Day 3 - The killing fields and the royal palace grounds

Day three for the Cambodian team was a very big day, packed with lots of interesting things. In the morning we visited the historical site known as the killing fields and the prison camp S-21 we learnt about the genocide that happened all across the country under Pol Pot and the Khmer rouge. We visited just one of the many sights all over Cambodia at which these atrocities took place.

Pol pots khmer rouge regime was in power for less than four years, but during this time they attempted to create a utopian, communist country. This attempt led to an estimated one in five dying or being murdered. Estimates can be anywhere between 1.7million to 3 million that died directly or indirectly because of the regime.

Despite pol pots attempts to seal Cambodia of from the rest of the world information slowly leaked out of the country. But it took a long time for the rest of the world to believe these stories and for a time the khmer rouge was supported by the UN.

By following pol pot's path to power and subsequent actions we can begin to understand more about how people's capacity- or lack of capacity to think clearly is affected by ideology, propaganda and sensorship. It also shows how such an event can set a country back decades of education and development.

For lunch we visited the daughters of Cambodia which is an organisation that employs and empowers victims of sex-exploitation to set themselves free from the sex industry. We all had a very nice lunch and we also got a few things from the gift shop.

After lunch the group visited the royal palace grounds where we looked at large temples with incredible detail, immaculate gardens and there were even some monkeys enjoying the the palace.

We had pizza at the plaza for dinner and went back to the hotel for a well deserved rest.

- Tim