I can't say much about the genocide museum in Phnom Penh. Because I didn't go in. Because I didn't have the stomach to go in. Once I translated for a friend a page of a book describing how the Japanese raped and tortured a Chinese woman in Singapore, I started hyperventilating. Ever since, I can hear the screams of the victims without knowing their stories, and feel haunted by the shadow of their ghosts.
So I sat in a cafe across from the museum, while Brent spent two hours in the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. It is also called S-21, a high school converted to the torture and killing center of prisoners. He took some photos, and relayed a couple of stories of those who went through and died here. A woman from Phnom Penh was sent to the countryside to work, as millions of other city people. The peasants were called the "new people" by the Khmer Rouge and city people "old" (bad) people. The country women were jealous of this woman's fairer skin (because she wasn't working in the fields all day long) so they were always harsh to her, and would conspire to find fault in her. They would craw under her hut (on stilts) during her husband's once or twice a year visits and listened to their conversation. They would report back to the authorities. They eventually found fault with her, and she was sent to S-21. Her husband who was working for the Khmer Rouge at a low level was also sent there, but maybe they never saw each other in prison. She was tortured and killed.
Generally, we seem to have the notion that poor people and dark skinned people are the oppressed. But given the opportunity, they can certainly exercise the same kind of evil over the weaker. Kindness is not human nature.
Some prison guards were interviewed. Some showed remorse, and others didn't regret what they did at all.
On the surface, all this seemed to be a distant memory. People live for today. They are having as much fun as they can, even living dangerously. How they use transportation is a good example, especially how they use motorcycle as the main transportation vehicle - a family of 5 on 1 motorcycle, or two dead pigs on one.
More pictures from Laos and Cambodia:
http://share.shutterfly.com/action/welcome?sid=8CcsWbZsyZsUC&emid=sharshar&linkid=link4
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