Sunday, May 26 Phnom Penh day 2

 Even though we have been living a lavish lifestyle in the Phnom Penh hotel, today, we embarked on the difficult aspect of Cambodian history. We went to S-21 or the Khmer Rouge prison system. We will spare you the gruesome details of how the Cambodia people were treated, but we each individually experienced the place where Cambodians were brutally tortured and killed. We each had the opportunity to listen to an audio tour of the museum and walk around on our own for a couple of hours while we processed the difficult information. Once we were done with the museum tour, we ate a delectable lunch, followed by an opportunity to meet a survivor of the Khmer Rouge. The survivors name was Arun and he was merely a child when he was forced to play propaganda music for the Khmer Rouge. After four long years of seeing his friends and teachers brutally murdered, he was sent on the front lines to fight against the Vietnamese. One day, Arun got injured in combat and he went close to the Thailand border where he was cared for by an American man who later adopted him. We sat in amazement as he told us his story of immigration to the U.S and his experience growing up in New Hampshire. We were all surprised and amazed that his flute playing landed him a college letter of recommendation from President Jimmy Carter and allowed him to lead an organization that supports Cambodian children learn peace through the arts. Next, we visited the Olympic stadium of Phnom Penh where we switched gears from the saddening institutions of the Khmer Rouge to the older buildings of the Lon Nol government, built during a time of prosperity in Cambodia. Finally, we ended the day on the seas with a boat ride on the Mekong River. We took a ferry along the outskirts of the city, as dusk turned to night and the lights of the city came out. We held fiery debates about the fruitless international trials of the Khmer Rouge leaders. We traveled to each of our destinations by taking tuk tuks that grumbled through the city; the moderately controlled chaos of the Phnom Penh traffic left us questioning whether the drivers of Cambodia were extremely skilled or just extremely bold. We are writing this from a beautifully air conditioned lobby, looking forward to a final night of sleep with actual sheets, flushing toilets, running water, and a true shower. 

-Aaron & Henry

 




















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