We visited the killing fields after the prison. This made for quite a depressing start to the day!
17000 men, women, children and infants who were detained at s21 prison were transported to the extermination camp of Choeung Ek, now know as the killing fields.
They were often bludgeoned to death to avoid wasting bullets. They remains of 8985 people, many who were bound and blindfolded, were exhumed in 1980 from mass graves. 43 of the 129 mass graves here have been left untouched. Fragments of human bones and bits of cloth are scattered around the pits, which we saw plenty of! There is a tree that was used to kill the children against, alledgedly by swinging them by there legs, smashing their skull into the tree.
More than 8000 skulls, arranged by sex and age are visible behind clear glass of the memorial Stupa which was erected in 1988. We bought a flower and ensence each to place in front to pay our respects. It is actually quite a peaceful place considering what it was 30 odd years ago but is still so hard to comes to grips of the terrible inhuman acts the Cambodian people have been through!
