the kids are not alright

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There are small brown stains on my white polo shirt now. Earlier today when we were traveling back to town from the Killing Fields of Cheong Ek in our tuk-tuk a bunch of kids jumped onto the vehicle and begged for money and food. They were literally shouting and demanding food and money and anything we can give, and they clung on to the vehicle in precarious positions, one from the back and the other two hanging onto the aluminium handles on the side.

Luckily I had the fried doughnuts dripped with caramelised sugar left over from breakfast and I gave them the bag of doughnuts out of pity. Instead of leaving the vehicle and sharing the food amongst themselves, they all reached for it with eager hands and grabbed the bag and refused to let any one of them gain possession. The bag eventually ruptured, and bits of doughnut landed on my shirt and pants.

I guess such things are common, because our driver did not even turn around to check what has happened.

I was annoyed initially but I realised that it is not their fault that they are so desperate and pushy towards tourists, and my annoyance went away quickly. It is not anyone’s wish to be born into poverty and it is no fault of the children that they face such circumstances.

Touts and beggars are not uncommon and they are found all throughout Phnom Penh. This incident was not our only incident with beggars. At the Killing Fields itself we donated money to a bunch of children that we took photos with, and this particular boy pestered us for the remainder of our tour in the Fields for more money.

It is interesting to observe the juxtapositions on display in Phnom Penh. On one hand we see the bustling markets and the first ever shopping centre in the country. On the other hand we see the slums and beggars (especially in the outskirts). While the tourists spend their money on lavish meals and extravagant western food the locals work the streets trying to milk the tourism cow dollar by dollar.

Speaking of juxtapositions, Tuol Sleung was a sobering experience. The seemingly innocent virgin premises of a school was converted into a nightmarish place of torture where the darkest side of humanity reared its ugly face for the world to see, and this grim place stands in the middle of a residential district where houses encloses the place and residents get on with their lives in close proximity to it. I wonder how it feels like to live just beside the former school where thousands are tortured and killed.

I felt a very bad vibe the moment I entered the premises of Tuol Sleung. It is one of those places where I would want to visit once and not go back again. A gloomy aura seems to emanate from the place. Perhaps the reinforced walls and rusty barbed wires which surrounded the place creates a sense of foreboding gloom before one even steps into the premises.

Unlike most museums where the exhibits are fenced up or kept in glass cases, Tuol Sleung allows visitors to observe everything in visceral, in your face detail. The steel beds to which prisoners are tied to for torture are left in the rooms and tourists can even touch them. The steel rods used to fasten and secure the appendages are still there. Gruesome photos of dead tortured prisoners are showcased on the walls of rooms, pictured on the same beds that still stand in the very rooms they died.

The cramped, makeshift prison cells are still there. I went into one of them to experience how bleak it felt. I can’t imagine being chained down in one of these cells, waiting to die.

The human capacity for evil is frightening, and Tuol Sleung is undeniable evidence of that. It stands as an ugly and irremovable stain in the annals of human history. It made me question whether humans are innately evil or good. How can a nation of people submit meekly to the implementation of systemised evil? And how can such morally corrupt leaders get away with so much without much resistance from the people? The Khmer Rouge leaders were mostly all well-educated men, many of whom studied in France on scholarships, but yet they engaged in such barbarity.

The whole grimness of the experience probably explains why I was slightly pissed off when I saw this Korean tourist laughing and playing a fool while touring the premises of Tuol Sleung. He was laughing while taking photos of the torture photos, and he tried to lock his travel mates in the rooms by closing the steel doors. It is amazing how insensitive some people are and how inappropriately a person can possibly behave.

Lonely Planet recommended a restaurant just opposite the entrance to Tuol Sleung, but I cannot stand eating opposite the place straight away after visiting the site of such atrocities. The visit left me with a heavy heart and I just wasn’t hungry. We walked to the Russian Market area for lunch instead.