Cambodia Trip: Day 2, 6-12-2008 (Phnom Penh)

For the second day, we had a new tour guide, whom I had forgotten name. First, we went to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The museum is a former high school that was changed to a prison by the Khmer rouge. This place really gave me an impact on foolishness and cruelty of human. I also realised that I actually had very little knowledge regarding the history of Cambodia even though it is very near to my country. I was ashamed of myself for being so ignorant of the sufferings of the people in Cambodia. In the museum, I learned a lot about Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge because the tour guide was very good in explaining things to us. She also stated that many of the high ranking people in Khmer rouge is still hiding in the jungle near Thai border. The Cambodian government is still trying to catch them. As for the normal Khmer rouge soldiers, they are not punished and still lives among the Cambodians. I want to quote some of her words ,' Cambodia is a Buddhist country. We forgive people for their wrong doings. We want to catch the high ranking Khmer rouge not because we want to punish them, but rather to find out exactly why they did those horrible things.' Later, we went to visit the killing fields where they uncovered the death bodies of the victims that were killed by the Khmer rouge. In the afternoon, we visited the royal palace. I noticed that all the tourist went inside using the side door as the main door will only be open when important people came to visit. The royal palace is a beautiful place. As Cambodia is a Buddhist country that is heavily influenced by Hinduism, we could see many statues of Buddha and also paintings of Ramayana story on the walls. In this day, I learned more about the history of Cambodia and also enjoyed myself in the royal palace.