,
the K’hmer Rouge, in its insane determination to create
a peasant nation of uneducated peasants working the land,
ordered the entire population of Phnom Penh to leave the
city within 48 hours, and then attempted to raze it to the
ground. Fortunately, some of its once-numerous temples and
heritage buildings escaped the wanton destruction.
Two thirds of the contents
of Silver Pagoda (the name derives from the floor of the main
temple, fashioned from five tonnes of pure silver) was damaged,
but it is still spectacular. Amongst other relics, it houses
a life-size solid gold Buddha and other excellent Buddhist
statuary. The long wall enclosing the pagoda is decorated
with frescos.
The National Museum contains
a wealth of K’hmer artefacts and relics from the ancient Funan
period to comparatively modern exhibits. As might be expected,
it’s a treasure house of statuary and sculpture. The sensuality
and tranquillity of the effigies from the tenth to the thirteenth
centuries hint at a civilisation at its cultural zenith.
The Royal Palace is also impressive.
As it’s resumed its function as a royal residence, not all
of it is open to the public, but the part that can be seen
is interesting.
Some of Phnom Penh’s markets
are worth a visit, particularly the New Market, (Psar Thmei
– wide range of general goods, flowers and fresh food) and
the Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tom Pong – real and fake antiquities:
good for souvenirs)
The Kh’mer Rouge
converted the Tuol Svay Prey High School into Security Prison
21, which became the largest interrogation and torture centre
in the country. Those who didn’t survive were buried in the
grounds. Those that did were sent to extermination centres.
The building is now a museum of the Kh’mer Rouge holocaust.
It isn’t a comfortable visit. Those of our customers that
have been there often find that it’s the mundane things that
are the most difficult – the small personal possessions and
particularly the matter-of-fact posed photographs of men and
women who later died there.
About fifteen kilometres from
Phnom Penh lies Choeung Ek, the extermination camp that received
the prisoners from Security Prison 21 and other prisons around
Phnom Penh. Nearly nine thousand corpses were exhumed from
43 mass graves – a further 86 graves remain untouched. A 1984
British Oscar-winning film has given a collective name to
the Kh’mer Rouge extermination centres – The Killing Fields.
Choeung Ek sears the emotions: the reek of evil is everywhere.
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