Phnom Penh

Phnom Penh is the capital of Cambodia, and unlike Bangkok or Ho Chi Minh City, I had never heard much about it. Truth be told, I never really knew anything about Cambodian history until I visited Phnom Penh.

In the mid 70's, Cambodia had a prime minister named Pol Pot who led the Khmer Rouge and took over Phnom Penh, turning schools into concentration camps and eventually killing off 20% of the Cambodian population. It's odd how we learn so much about World War II and Hitler but have no idea about mass genocides that happened only 36 years ago. It doesn't seem possible.

We spent the day visiting various sites, including Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (a high school turned into a prison) and The Killing Fields. It's pretty terrifying to think about how many people were tortured and killed - murdered for something as insignificant as wearing glasses (this meant you must have read a lot of books and must have been smart and were considered a threat). But it happened, and there we were, walking amongst the scattered bones and shreds of clothing once worn by the deceased. It was probably the saddest day I had on the trip, but I felt so blessed to have learned and ashamed to have known so little before. I guess it's not until you're in a place, reliving their history that you realize just how frightening the world can be sometimes.