Phnom Penh Day 13

Wake up, freshen up, have breakfast. same procedure as every day. Then convince a tuk-tuk driver to take us around the city today. When vacationing in Cambodia, one unfortunately also has to confront the terrible past of this beautiful country. During the Pol Pot regime and the rule of the Khmer Rouge, nearly 1.7 million Cambodians died, which accounted for 25% of the population at that time. Many died of hunger, many in what were called killing fields. Cities like Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, and Battambang were deserted because the urban dwellers had to grow rice in the countryside. The Khmer Rouge wanted to create the perfect human being. Today, we visited one of these killing fields, Choung EK, located about 17 km outside of Phnom Penh. Equipped with an audio guide in German, this cruel place was brought closer to us. 17,000 people died here. Mass graves with shreds of clothing sticking out, the tree on which young children were beaten to death, and a huge stupa where countless skulls and bones were kept. This is truly not for the faint-hearted. After a short break, we continued to the Toul Sleng Torture Prison. This former school was used to force confessions from the prisoners (collaboration with the CIA, defamation of other brothers, etc.). After the confession, we went to the Killing Fields. Only 11 out of several thousand survived this prison. All of them were artists who served the regime for amusement. At that time, art was forbidden. It was not until 2007, almost 40 years later, that the process of dealing with this time began before an international court. Pol Pot was already dead at that time, and few others were charged. In schools in Cambodia, this period is often not taught, which is unimaginable considering that we learn nothing about the Holocaust.
Then we visited the Royal Palace and the National Museum. The Royal Palace is once again an architectural masterpiece, while the National Museum is just average. Many pieces from Angkor, but we prefer it when they are in their original location rather than behind a glass display case. I know it's difficult because of too many stupid tourists, but oh well.
In the evening, we visited an Italian who had emigrated (TripAdvisor review was just too good) and treated ourselves to pizza, pasta, and house wine for a change.