Tuol Sleng

Although I have lived in Cambodia for over a year, I just visited Tuol Sleng for the first time this week.  Tuol Sleng is the museum on the site of the Khmer Rouge's Security Prison 21 (S-21), where well over 12,000 people (estimates vary) were detained, tortured, and killed during the regime's 4-year reign of terror from 1975-1979.

One creepy aspect to the visit was that Tuol Sleng is located only about 5 minutes from my house.  So, right in Phnom Penh, in a former high school, was where the Khmer Rouge set up one of their largest detention centers.

Interrogation room

A principal activity at S-21 was to interrogate prisoners and force them to admit to being CIA, KGB, anti-Khmer Rouge, or whatever other bogus accusations were brought against them.  Just inside the museum entrance, we stopped to read the rules of interrogation, which included:

• You must immediately answer my questions without taking time to reflect.
• You are strictly prohibited from contesting me.
• Do not make up pretexts to hide the fact that you are a traitor.
• If you don't follow these rules, you will be whipped or receive electric shocks.
• When getting lashes or electrification, you must not cry out at all.

Clearly they were sincere about getting accurate, truthful confessions.

The Khmer Rouge photographed prisoners upon arrival to S-21.  Several walls of the museum were filled with these somber portraits, row after row of eyes staring back at me, some in defeat, some in pain, yet many seemed defiant.

However, as I walked through this sobering locale, I found another emotion also tugging at me.  I had hoped and expected that visiting Tuol Sleng would be a powerful experience, yet I was disappointed.  The museum was not well laid-out - we walked down one hallway passing empty room after empty room until finally finding exhibits in the last room.  Many of the displays were fading and showing signs of age.  Some of them were repeated - after having looked closely at the prisoner portraits in one room, I noticed the same photos repeated in other rooms.  This location has a truly staggering story to tell, yet they've sadly missed an opportunity to tell it well.

The former main gate, crisscrossed with barbed wire

Relaxing on the Tatai River

Most of the trips Jeremy and I have been taking have been active ones - a packed schedule of visiting the temples, seeing the sights, bargaining at the markets, etc.  Our most recent trip was a welcome break from the busyness.  We traveled to 4 Rivers Floating Lodge on the Tatai River in northwestern Cambodia.  The "lodge" is a floating pier with a dining area in the middle and 12 individual tents as the sleeping rooms.  The only way to reach the lodge is by boat, which gives you an idea of the "get-away-from-it-all" feel of the place.

Our first view of 4 Rivers as we arrived by boat

After being welcomed by the staff and unpacking our bags, we looked at each other and said "now what?"  The lodge didn't have satellite TV or wi-fi; my BlackBerry didn't even get reception!  Luckily one very nice feature of the lodge is their collection of kayaks which guests can use at their leisure.  We jumped in and Jeremy reactivated his kayaking and canoe instructor skills (from his college days as a summer camp counselor) to take us on a peaceful tour of the river.  We returned to the lodge in time for the beginnings of an overcast sunset:

The next day, we visited nearby Tatai Waterfall.  It involved another boat ride and another picturesque arrival to our destination:

We wandered around on the rocks a bit, getting a look at the multiple cascades of the falls and the many swimming holes it created.  Finally, we got into the water ourselves and even received a hydro-massage under the falls!  Jeremy took a zen-like pose as the water tumbled down on him, but I found that I needed to keep two hands on my bathing suit bottom to prevent any wardrobe malfunctions!

After a lovely picnic lunch and a bit more swimming, we said goodbye to the waterfall and returned to the tranquil lodge.  As always, the weekend passed too quickly, but we were pleased to enjoy a short respite on the beautiful Tatai River!