Cambodia’s Killing Fields

Fully one-fifth of Cambodians, or 2 million people, died between 1975 and 1979, when Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge brutalized the country in a civil war.

The ship offered a flight from Saigon to Cambodia that included a trip to Pnomh Penh, where there is tourism related to the Killing Fields. We chose a different trip that flew us only to Siem Reap to see the Angkor Wat temple complex. Knowing the story of the Killing Fields, we really didn’t feel up to seeing the gruesome sights of torture chambers and rooms full of human skulls and bones, important as it is. But it is hard to get away from the devastation wreaked by Cambodia’s civil war, no matter where you are in the country. We heard a first-person account from our tour guide, a lovely man named Bunrith, who told us his family story.

Bunrith was three years old when his father, who was in the Cambodian Army, was executed in 1979. The government was forcing all the city people back into the countryside to be rice farmers, and the Khmer Rouge executed most of the educated people and intellectuals. Please don't ask me why, because I still can't understand it.

Bunrith’s sister later starved to death in the aftermath of the war, and his brother and mother were so affected in terms of health that they died prematurely, about 10 years ago. Bunrith managed to grow up, get an education, marry, and have four children. He has worked as a professional guide for about 16 years. In a country that has 50 percent unemployment, he is fortunate to be doing so well.

The students on our trips often chat during the tour guide lectures, a fact that is often disappointing as well as irritating. But as Bunrith shared his sad story, the bus became entirely quiet. Deathly quiet.

Everywhere we went in Cambodia, it was hard to miss the repercussions of this terrible war. Children hawking postcards and bracelets when they should have been in school. Children diving into trash cans looking for food at the temple complexes. A band made up of land mine victims playing traditional instruments for spare change. Siem Reap as a city was actually pretty nice, with lots of beautiful new hotels to serve the rapidly growing interest in Angkor Wat, a world heritage site. But the country has a long way to go to recover.