Today we are going to the killing fields and s21 genocide museum. We are at s21 which is a converted school the Khmer Rouge used to imprison torture and kill prisoners accused of treason. The Khmer Rouge didn't believe in formal education and so they shut down all forms of formal education. 20,000 prisoners came through s21 with only 7 survivors. Conditions were abhorrent and the means of torture were barbaric. The sad thing is there have only been three convictions from all the horrible crimes that took place. The death toll Khmer Rouge are estimated between 700k to 3 million people. Mass graves are scattered around the country and are still being found today. The brutality was deplorable.
It's estimated that as many as 3 million of 8 million were killed. The Khmer Rouge was a communist faction led by pol pot. Around 20k people lost their lives in the area we are visiting. It's sad listening to some of the stories. Conditions were so horrible for the prisoners.
It was a heavy day going through all the genocide memorials. We decides to catch a movie and then he's to a hostel where they were having an open mic night. It was lots of fun. A nice way to unwind.
We are in another bus headed to Kratie. We are in for a ton of bus rides. We started in siem reap went down to the southern coast of Cambodia. We will go up through the northern border into Laos around four thousand islands. We will head north through Laos go in Vietnam in the north and then head to the south. Should be a good time. Hopefully we can catch some night busses. The buses are crazy. There is never anyone who speaks English and you are never quite sure what's going on. They regularly oversell them. The driving is insane and the roads leave much to be desired. I actually kind of enjoy them. I can for the experience and this is definitely a part of it.
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