Inside the Stupa

The top of the memorial Stupa at Choeung Ek is beautifully decorated with lots of intricate details. It doesn't prepare you for what you find inside.

The Stupa is filled with more than 5,000 skulls that were gathered from the mass graves here at Choeung Ek. They are sorted by sex and approximate age. There are also color-coded markers on the skulls to sort them by manner of death.

I debated whether I should post this photo, and although it's brutal and shocking, the Cambodian people want visitors to see exactly what happened here. There can be no denying the terrors the Khmer Rouge put the Cambodian people through once you have witnessed a scene like this. If you want to read more about the Cambodian Genocide, this is a good site. Photos taken in December 2016.

Offerings

Many people leave offerings for the spirits that haunt the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Buddhists believe worldly offerings can appease unrestful spirits and help them find their way into the next world. Photo taken in December 2016.

Serenity

Despite the horrors that have happened here, there is a certain sense of serenity that surrounds you at the Choeung Ek Memorial Site. There are walking paths and benches where visitors can sit and reflect.

Nature also continues its path, unheedful of the terrible deeds of mankind.

Photos taken in December 2016.

Killing trees

The Khmer Rouge was especially brutal to babies and infants. When mothers with babes in-arms arrived at the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, their babies were ripped from their arms and slammed against trees like this one. The bodies were then thrown into the mass graves, to be joined later by their parents.

Many visitors leave colorful friendship bracelets as a way to remember the innocents who lived such short lives and died such brutal deaths. Photos taken in December 2016.

The Killing Fields

Visiting the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek is a very somber experience. More than 8,000 people were bludgeoned to death here, their bodies left to fall into mass graves dug by the prisoners themselves.

The Khmer Rouge regime didn't want to waste any precious ammunition on their murderous deeds, instead they beat victims with the butts of their rifles or other blunt objects until they fell into the pits. Many victims didn't die right away, but languished until they finally succumbed.

Skeletal remains from the mass graves have been removed from the pits and laid to rest either in Stupas or other sacred sites. However, bone fragments still sometimes surface, therefore, visitors are reminded not to walk on the pits, but use the wooden walkways.

The term Killing Fields was coined by Cambodian photojournalist, Dith Pran. Such fields could be found all over Cambodia during the Khmer Rouge's reign, but this one in Choeung Ek just outside Phnom Penh is the largest. Photos taken in December 2016.

Buddhist Stupa

It was a beautiful day when I ventured out to the site of the Killing Fields in Choeung Ek, just outside of Phnom Penh. I'll show you more of this memorial next week. Until then, more beautiful skies can be found at Skywatch. Photo taken in December 2016.

Down the path

Welcome to Cambodia! It's a land of beauty and wonderfully friendly and open people. However, the country does have a dark past with both French colonial rule and the Khmer Rouge regime. This beautiful path is found in the memorial gardens of Choeung Ek, the largest of the many Killing Fields found around Cambodia. We will look back at Cambodia's dark past more this week. Photo taken in December 2016.