The Killing Fields

We arrive in the parking lot. A white woman is arguing loudly with a man in what sounds like Portuguese. Nearby, some attractive Scandinavian tourists sit in the shade a makeshift cafe, silently sipping cold sodas.

It costs $2 to see the killing fields, plus $10 for a guide. We opt out of the guard package. Within a hundred meters is a small, elegant, tower-like structure.

We approach it, take off our shoes to mount the steps (Asian-style), and reach the top. Inside the glass doors is a display case full of skulls. A sign reads "VICTIMS OF THE POL POT REGIME."

The skulls are small and plentiful, and there are glass rows stacked upon each other, reaching the ceiling. At the urging of an attendant selling incense, we circumnavigate the tower of skulls within the tower. The bottom layer contains clothing taken from the bodies of the victims.

I buy and light a few sticks of incense, and walk down the steps. The rest of the killing fields is unimpressive: some craters in the ground from which the bodies were exhumed (by the occupying Vietnamese Army in 1980), and a small pavilion with some commentary about the evils of the Khmer Rouge. It is dusty and hot.

Walking around, we see an old broken (head?)stone in the ground, with what looks like Japanese markings. From the Japanese occupation during World War II? A later memorial?

We decide to take a walk around the perimeter of the grounds, which encompass a small marshy pond.

The walk is helpful.