The trip to Cambodia was scheduled for a month, we were all quite excited for that project since it is quite a big team to cater too. Technically, it was a business trip but of course, we had weekends to spare for us to go around and explore. When my colleague and I arrived in Phnom Penh, we were trying to look for a place to shop, both of us were looking for some Duty Free shopping area. We found one and we kept saying, "oh it is a little small, maybe a little further, would be a bigger shop." We could moving ahead, until we found ourselves outside the airport! Hahhaha! only then I realized, its' beauty and its simplicity at the same time. We stayed at Hotel Cambodiana and we are booked for a whole month for a project. We arrived on a weekend, which my colleague decided to give us a tour. Phnom Penh is the capital and largest city of Cambodia. Phnom Penh has been the national capital since the French colonized Cambodia, and has grown to become the nation's center of economic and industrial activities, as well as the center of security, politics, economics, cultural heritage, and diplomacy of Cambodia. Once known as the “Pearl of Asia”, it was considered one of the loveliest French-built cities in Indochina in the 1920s. In Cambodia, one of things I enjoyed, was the food! They serve healthy food. During the whole stay, I felt healthier. Cause they always serve iced tea, which ended my craving for soda. This was so much fun! I actually tried to make these stuff. Its like fresh lumpia in the Philippines. They have all the vegetable, the shrimp, some other stuff I do not really recognize but definitely can eat, then you roll it in that transparent thing! Hahaha! It was fun! First stop was the Royal Palace in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, is a complex of buildings which serves as the royal residence of the king of Cambodia. Its full name in the Khmer language is Preah Barum Reachea Veang Chaktomuk. The Kings of Cambodia have occupied it since it was built in 1860's, with a period of absence when the country came into turmoil during and after the reign of the Khmer Rouge. Next stop, they said it was a surprise. They advised to get my heart ready and prepared for this, as it will give me a lot of sad emotions. They took me to one of the famous places to see in Phnom Pehn. TUOL SLENG GENOCIDE MUSEUMThe Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum is a museum in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia. The site is a former high school which was used as the notorious Security Prison 21 (S-21) by the Khmer Rouge communist regime from its rise to power in 1975 to its fall in 1979. Tuol Sleng (Khmer [tuəl slaeŋ]) means "Hill of the Poisonous Trees" or "Strychnine Hill". It was the actual place where people who died in the Killing Fields were imprisoned. It felt quite heavy for me to bear, walking around these hallways, knowing people were killed and murdered. Life is sad when you are behind thorny + rusty barb wires like these. Can you imagine yourself being deprived of your own freedom? They were taken captive. Some did not even have the time to understand what was happening. It was not a choice. It was not even an option. More painful is when you know you do not even have an assurance that you will be able to escape and go out of that prison and the part of waking up day after day, that today could be the day you are meant to die. It is Painful, but True! This mat, has been preserved and the same mat that was used by the man slaughtered and killed in that bed, in that room. You are allowed to take photos, but not allowed to touch anything at all. We are still born blessed and that we are given our freedom to be able to do our own will. For others, it was not even a choice! Take care of your freedom, it is a GIFT! Freedom restricted? How sad could it be when you are not able to do things that you wanted to do because you are not free at all. Freedom held, freedom purged, freedom you can not even pay for not work for. Life could be so hard to be in a situtation where in you are bound to be behind barb wires, waiting for death. Even escaping meant early death. Would you just choose to wait for your turn to be killed? Or would you be bold enough to escape and die voluntarily earlier that scheduled? As you go inside each room, you will see the deathbed of people slain. You will see an actual photo as well in the wall, of the person who died on that same bed. You still see the tools that were used to kill them. You walk around the room, knowing, on that same floor, blood was shed. Torture facilities at the Tuol Sleng museum. These were chains of the prisoners who died and were mass murdered. It was sad to see. Clothes of the victims who died in the mass killing. These clothes were the clothes worn by the people when they were held captive, till the day of their execution. The school walls, they had to make a way for it to be a whole long prison cell so it is easier for them manage. You can see how small the spaces were for the prisors. A cell that do not have a bed, just dark and cold walls.They sleep eat drink pee in the same place. It was terrible. I can imagine how hard it was for them to experience such torment. After this tour, I had to take time and sit down. I had to cry and let emotions out. It was a place of torment, sadness and pain. But at the same time, it is a place that proved people had hope to survive and had so much faith to keep going despite their situation. It was indeed a different experience, enlightening and inspiring. All Life in this world is important, we need to make sure we place value in it.
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May 2017
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