S21 Tuol Sleng Prison

We started the day by heading out to S21 (Security Office 21), as it was known under Pol Pot. It used to be a school called Tuol Sleng, but Pol Pot took it over and turned it into a prison. Pol Pot was a big fan of photographs, so they took pictures of everyone who arrived at S21. Often, they also took photos of the prisoners after they had been tortured—hanging them by their arms until they broke, leaving them battered and bruised. Anything it took to get them to confess they were CIA agents. There were about 4,000 photos on display of the 20,000 prisoners who came to S21, all of whom ended up at the Killing Fields. The photographs showed men, women, small children, and some of the nine foreigners who also died under Pol Pot's regime. There were also images of people with broken bones under their skin from torture, which was carried out by boys aged 14 to 20. Pol Pot found it easier to control young men. But no one was safe. He even had some of his own men killed because he didn’t trust anyone. S21 was run by a former schoolteacher. Pol Pot killed schoolteachers. So this leader of S21 made a choice. He chose to torture others in horrific ways to save his own life... He’s still alive today—behind bars. Prisoners were at S21 for three days before they were taken out to the Killing Fields. The Vietnamese helped liberate the country from Pol Pot. When they arrived at S21, there were only 21 prisoners left in the prison. 14 had died. 7 were still alive, and they were the only ones who ever left S21. They were kept alive because of their skills. One was a photographer and took many of the photos of the prisoners. Another was a painter and painted many portraits, including of Pol Pot. The others were craftsmen. It took six years of daily cleaning before the smell of death and excrement disappeared, and S21 could be opened as a museum. At the entrance to S21, there were several beggars missing legs or disfigured. It was hard to say if it was due to Pol Pot's regime, but they had certainly found a good spot to beg. People were completely shaken after seeing the many atrocities, so the beggars probably made quite a bit of money. Not to be superficial, but we really needed a pick-me-up, so we headed to the Russian Market. We came away with a Burberry bag for $12, 2 Gucci belts for $10, and 2 North Face bags for $7. Plus some Christmas gifts :) We hadn’t had breakfast yet, so by 1 PM, we were feeling a bit worn out. We had to go down to Riverside for lunch before continuing our shopping at Central Market. Lonely Planet says Central Market is expensive, but we found it easier to haggle them down in price than at the Russian Market. We just made it there before closing time. Maybe that helped with their willingness to sell too. That way, they wouldn’t have to haul so much back home again. We definitely left with Adidas and Lacoste t-shirts for $3 each. Our last evening in Phnom Penh was spent...guess where...Riverside. We’ve made a little friend who walks around selling books. She’s always so cheerful and comes over to chat. She never gets upset, even if we don’t buy anything from her. Some others do get annoyed. Her dream is to become an English teacher. She goes to school from 7 to 11, Monday to Saturday. Every day and evening after school and all day Sunday, she walks around Riverside with her friends selling books and postcards to earn money for her family. To support her, we bought a book for way more than it was worth. We paid $5. She was absolutely thrilled.