PORT TOWN REVIVIVING

Coco House in the coastal town of Kampot, Cambodia

I’m taking an after dinner stroll down an old Asian riverfront. It’s dark and quiet; few are out walking this evening. Along the way I pass old French shop-houses, they’ve been uninhabited for years. Once stylish archways and pillars are now in gradual states of decay. Where bright yellow paint shone, it's now dingy and peeling. These used to be prestigious river side homes, businesses that brought important foreign trade into Cambodia.

This is Kampot, on Cambodia's southern coast. The Prek Kampong River flows through town, emptying into the nearby Gulf of Thailand. Kampot was once Cambodia's principal port. But when the larger port at Sihanoukville opened in the 1950's, this small town's importance rapidly declined.

Now these former buildings of commerce are empty; decaying and dilapidated. Weeds out front grow high through cracks in the sidewalk. 

There are lovely old French colonial buildings in town, but like these many are idle and deteriorating. Some are unoccupied and boarded up.

Dilapidated shop-houses on the river front

Fortunately, Kampot has been reviving. As I stroll further up Riverfront Road, I pass restored restaurants, and cafes. In recent years these have been renovated and reopened. Here diners are seated on sidewalk tables, with palm trees surrounding them. Redevelopment downtown is ongoing, though progress is slow. There are no crowds of customers out tonight; unlike Sihanoukville, Kampot has not capitalized on the rising tourist trade. But that's why some of these foreign folk have come here. It's quiet and serene, with scenic views and fresh seafood.

As little known as Kampot is today, it was once known as a center for one of the world's favorite spices. If anyone wonders what unique and quality product Cambodia provides to the world, the answer is: pepper. Kampot was known for exporting pepper to foreign markets as far back as the 13th century.

“Kampot pepper is the best in the world,” a lady drink seller told me. She’s right, and the Khmers aren't the only people who believe this. So do the French, and of course they know good food. Kampot's pepper was preferred by France’s gourmet chefs. During colonial times, all the best restaurants in Paris had pepper from Kampot on their tables.

Up until the radical Khmer Rouge halted all pepper plantation production, pepper was one of the country’s largest agricultural exports. At the height of production here, the fields of Kampot Province had more than a million peppercorn plants. With the Khmer Rouge gone, local farmers are growing peppercorn again today. Kampot pepper is once again gaining international prestige.

Tasty fish cakes for dinner in Kampot

Further down the river front,  I come to the town's oldest bridge. Crossing the Prek Kampong River, it leads right into the town's center. 

It's dark now and hard to see, but if you look at this bridge in daytime, it’s a rather bizarre looking structure. Parts of the bridge are old, parts are new. As far as construction styles go, there are not one, not two, but three different styles of bridge construction evident here! The oldest section has large arches, with steel support beams rising overhead. But two adjacent sections are basic flat bridges, with two distinct sets of support pillars descending into the riverbed.

This oddity is another legacy of the Khmer Rouge; the old bridge was destroyed during the war. Afterward, rather than tear it all down and rebuild it from scratch, they had to reconstruct it using what remained. I don't blame the engineers, as poor as Cambodia is, it's a wonder they were able to rebuild it at all back during that turbulent time. Having seen the three different building styles, I wonder, was this bridge destroyed more than once? 

Daytime view of the river. The old bridge beyond, destroyed during the war, has been rebuilt.

Winding up my riverfront walk, I go from the old, to brand new. Pounding music and flashing lights announce a disco. I've arrived at “Alaska Super Club”. It’s the only new building I've yet seen in all of Kampot. Cheesy neon signs show figures of female dancers. This gaudy night spot is out of place on this otherwise rustic riverfront. It's a weeknight, so they don't have much of a crowd. I decide not to pay a cover charge for a near empty club, so I turn back. 

I chuckle at the name: 'Alaska Super Club'?? I don’t think I’ll see Sarah Pailin and her brood walking in here anytime soon.

I head back to my hotel, avoiding some stray dogs on the way. Beyond the bridge and the river, loom the nearby Elephant Mountains. The most notable of these, is Bokor Mountain.

I’ve never climbed a mountain before, but I'll be climbing it tomorrow morning.

DICTATOR AND HIS MANSION

Hun Sen's Sihanoukville mansion, built with ill-gotten gains

I’m one block off of the beach on the upper floor of a beach town hotel. Looking right next door, I'm eyeing up the most elaborate, most expensive mansion in all of Sihanoukville. This isn't just one house, it’s a grand compound. The new luxury home is surrounded by high walls, and entered through an elaborate gate. Not that I can get in, that won't happen. That's because this beach home belongs to none other than Hun Sen, Prime Minister of Cambodia. It's only one of his many mansions across the country.

Hun Sen has come a long way. As the long time Prime Minister (and dictator) he's now the richest man in the country! That's ironic, since he had sworn off money during the communist era, when he began his rise to power as a radical Khmer Rouge soldier.

He's not very fearful looking. His big glasses don't quite disguise that he has a glass eye; a war injury from fighting near Phnom Penh in 1975. After the Khmer Rouge victory, this communist chameleon was posted to the eastern region. There he rose to be a regimental commander, covering Kratie to Kampong Cham. But that didn't last; Hun Sen fled for his life in 1977, fearing the purges that killed so many other eastern commanders. He defected to Vietnam, where he joined up with the Vietnamese military. Soon he returned to Cambodia with his new masters, helping them to kick out his former Khmer Rouge comrades.

There is suspicion among Cambodians that Hun Sen is merely a puppet. “Hun Sen was installed by the Vietnamese,” a street vendor once told me. King Sihanouk himself agreed. He called Hun Sen the, "one eyed lackey of the Vietnamese".

With the Vietnamese occupying most of Cambodia for the next decade, Hun Sen was the puppet government's first Foreign Minister, and later became Prime Minister in 1985. 

Hun Sen traded his communist garb for suit and tie (photo:Wikipedia)

Then the United Nations entered the scene, bringing democratic elections. In the only free and fair election in which Hun Sen competed in 1993, he lost. Not content to fade away gracefully, he refused to vacate power, throwing the country into political crisis. A UN brokered 'compromise' left Cambodia with 2 Prime Ministers: Hun Sen, and Prince Norodom Ranariddh, the real winner of the elections. Not content to share power either, he seized power after street fighting with forces loyal to the opposition party FUNCINPEC. Sadly, Hun Sen's troops prevailed. Over 100 Khmers were killed as his army attacked troops loyal to the Prince, looted shops in the capital, and arrested and executed political opponents. The prince fled to exile in France. Although many Khmers still support Hun Sen and his political party, one thing is clear: today he is the most hated man in Cambodia.

I recall an afternoon back in Phnom Penh, when I saw Hun Sen’s motorcade speeding down Monivong Blvd. His vehicles were big black SUV’s, all with tinted windows. Policemen blocked off all traffic. I've seen motorcades of top politicians before in Vietnam, and in the USA. Normally they drive calmly and slowly, but Hun Sen's convoy was different. His motorcade came flying down the street like madmen; it was as though he expected someone to open fire on him at any second. Here was a man running scared. In 1998, an assassin in Phnom Penh fired on Hun Sen's motorcade with a rocket propelled grenade. It missed, flew over his car's hood, and killed a young boy. Nobody knows who did it; Hun Sen made many enemies over the years.

Knowing Hun Sen and his family's reputation for corruption, I look at the opulence of his beach town mansion not with awe, but disgust. Cambodia has some of the world's worst poverty, and I wonder, how many schools could have been built with the dirty money he used to build this mansion?

In 2012 Transparency International's annual Corruption Perception Index ranked Cambodia 157th out of 174 countries in the world. They were tied, with the equally disgraceful governments of Angola and Tajikistan. US Ambassador Carol Rodley stated that Cambodia was losing $500 million a year to corruption. Not surprisingly, the Prime Minister's government denies it.

My hotel is so close to Hun Sen's fence, that I could leap across from the hotel walkway right onto the rooftop of one of his buildings, and do some mayhem. There are no guards in view, could I really pull it off?

But I'm not that radical, and I'm only visiting Sihanoukville. I don't want to be arrested, and become another of Hun Sen's many nameless political prisoners. 

US RESCUE MISSION DISASTER

Otres Beach outside Sihanoukville, with islands beyond

I’m standing on an empty beach. One of the cool things about Cambodia, is that unlike Thailand, there are still many quiet, natural, romantic beaches that are relatively untouched. This one east of Sihanoukville, is known as Otres Beach.

Gentle waves lap at the sands. Palm trees sway in the wind. Cumulus clouds look like white mountains on the horizon. A few small, tropical islands rise from the waters offshore in the distance.

One of the islands far to the south of me is Koh Tang. This island isn't well known to Americans, but it should be. On that remote island off the coast, occurred the very last battle of the Vietnam War.

On May 12th, 1975, after Saigon and Phnom Penh had already fallen to the communists officially ending their wars, the Khmer Rouge took the conflict a step further. Using US made swift boats captured from the Cambodian Navy, they turned pirate. Heading far out to sea in international waters, they captured the SS Mayaguez, a passing American container ship headed for Thailand.

Caught unawares, the US military quickly planned a rescue. The Khmer Rouge had anchored the Mayaguez off of Koh Tang Island, so the main assault focused there. Four days after the ship's capture, the Americans launched a raid to rescue the captured sailors.

Mayaguez after capture, with Khmer Rouge gunboats alongside (photo:USAF)

What they didn't know, was that the 39 crew members weren't even on Koh Tang. In fact, they had been sent to Sihanoukville, and had already been released by boat just before the mission started. The team also lacked the right intelligence on Koh Tang. What they didn’t know, was that the Khmer Rouge based there were already well armed and ready for fighting. They weren't expecting a raid from the Americans though. They were paranoid about a seaborne attack from the Vietnamese, whom the Khmer Rouge also hated.

As the attack began, navy jets from the USS Coral Sea struck targets around Sihanoukville. These included the port's warehouses, a nearby airfield, train yard, refinery, and a small nearby naval base.

At Koh Tang Island, US Marines and the US Navy swooped in. When they boarded the Mayaguez, they found an empty ship! In the air the US helicopters faced unexpectedly fierce ground fire from the Khmer Rouge. It's unknown how many Khmer Rouge died in the battle, but 40 American soldiers lost their lives. In the chaotic aftermath, two live US Marines were left behind on Koh Tang. What happened to them is unknown. Their bodies were never found, and they are still listed as missing in action (MIA). As the captured sailors from the Mayaguez had already been released, the rescue operation had been a disaster. They had retrieved the captured ship, but at a great cost in human lives. 

Since this was America’s last battle of the Vietnam War era, I would like to go out to Koh Tang myself to see the island, but it’s not to be. Otres beach is as close as I’m going to get to Koh Tang.

“The weather this time of year isn’t good. Too windy out there, the waves are heavy,” said Sarah, a divemaster in Sihanoukville. Originally from England, she operates a dive company here with a friend. “The problem is, with the weather this time of year, if you go out there, you might not make it back. You could be stuck there for weeks, maybe months.”

Two downed helicopters on beach, with destroyed Khmer Rouge swift boat at right (photo:USMC)

Recently, an American search team did manage to identify some bones that were found on Koh Tang. After lengthy DNA testing, the remains were identified as Private James Jacques, one of the missing Marines who died aboard a helicopter that had crashed into the sea. He was buried in 2013, in Colorado. Another American casualty of the Vietnam War was finally laid to rest.

That isn't the end of the searches though, as there are still 53 US soldiers missing in action in Cambodia. 

Another Australian diver I met in Sihanoukville, actually worked with an American MIA search team. “I think they’re still looking for one helicopter,” she told me, referring to a chopper shot down over Koh Tang. The search team wanted to go to the island again, but they had faced the same weather problems that I do now.  

As I spoke with the Aussie, I learned that Koh Tang isn't the only place where the US is diving to look for the remains of missing soldiers in Cambodia. The Aussie says that she had been hired by a US team for an underwater search in a river towards the Vietnamese border, where another helicopter had crashed earlier in the war. 

She explained how the river had low visibility. Most of the fuselage was gone, but she did find metal plates, and other pieces that the search team said were helicopter parts. As we chatted more, I asked if she had found any bones, and she clammed up.

Apparently there are still some secrets to be kept here, even though America's war in Southeast Asia has been over for decades.

FUGITIVES AND FOREIGN MISFITS

Beach in Sihanoukville. Many misfit expats live here, some are hiding from the law.

Chris is a twenty-something from England, with beard stubble, and a dark t-shirt. I met this friendly Brit one night at a no-name bar in Sihanoukville, where he worked as a bartender. 

He doesn't earn much, Chris only gets six dollars a day for eight hours of night time work. “Slave labor,” he tells me. But he does get a free meal every night, and free drinks. “I’m a bit of an alcoholic,” he admits to me.

Like many young folk I've met in Asia, Chris has been traveling around for months, and stopped to work in Cambodia for a while. I asked him if he had ever been to the states during his travels. His response wasn't what I was expecting. 

“They won’t give me a visa,” Chris said, “since I was convicted of production of cannabis.” Apparently Chris has a hippie side to him, which got him in trouble with the UK police a few years back. 

While we're chatting in this beach side hang out, a grungy, older Aussie that Chris knows walks into the bar. I’d seen this shabby guy yesterday on the street. He’d asked me for a cigarette, but I don't smoke. 

The Australian asks Chris, “You want to buy some weed? Two dollars a bag? I have to pay my hotel bill,” he explains. Chris declines, since he doesn’t do drug transactions while he's working. I also decline, since I stick to beer. Obviously the Aussie was in dire straits; he looked like a transient. He probably won’t sell marijuana for long here either, since local pushers won’t like him competing for their business.

Checking out the Aussie, I notice a large infected cut on the back of his hand. It was so infected, that his whole hand was swelled up. I figured he must have injured it in a motorbike accident, the usual way that foreigners get injured in Cambodia. But I was wrong. 

“A whore cut him”, Chris told me, after the Aussie walked away. Apparently since the Aussie didn’t have money for rent, he didn't have money to pay a prostitute that he took home either. 

Chris and the old Aussie are just two of the down-and-out examples, that make up the soap opera scene of foreigners living in Sihanoukville. Long time expatriates call the town ‘Snookville’ or just ‘Snook’, for short. During my days checking out the beach, I learn that there are many expats hanging out here with skeletons in their closets. 

One night out at a restaurant with a group of foreigners, I was introduced to a German lawyer. I don’t recall his name, but it was probably an alias. That's likely, since I was told that this tall Aryan looking guy, was wanted for murder back in Germany! 

I already met a Swede in Phnom Penh who was hiding out from the law, but he was a peaceful guy, wanted only for media piracy. 

Could it be that this tall German with thinning hair, was really a killer? I noticed the German had a scar to one side of his forehead; an intimidating looking fellow. 

I wonder, just how did he got that scar??

* * * * *

The strange 'Airport' disco.

I’m sitting at the controls of a Russian aircraft. It's an older two engine, Antonov 24 airplane. I reach for a gauge on the control panel, and the knob comes off in my hand! 

Obviously, this plane has seen better days and fortunately, I'm not airborne. In fact, I'm not even in a real airport. But I am in a disco in Sihanoukville that is named 'Airport', and this plane is parked right over the middle of the dance floor below me! How weird. 

I peer out the cockpit windows, where the building housing this night spot resembles an old airport hanger. Adding to the odd ambiance, old photos with advertisements from long gone airlines line the walls. I can see the need to stand out in Sihanoukville's night life, but this is just unreal. 

I leave the cockpit to go aft inside the plane, and find the passenger compartment in total disarray. The seats have been removed; it's dusty and grubby. Apparently this old plane is still being renovated for the club. I imagine they'll add more tables and chairs before it’s finished. 

It's fitting that an old Soviet plane is parked in here, because this strange disco is owned by Russians. Of course that helps the disco to attract a Russia clientele, but not tonight. I exit the plane and descend down to the dance floor, into a disco that's nearly empty. It's the off season, so fewer Russians are flying down from Siberia to Cambodia while I'm staying here. 

With the house music blaring, I finish my beer, and head for the door. This plane is yet another foreign misfit in Cambodia. 

HIDDEN WEAPONS AND LAST AMERICAN PIRATES

Lion Circle in beach town of Sihanoukville

Two giant golden lions, stand atop a great red pedestal, looking to the horizon. They are rather unique looking cats, with oblong shapes. Strangely, the male lion has a ball in his mouth, and wears large eyelashes, while the female lion next to him has none.

This is Lion Circle, a main traffic roundabout in Sihanoukville on Cambodia's south coast. A drunk Canadian recently crashed his scooter into this roundabout. He suffered serious head injuries, and lost a toes. Like other foreign tourists, he came here to enjoy the beaches, as Cambodia has few other beach town options. 

An odd thing about Sihanoukville is that it isn’t one town, it’s really four or five villages on a peninsula that have grown together. Too distant to visit on foot, I decide to rent a motorbike, strap on a helmet, and rev off to cruise the streets and beaches. 

Motoring around town, I notice there are few of the decaying French colonial homes like I'd seen in Phnom Penh. As Sihanoukville isn't an old town, most buildings were built recently. It wasn't always called Sihanoukville either; before the 1950's it was known as Kompong Som, then renamed after their beloved King Sihanouk. After he was kicked out of power in a coup, it was changed back to to Kompong Som. Then in the 1990’s, it was re-re-named Sihanoukville again. That's Cambodia.

Why does the male lion have eyelashes, and not the female?

Cruising the west end of town, I head along the coast. Passing a few small restaurants, I slow as I come to the port. Sihanoukville is Cambodia's only deep water port, first built in 1960 with French aid. Since the wars the port has gone through modernization. In the distance I can see large orange cargo cranes on the docks, though only two ships are docked today. This little port isn't much by global shipping standards, but Sihanoukville gave the US government major headaches during the Vietnam War era.

It was not well known at the time, but back in the 1960's, Sihanoukville played a key role in the communist war effort. Although publicly claiming neutrality, Sihanouk made a secret deal with North Vietnam. Starting in 1966, he allowed cargoes of communist weapons into this port. The weapons were then sent overland across the border to the Viet Cong, for use against American troops in South Vietnam. This route became known as the Sihanouk Trail, and by 1970 about 80% of the weapons for communist rebels in South Vietnam were passing through here. So much for Sihanouk's claim of neutrality. 

Aside from communist bribes, I wondered why Sihanouk agreed to allow this weapons pipeline. An accusation I heard from a bitter old Cambodian fighter that I met may explain it. He told me that Sihanouk cut a secret deal with Ho Chi Minh. Sihanouk agreed to allow North Vietnam to send troops and weapons across Cambodian soil, to infiltrate South Vietnam. In return, Ho Chi Minh promised Sihanouk that after North Vietnam had won the war in South Vietnam, he would give the Mekong Delta back to Cambodia. Years later, when Uncle Ho was on his deathbed, he told his comrades that after Vietnam was reunited, no matter what happened, they should never follow through on his promise. 

Port of Sihanoukville, former center of weapons smuggling (photo: Wikipedia)

This sleepy port of Sihanoukville was the scene of a rare 20th century act of piracy, and this also involved the USA. Today we tend to think of modern pirates as being from Somalia, but in this case, it was two American pirates! Even more surprising, is that the two hijacked an American ship!

March 14th of 1970 may have been the date for the world’s first known act of protest piracy. Two leftist American protesters who were against the Vietnam War, hijacked a 7,500 ton US freighter called the Columbia Eagle. The ship's cargo was $10 million in aircraft bombs, headed to a Thailand port. These bombs would later be sent onward to US bases, to be dropped on communist targets in Southeast Asia.

The Columbia Eagle, once hijacked by 2 American protest pirates. (Viet Arch photo)

The two hijackers were crewmen on the ship; Clyde McKay and Alvin Glatkowski, a pair of radicals from California. Using a bogus bomb threat to trick most of the crew onto lifeboats in the Gulf of Thailand (they were picked up later), they forced the captain at gunpoint to sail for Sihanoukville. On arrival, they asked for political asylum.

The plan of the pirate pair was quickly foiled, and the two radicals were jailed. Cambodian authorities allowed the ship to disembark soon after, with its lethal cargo intact. Later that year McKay, and a US Army deserter jailed with him named Larry Humphrey, managed to escape confinement in Phnom Penh. Then they disappeared. Some said that McKay ran away to join the Khmer Rouge, while others said that he settled as a farmer in eastern Cambodia.

Alvin Glatkowski's mugshot (photo: SDPD)

It would be many years before the outside world found out what happened to the ex-pirate and the deserter. Nearly two decades later, some of their buried teeth and fillings were recovered, by a mission team that was searching for the remains of missing US journalist Sean Flynn. Both McKay and Humphrey had been executed in 1971 by the Khmer Rouge, in the town of Boi Met. Given the violence of the Khmer Rouge era, their fate was predictable.

For Glatkowski’s part, he had his own ordeal to survive. He spent time in a Cambodian mental institution. He asked the Soviet Union for political asylum, but was denied. With nowhere else to go, he turned himself in to the US Embassy. He was flown back to the US, where he spent five years in prison. 

His story was no 'Pirates of the Caribbean' fable, but at least he lived to tell the tale.

KILLING FIELD

Leg bone and clothing of Khmer Rouge victims lie exposed

I'm out in the Cambodian countryside, walking down a well worn dirt path. Looking down, I spot what looks like a tree root protruding from the dirt. It catches my eye, because unlike dark tree roots, it’s white. That’s when I realize, I'm not looking at a tree root at all.

It’s a bone, a human leg bone!

Where I’m standing, is in the middle of a killing field. From 1975 – 1978, there were 17,000 people murdered here by the Khmer Rouge. Most were innocent civilians.

Everyone has heard of the 'killing fields' due to the movie of the same name, and I'm visiting one for the first time. This killing field is known as Choeng Ek, located eight miles south of Phnom Penh. Here is where the guards of Tuol Sleng prison sent all of their victims  to be executed and buried.

As I walk further along the path, I see dirty pieces of clothing of every color, lying all over the ground. This isn’t discarded garbage, this was clothing of the victims buried here. Like the bones I see, pieces of clothing have gradually been uncovered and surfaced over the years from excavations and erosion. Much of it has been left in place. This is one giant crime scene.

Buddhist monks walk by excavated mass graves

Four Buddhist monks pass by on the path, while I look at burial pits to either side of me. Walking between the pits, even more parts of bones are visible protruding from the earth. Here a broken leg bone is sticking out. There is part of a skull. This killing field is made up of numerous mass graves. Pit after pit after pit, the shocking total is 129 mass graves in all.  

To bear witness to the atrocities committed here, signs were posted on the site. Those beneath two nearby thatched roof enclosures, need no further explanation.

“MASS GRAVE OF 166 VICTIMS WITHOUT HEADS”

“MASS GRAVE OF 450 VICTIMS”

This killing field isn’t exactly a field, as some trees are scattered throughout. I come to a large tree, with a stack of leg and arm bones piled up at its base. Apparently, human bones are occasionally gathered up, and placed into piles at locations around the site. A sign next to the tree says, “MAGIC TREE…THE TREE WAS USED AS A TOOL TO HANG A LOUDSPEAKER WHICH MAKE SOUND LOUDER TO AVOID THE MOANB OF VICTIMS WHILE THEY WERE BEING EXECUTED”. Just how did they get ‘Magic Tree’, out of something so horrible?

Children were killed here. Other bones at right.

The Khmer Rouge didn’t have the money, or the know how to make gas chambers and crematoriums like the Nazis did. So they brought their victims here, to what used to be an old cemetery. The Khmer Rouge wanted to save money on bullets, so few were shot here. Most of their victims here were beaten to death, or stabbed. Their tools of death included steel rods, bamboo poles, axes, hoes, shovels, and knives.

Another large, leaning tree, with another pile of bones at it’s base, has a sign that is even more disturbing. “KILLING TREE AGAINST WHICH EXECUTIONERS BEAT CHILDREN”.

In the first year of the genocide, it was mostly the civilians with ‘soft hands’ that were executed here. That meant that the victims were non-farmers, such as teachers, businessmen, white collar workers, and the educated class. There are a few westerners buried here as well, and foreigners that were married to Cambodians.

By the final year of killing here, there were no more enemies from the old regime left to execute. By that time, the Khmer Rouge were killing their own. Their paranoia and violence had been turned on each other. In a Cambodian version of the Red Terror, communists turned on communists, making false accusations to turn in political rivals. This is when the more Vietnamese oriented Eastern Zone of Cambodia became the number one target of the Khmer Rouge. Many cadres and soldiers from that region ended up buried here. The current Prime Minister Hun Sen, was a Khmer Rouge cadre from that area. The only reason he wasn't killed by his comrades, was because he managed to escape and flee to Vietnam.

Another twisted modus operandi of the Khmer Rouge, was their extensive use of child soldiers. That method was used here, as many of the executioners at Choeng Ek were only teenagers! As Pol Pot sought to 'purify' Cambodia, he had many executioners that were between 13 to 19 years old. 

Photos of Tuol Sleng victims buried at Choeng Ek. Those killed here include women and children.

On some days, more than 300 people were murdered at this site. Killing here was like a factory, and most victims were killed by hand. The executioners killed not just men, but also women and children. The mental and emotional trauma of murdering so many people by hand was more than many of the executioners could handle. Over time, many of them could just not deal with the horror of their actions. Some went crazy, rebelled, or deserted, only to be caught and returned. In an ironic end for them, those executioners who tried to escape, were brought back to be killed in this very place, where they themselves had killed others. (This had also happened to some of torturers at Tuol Sleng prison.) Still others were faithful communists doing their duty to the end, but were betrayed by other cadres, falsely accused, and executed.  

After the fall of the Khmer Rouge, the Vietnamese led government began excavations here in 1980. Of the 129 mass graves here, 86 were excavated. The diggers found heads were often buried separately, so they were unable to match heads to their original bodies. The pits were dug deep, corpses were usually crammed together, with bodies stacked high. They dug up more than 8,900 corpses, before finally halting the excavations. I’m aware that as I tread lightly around the paths of this killing field, directly beneath my feet are the remains of thousands of more victims, still interred where they were originally buried.

Memorial stupa, with remains inside

As time has passed, some signs of life have returned to this somber place. Birds are chirping in the trees, and an occasional butterfly floats by. Free range chickens peck at the dirt. Goats and cows chew on grass beyond the border fence. Since they didn't excavate all of the mass graves, the cows are probably grazing right on top of them. A tragic fact, is that this is only one of the many killing fields across in Cambodia. A survey done after the war, found that there are at least 389 mass graves across the country.

Choeng Ek has few surviving buildings. The old Khmer Rouge office, detention building, and sheds were torn down by scavengers long ago. But there is one tall building; a memorial stupa built in 1988.

I approach the structure apprehensively, knowing what's inside. (I saw a similar stupa for Vietnamese massacred by the Khmer Rouge, across the border in Vietnam.) From a distance, it looks only like a whitish tower with windows. The familiar sloping Khmer rooftop with heads of snake-like nagas point up from the corners. As I get closer, I see what is behind the windows. Skulls. Layers and layers of human skulls, with shelves reaching higher and higher. There have to be thousands of human skulls here.

Surprisingly, the door isn't locked. My guide opens it, and gestures me to enter. I slowly step inside. Solo flute music floats down from somewhere. The stupa has 17 levels to symbolize April 17th, the day that Khmer Rouge rule began in 1975. I walk around the interior looking at them, level after level, skull after skull. They all stare right back at me, with their dark empty eyes. I remember all those enlarged photos of the faces of condemned prisoners back in the Tuol Sleng prison; they ended up executed here. I look at all of these skulls lined up together, staring back at me. These aren’t  just pictures on a wall any more. These are the genuine faces of death. The question comes to me, that comes to all visitors who see this. Why? Why? It’s a question no civilized person can answer. It’s answered only in the twisted logic, the barbarity, the insanity that made up the murderous mindset of the Khmer Rouge communists.

Inside the stupa, are shelves stacked with skulls of Khmer Rouge victims

Exiting the tower, on steps next to the stupa, I encounter a steel rod, with leg irons looped through it. If prisoners arriving on Chinese trucks got here too late at night for executions, these leg irons were put over their ankles. The condemned were all forced to lie in a row, shackled to the same steel rod. There are enough leg irons here to shackle six people together. Some of the leg irons here look too small to fit around an adult’s ankle. My guide says that in that case, the guards would break the prisoner’s ankle, to make it fit.

Choeng Ek has its greatest number of annual visitors on May 20th, the local Memorial Day, when many Khmers who lost relatives here come to remember them. My guide says he's been here then, and that many seniors cry.

One of the signs I read as I’m about to leave, gives the best description I’ve seen yet of the Khmer Rouge leaders.

“THE METHOD OF MASSACRE WHICH THE CLIQUE OF POL POT CRIMINALS WAS CARRIED UPON THE INNOCENT PEOPLE OF KAMPUCHEA (CAMBODIA) CANNOT BE DESCRIBED FULLY AND CLEARLY IN WORDS BECAUSE THE INVENTION OF THIS KILLING METHOD WAS STRANGELY CRUEL SO IT IS DIFFICULT OR US TO DETERMINE WHO THEY ARE FOR : THEY HAVE THE HUMAN FORM BUT THEIR HEARTS ARE DEMON’S HEARTS, THEY HAVE GOT THE KHMER FACE BUT THEIR ACTIVITIES ARE PURELY REACTIONARY. THEY WANTED TO TRANSFORM CAMPUCHEAN PEOPLE INTO A GROUP OF PERSONS WITHOUT REASON OR A GROUP WHO KNEW AND UNDERSTOOD NOTHING, WHO ALWAYS BENT THEIR HEADS TO CARRY OUT ANKAR’S ORDERS BLINDLY THEY HAD EDUCATED AND TRANSFORMED YOUNG PEOPLE AND THE ADOLESCENT WHOSE HEARTS ARE PURE, GENTLE AND MODEST INTO ODIOUS EXECUTIONERS WHO DARED TO KILL THE INNOCENT AND EVEN THEIR OWN PARENTS, RELATIVES OR FRIENDS.”

Some executioners survived those years, and remain free to this day. They have never been arrested for their crimes here at this killing field. I asked my guide what he thought about the Khmer Rouge who are alive today, and he told me, “We forgive them, but we never forget.”

WATCHING WAR CRIMES TRIAL

Courtroom building for the trials in Phnom Penh, built with foreign aid

When people think of Cambodian history, a few words usually come to mind: “Killing Fields” and “Khmer Rouge” top the list. After decades of impunity, the time has finally come for the ex-leaders of the Khmer Rouge to answer for their genocidal crimes.

Today I'm see a truly historical event. I'll be watching a trial for the most serious crime of all: "Crimes against humanity".

I'm attending this historical trial with my friend Sue, another American living in Cambodia. We arrive by tuk-tuk on the edge of Phnom Penh, and enter the ‘Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia’, (ECCC) an impressive judicial complex built solely for these trials. A large new yellow building with a Khmer style roof holds the courtroom. This complex also has a jail for those accused, so it's surrounded by a fence topped with barbed wire.

We enter through metal detectors; cell phones or cameras aren't allowed. (Darn!) Walking in, I find the room very wide, with blue movie theater style seats for those attending. It looks more like an auditorium than courtroom. Attendance is low; I count only about 115 people, mostly foreigners. Many more Cambodians attended in the beginning. But these trials are a long, slow process, and fewer attend these days.

The audience is separated from the proceedings by glass. I wonder if it makes those inside feel like zoo animals. That’s not far off, considering the crimes committed by those on trial. The glass is very thick; I wonder if it’s bulletproof. There are many Cambodians that would like to kill the defendants themselves, along with their lawyers.

Prime Minister Hun Sen is ex-Khmer Rouge! (photo: Wikipedia)

I grab a booklet titled, “An Introduction to The Khmer Rouge Trials”. The preface is given by Hun Sen, Cambodia's Prime Minister. He says,“During that time, over three million of our people lost their lives. They were our parents, our children, our relatives, our colleagues and our friends. Those of us who survived have lived for a quarter of a century bearing pain and grief for those we lost and being haunted by the nightmare of our own experiences.”

What Hun Sen fails to mention, is that during the genocide, he was a Khmer Rouge commander! His former membership in the Khmer Rouge is believed to be one reason why these trials were delayed, for years. It hasn't been proved that Hun Sen took part in war crimes during the Pol Pot era, but it hasn't been disproved either.  

The only reason these trials came about, was through international pressure. Hun Sen’s government couldn't hold fair trials on their own, and he also refused to allow the trials to be held at the International Criminal Court in the Hague, where it would have cost less. The Cambodian government demanded the trials held here. Cynics say that this was so the Cambodian government could make money off the trials. To ensure fairness, the international community demanded that a few foreign judges be included. As a result, the presiding justices are a mix of Khmer, and foreign judges.

On entering, I’m handed a headset and receiver to listen to the translations. Flags of the United Nations and Cambodia hang flat on the wall, with the ECCC seal between them. Looking at the participants, all lawyers and officials are wearing purple or black robes. Off to the right, seated alone, is an older Cambodian. I quickly recognize him. It's hard to believe it, but there he is.

Ex-prison warden Duch(photo:Wikipedia)

Duch!

I almost gasp. Duch was the warden of S-21, also known as Tuol Sleng, the former prison and torture center that I had visited. This man is responsible for the murder of 17,000 Cambodians, and he's seated less than 30 feet away from me!

I'm surprised to see that he’s so short. For a man who was one of the 20th century's biggest terrors, he’s really rather small. He wears a white, short sleeved dress shirt, and he’s a little chubby. Unlike his former captives, he’s not going hungry in prison. He's been getting fat on ECCC prison food.

Duch is not his real name. Like most wartime Khmer Rouge cadres, he changed his name when he joined the radical movement. His real name is Kaing Gueck Eav, born in 1945 in Kampong Thom Province. A gifted math student, he once won 2nd place in a national mathematics contest. He later became a math teacher, joining the Communist Party in 1970. In the 1980’s he left the Khmer Rouge and disappeared. A western journalist found him in the 1990’s, and he was finally arrested in 1999.

As Pol Pot is already dead, four other top Khmer Rouge leaders will be tried later, after Duch. These include Nuon Chea, former head of the National Assembly, Ieng Sary, former Minister of Foreign Affairs, his wife Ieng Thirith, former Minister of Social Affairs, and Khieu Samphan, former Head of State. Four of the five are charged with war crimes, and all are charged with crimes against humanity. 

Photos at S-21 prison of some of the women and girls Duch ordered executed

At 9am, there’s a loud electronic beep, and everyone stands. Seven judges file in, all wearing red robes. Two Cambodian guards enter, sitting on either side of the accused. And the proceedings begin. Lawyers do most of the talking, speaking on the slow side to make it easier for translators. Translations are available in Khmer, English and French. I'm impressed by the translations, though it's a very slow process. No wonder these trials are going to take years.

Today the lawyers are questioning a witness that spoke about refugees that fled the Khmer Rouge, seeking safe haven in Vietnam. Apparently, the Vietnamese government had forcibly repatriated some refugees back to Cambodia. His testimony is needed, because after those refugees were forcibly returned the Khmer Rouge executed them.

As testimony proceeds, Duch agrees with the witness's recollections. Wearing glasses, he looks much like the teacher he was before he joined the Khmer Rouge. As the former prison warden speaks, he waves his hands for emphasis, speaking of the “life and death conflict” between Vietnamese and Cambodian Communists.

Duch said, “I didn’t think of Pol Pot as a patriot. He had blood on his hands.” And Duch didn't? I thought that was an odd thing for him to say, since he'd signed thousands of death warrants with his own hand.

Later that day, he seemed to correct himself. “My hands were stained with the blood of S-21,” he said. Duch doesn’t deny his part in the genocide. A unique part of Duch's story, is that in the 1990's he converted to Christianity. His conversion seems to have played a role in his confession. He's the only defendant in these trials that is pleading guilty.

Duch speaks at his trial for crimes against humanity (photo: Wikipedia)

While we watch the trial, Sue recognizes Vann Nath, a Cambodian sitting behind the prosecutor. He's one of the very few survivors of S-21. His testimony against Duch will be strong evidence. As I watch, Duch speaks animatedly with his hands. I notice something else: he’s missing a finger on one hand. I wonder, did having a maimed hand, make Duch more brutal?

Just about everyone speaks calmly during the trial, until a Cambodian lawyer speaks up. He questions Duch heatedly, asking about Cambodians deported from Vietnam. It's stated that Vietnamese officials exchanged buckets of salt for refugees, before they were executed. So Khmer refugees were literally not worth their weight in salt to the Vietnamese government.

It's shocking to learn terminology that the Khmer Rouge used in those violent days. Lawyers and witnesses discuss a Khmer Rouge meeting, where they spoke of ‘smashing’ people in the army. Of course ‘smash’ meant 'kill'. Then Duch speaks up - he was at that meeting, and agrees to fill us in. It's chilling testimony; it's as though I'm listening to a top Nazi talk about the meetings for the final solution. They spoke of, “getting rid of enemies and traitors”. Duch doesn't sugar coat his part in this either. Regarding one detainee, Duch says, “I ordered people to beat him, and get a confession.”

As the day's proceedings close, the judges exit the court room. As they do, Duch gives each judge a Buddhist bow. How times have changed; he could have been executed for doing that back during the Khmer Rouge days.

Months later, Duch's trial finally ends, and he's sentenced to 35 years in prison. Given that he had already been in jail for so long, he would be able to walk free after 18 years. Duch appealed his sentence, saying that he was only a ‘junior officer’ following orders. His appeal outraged victims, and the prosecution, who said the sentence was too lenient. After hearing the appeal, the judges agreed with the victims. Duch was re-sentenced, to serve the rest of his life in prison.   

WOMAN'S STRENGTH SURVIVES GENOCIDE

Palla, survivor of the Khmer Rouge

I met Palla in a former prison, and torture center. We talked in the courtyard of 'S-21', a former Khmer Rouge prison in Cambodia, known as today as the Tuol Sleng genocide museum. A Khmer woman in her 50's, her hair is pulled back and parted. But what really stands out is her face, which has the look of a woman who has struggled to survive.

I sat down on a bench with Palla to learn more about the prison, but her own story was also gripping. As a flock of birds hopped about on a nearby railing, her story unfolded.

Palla was just a girl from military family in the eastern town of Svay Rieng when the war with the Khmer Rouge began. One brother was a Navy captain, another in the Air Force. As the war raged, she eventually moved to Phnom Penh in the early 1970’s for safety. 

When the war ended in 1975, she was only 17, a young bride when the communist Khmer Rouge entered the capital.  Folks were initially happy, as the war was finally over. But the Khmer Rouge immediately forced everyone to leave the city, and walk into the countryside. Palla says that she didn’t even have time to go home and pack up belongings to take with her. Additionally, the Khmer Rouge forced people of different neighborhoods to march out of town in different directions, so her family was split up immediately. So they marched to totally different parts of the country. She never saw some of her relatives again.

Palla's first husband was killed by the Khmer Rouge shortly after the war ended. As an Army soldier, he was targeted for execution. Her first daughter, and her father, died of starvation in Khmer Rouge labor camps. 4 of her 10 brothers and sisters died during the Khmer Rouge genocide. Her mother didn’t survive either. 

Barbed wire surrounds former Khmer Rouge prison and torture center

Somehow, Palla learned how all of her relatives were killed by the Khmer Rouge. She told me how this one was clubbed to death, that one was drowned, that one was killed by bamboo pole strikes to the back of the head and neck. If the Khmer Rouge cadres had learned of Palla's background, she would have been killed too. But immediately upon leaving Phnom Penh, everyone in her family changed their names. She shortened her name from ‘Palla’ to ‘La’.

Under orders, she did all kinds of manual, forced labor during those years of communism. She labored to make dikes, and canals. She worked on farm communes, planting and harvesting rice and corn by hand. To work different projects, the Khmer Rouge forced her to move back and forth from the east side of Cambodia to the west. Sometimes she walked for days. When she was lucky, she was transported by truck, boat or train.

When the Khmer Rouge were finally forced out of power, she returned to Phnom Penh. One surviving brother became a policeman. Palla's sister used to be a French teacher, and she became the first director of this grim museum of genocide. Having that position, she was able to give Palla a job here at Tuol Sleng as well. Palla has worked here since 1979.

Palla cleaned up the pool of blood left in this torture room, but left some blood spots as evidence

Palla's first job was cleaning this wretched place, not a pleasant task. When she first cleaned out the wooden and brick prison cells that I had visited, Palla had to remove scorpions and lice! 

Even worse, the interrogations rooms had pools of blood left on the floors from their final torture victims, and she was responsible for cleaning them all! Although she cleaned up of most of the dried blood, she left some blood spots on the floors for future evidence.

Palla married again after the war, and had three more children. But her second marriage wouldn't last either. In 1984, in the midst of the Vietnamese war with the Khmer Rouge, her husband left to escape to Thailand. She never heard from him again. Palla thinks that he’s dead. Like so many others that tried to escape to Thailand, he may have died in the minefields, though she may never know for sure. One of her sons also died years later in a motorcycle accident.

After the war, Palla took classes to learn English. Eventually she become more than a cleaner here, she also became a guide for the genocide museum. She is also a witness, as this prison has additional family connections for her. When written prison records left behind by the Khmer Rouge were examined, Palla learned that her brother and sister-in-law had been imprisoned here. Her brother had been an Air Force pilot, before he was eventually captured and brought to Tuol Sleng with his wife. They both were executed. They had found the document with her brother's signed confession, obtained through torture, like so many others sentenced to death here.

Crudely cut doorways between prison rooms

Palla tells me that she had a dream last night about her father. She misses her daughter too, the one that died in the famine brought on by the Khmer Rouge. She sometimes cries, because she has enough food to eat now, and back during the famine her daughter didn’t. Palla had no medicine to give her daughter back then either. She says that now medicine is available, and cheap in Cambodia.

Affected by her story, I tell Palla, “I think you are the strongest woman I have ever met.”

She says back to me, “They saw me strong. But I have broken everything. My heart, stomach, eye.” Palla has to take a heart medication these days, and also lost vision in one eye five years ago, to a cataract. She gets by ok these days, but she can’t afford cataract surgery.

Still, Palla has a positive outlook on life, as she's a survivor, and far better off than before. She currently lives with one of her surviving daughters and grandchildren.

“Everything now better,” she tells me. “I have food, rice. I have better than during Khmer Rouge (years.) I don’t have car or motorcycle, but I don’t care. My life is now better." 

One of the buildings in Tuol Sleng prison, where Palla works

As I leave Tuol Sleng, I'm glad that the last thing I remember about this prison, is Palla's smile after I gave her a $20 tip. 

She deserves more.

THE CONDEMNED INNOCENTS

Photos of women and girls executed at S-21 (aka Tuol Sleng) in Phnom Penh

Jaw dropping. This is unbelievable, and not in a good way. 

I'm in the infamous ex-prison known as S-21, built by the communists in a Phnom Penh school. I've already seen prison cells, and the awful interrogation rooms used for torture. It's no wonder that several ex-Khmer Rouge leaders are now on trial for crimes against humanity.

I enter the last prison building, and this schoolroom is full of photos. There are enlarged 8X10 pictures of prisoners, each taken as they arrived to S-21. The photos are mounted on both sides of large easels. There are 140 on each, with 10 easels in the room. Face after face after face, adding up to 1,400 photos of people who were imprisoned here, and murdered. And that’s just this room. In the next room are more pictures, and the next room, and the next. How disturbing. 

Most of the prisoners have some kind of ID number pinned to their shirt, the black communist uniform all were forced to wear. All the men have their arms tied behind their back.

Male inmates of S-21, later executed

Most photos were shot mugshot style, but a few are very graphic, showing the victims after they’ve been tortured to death. A few photos show the unlucky foreigners that were killed here. The Khmer Rouge were so xenophobic, that being a foreigner could bring a death sentence.

I look at another section of photos. These are all women. Nearly all of these ladies have their hair cut in a bob, the hairstyle forced on them by the Khmer Rouge. A couple women hold their child in their arms. Most adults have a stoic look on their face, which was the basic face of survival in those years. Others show worry, fear, or sadness. A few have faces of defiance. Most knew that they would be dead soon. When someone was accused of being a ‘traitor’, Khmer Rouge justice didn’t stop with the accused. His wife and children often ended up here too.

The most disturbing group of photos, is the whole section of photos of children. Boys, girls, there are children of all ages, even toddlers. Some of them have the serious faces of children who have seen too much. Others look at the camera with that pure, adorable look of innocence that all children have. One mother poses for her mugshot holding her baby. 

None of them survived. They were all killed. 

A morbid room has a series of skulls on display. These skulls have tell tale fractures, or bullet holes. A caption beneath one reads like a line from one of those strangely popular American TV shows about forensic police investigators. But this isn't TV, this is reality. The caption reads:

4. Cranium of a man, 20 – 40 years old.
Gunshot wound of right superior parietal convexity (top of the head) with the bullet passing downward into the skull through the brain and exit to the left of the foramen magnum (base of the neck where the spinal cord emerges from brain). [Catalogue No. TSL15, 2A50695].

The faces of innocent children that were executed by the Khmer Rouge

I leave this moving display, and return to the old school yard. It's now a fenced-in prison compound. There used to be several layers of fencing, now there are only two. It's topped by several layers of barbed wire, which kept desperate prisoners from escaping.

During school days children played here, and in the yard is a tall frame of what may have been a swing set. Below it are 2 very large ceramic jars, like those used for storing water. A sign explains how these were used for their evil means.

THE GALLOWS
This pole with cables attached to it had been used for the student to conduct their exercise. The Khmer Rouge utilized this place as interrogation room. The interrogators tied both hands of the prisoners to the back by a rope and lift the prisoners upside down. They did like this until the prisoners lost consciousness. Then they dipped the prisoner’s head into a jar of smelly, filthy water, which they normally used as fertilizer for the crops in the terrace outside. By doing so, the victims quickly regain consciousness, and that the interrogators could continue their interrogation.

By their last year in power, the Khmer Rouge had turned against its own members in a cannibalistic manner. The paranoid regime began to arrest, torture and execute many cadres and soldiers in its own ranks. These even included some of the torturers and guards who worked here. Many of them became victims of this very place. Some of the S-21 torturers, were tortured here in S-21, in the same rooms where they had tortured others. Is that justice?

Gallows used to torture inmates during questioning

Although the interrogators/torturers were men, the survivors say that there was once a female interrogator. They say that she had left S-21, after she went insane. 

But some of the other torturers survived. S-21 was also only one of many prisons and torture centers across Cambodia, so many torturers fled and survived the war. None of them have ever been arrested or tried for their crimes.

Only one key figure has been brought to justice so far. The warden of this prison, known as Duch, has been put on trial for crimes against humanity. I will soon attend his trial.

S-21 is now called the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. Like the Nazi death camps, this horrible place is being preserved to teach future generations about the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge.

A young visiting British backpacker expressed his dismay as he left this museum. “My parents didn’t even tell me about this,” I heard him say, still shocked. “They probably didn’t even know about it.”

Former school building housed condemned prisoners from 1975 - 1978

But I'll never forget it. Leaving Tuol Sleng, I step back out into Phnom Penh, leaving the genocide behind. 

Or do I? As I see adult Cambodians going about their daily affairs, I’m reminded that every single person old enough to remember the Khmer Rouge years, has been left traumatized. They personally witnessed the genocide that I've just learned about. They survived, but they all lost friends and family. 

On the opposite end, some of the men here in this city, are former Khmer Rouge soldiers themselves. They took part in the killings and other genocidal atrocities, and they still walk free. 

It really makes me wonder, how many ex-Khmer Rouge have driven me around this city? How many of them have I met in shops, or greeted on the street?

Never mind. I really don't want to know.