The Killing Fields

Ryan and I took a trip out to the killing fields late Sunday afternoon. While the past six weeks have been nothing but fun and adventure, this excursion was extremely sobering. For those of you who don't know, nearly two million Cambodians were systematically murdered under the Pol Pot Khmer Rouge regime between 1975 and 1979.  Pol Pot = really really really bad guy. 

The actual site is lacking much to see, at least on the surface. There is The Bone Monument which houses over 8,000 skulls that have been unearthed from the mass graves. However, besides that, there are just holes in the ground with signs that say, "X amount of people buried here." Then there are other signs that say, "This is where the trucks came." "This is where the guards slept" etc. etc. However, the real stomach turner isn't the sign boards or holes in the ground but rather the walking paths that lead the tourists from one sign to the other. It didn't take long to notice that buried under the dirt were human bones. Bones were everywhere. It was literally impossible not to be walking on human remains. This is what will stick with me forever.

Back to more cheery blogs tomorrow...