Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum & Russian Market

Wednesday, January 16th, 2013

 This morning, just after it opened at 8 am, Tim, Mike, Anita and I toured through the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. This was a high school opened in 1962. When the Khmer Rouge took over Phnom Penh and emptied the city of inhabitants, this school became the notorious S-21, a prison where victims were tortured to extract confessions. Many victims were imprisoned here for several months while being tortured. Almost all were eventually taken to  the Killing Fields outside Phnom Penh and executed. There were 12,000 to 20,000 torture victims imprisoned here from 1975 to 1978. We met one survivor, who lived because he could paint, and so used that skill to be useful. His wife, however, was killed. This is a very sad place.

 A translation of the rules for prisoners. The balconies were covered in barbed wire to prevent inmates from jumping from the 3rd floor to commit suicide. These were all the pictures that we can share. It seemed disrespectful to the dead to take pictures. There are however, rows and rows of photographs of the victims, taken by the perpetrators, and examples of confessions that were recorded. A difficult morning.

 The Russian market, so named because there used to be a lot of Russian influence here and the Russians in town would come here to shop. Lots of little shops inside where we all bought some souvenirs.

 Anita shopping for custom shoes. She decided not to buy, however, because we couldn't translate exactly what she wanted well enough.

 There are lots of little shops and factories near our hotel like this furniture place.

 Tuktuks lined up outside the Russian Market. You constantly have to tell drivers that you don't want a tuktuk to the point where you can buy a T-shirt that says "No Tuktuk" so you can point to it.

 Anita and I and Tim with his Cambodian co-workers at the Cambodian Land Administration Support Project (I think that's the title). Like any good foreign aid project (and not all are good), Tim's project, over 4 1/2 years, has almost gotten to the point where the Cambodians have the capacity to do the work themselves without foreign assistance.

 Gangnam Kim, Tim, me, Ernie, Anita and Mike at dinner last night at Irina's, a great Russian restaurant.

 When you want something similar in southeast Asia, you often say "same same".

The joke is that if you want something different, you same "Same same but different".
Tonight we're off to a photo exhibition, with food and drinks, featuring the work of Tim Page, a friend of Tim's and a legendary Vietnam War photojournalist. Should be a good time.