The Killing fields and the Mekong river

The first weekend in Phnom Penh is over. Today was a very interesting day with several activities organized by our partners in ABV.

The morning was quite relaxing as we dropped by a swimming pool near to our hotel. It looks like we have tickets from our hotel to go there if we want, so exactly that’s what we did. We spend some hours there with some really interesting conversations where I can feel the variety in the countries and cultures we come from. Sometimes the little details are where I see the differences which lead to continues learning from each other. 

At lunch time we tried one of the restaurants near the hotel. Food was really delicious and had a good price. I tried my first Cambodian beer of name “Angkor” which was really tasty and had a flavor similar to “Mahou cinco estrellas” of Spain which I love.

After the nice lunch we got a van to visit the Killing fields a little bit outside Phnom Penh.

Choeung Ek Genocidal Center is around 15km southeast from the city. The Killing Fields are a number of sites in Cambodia where large numbers of people were killed and buried by the Khmer Rouge regime, during its rule of the country from 1975 to 1979. Out of a population of 8 million some analysis ranges the total number of deaths between 1.7 and 2.5 million people. Shocking tour today to understand the closest past of Cambodia and to get a deeply sense of what happen here, not so far ago from today. An experience not to forget. We overlooked at the brutality of the assassinations of so many Cambodian families, children and even babies.

We have walked over several mass graves where in only one more than 450 victims where executed. To walk around and to understand how people where executed was a difficult thing. You can see in the floor pieces of clothes, bones and tooth which still after years come out when heavy rains falls. A really complete guidebook with testimonies and the explanations in detailed of how people was killed, photos, paintings, the actual rests and a Memorial Stupa where the remains of Choeung Ek´s victims are reverently preserved are an extreme evidence of what happen here.

Later we went back to Phnom Penh and visited some of the city center before going to a tour in the Mekong River where we had a dinner all together prepared by the Boddhi Tree personal. A good round on the river that was followed by a nice cocktail in one of the bars close to our hotel before going home to prepare for our first meeting tomorrow with our clients.