Can't Shake Off That "creepy" Feeling In Cambodia

Cambodia.

Before even visiting the country, I have already read many articles and some of its history. Most are not pleasant, to say the least.  Scary, some would say perhaps. But then it happened many years ago.

Cambodia is not a country that I intentionally plan to visit.

Simply because, unlike most bigger cities, I can’t see promo tickets from Manila to Phnom Penh.

Nevertheless, it is one of the easiest country to stop by once one is in Thailand, Malaysia, or Vietnam.

I can’t help it, but because of Cambodia’s past, it has a dark side in my subconscious that never go away. 

Still, I can't imagine that these atrocities lasted until two years before I was born. So this, I can consider as not something I cannot relate to. This is fairly new, compared to most of what were written in History books.

To say that I was excited means I'm lying too. I was apprehensive. 

After arriving at Phnom Penh, we went directly to Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. This place was preserved in memory of those executed by their dictator leader Pol Pot.

While already there, I got scared.  It seems to me that the place itself is full of souls begging for justice of what happened to them during Pol Pot's time.  

"Killing Tree Against Which Executioners Beat Children" - it says

We were offered a headset with a map and the direction on where to go and to listen to the testimonies of those who live to tell the tale.

"MASS GRAVE OF MORE THAN 100 VICTIMS CHILDREN AND WOMEN WHOSE MAJORITY WERE NAKED"

I had goosebumps, I thought I would eventually throw up from fear. 

Bones are stored in this glass box.

I wanted to run as fast as I can after me and my friend was already many meters apart. 

PIECE OF BONES REMAINING AFTER EXCAVATION IN 1980 

Treading this part with my heart beating so fast. (Scared!)

I wonder if from this place, were they buried when they were already dead or even when they were still begging for their lives?

It was close to night time (almost 6PM of Philippines time). This really brings out the kid in me. 

These trees are witnesses of many lives lost. 

This is one of the places that they used as mass graves where many human bones were exhumed.

Sleng Tree "Poisonous Tree"

At the front of the center.

The building behind me, stores so many skulls of the victims of the genocide.

The temples made up for all the dread I felt.

The visit to Cambodia may not be a pleasant one if FUN is what you have in mind. But for me, it was NECESSARY. I have seen the remnant of Cambodia's dark past.

See it for yourself, Boholanos! :)