Ribbons tied to a fence in the memory of the fallen.
Disclaimer: Contains graphic depictions of death and brutality, unfortunately, all of which is based on truth. There are pictures and accounts of the genocide perpetrated on the Cambodian people by the despotic rule of the Khmer Rouge, under the administration of the Angkar, with Pol Pot's at the helm
As a doctor, I have seen and touched death. Never has it affected me the way it did when I visited the "killing fields" of Choeung Ek, just outside Phnom Penh, Cambodia. In the memory of the tens of thousands of people who were beaten, shot, bludgeoned, beheaded or otherwise disposed of, stands this silent monument. The sheer scale of human brutality that we experienced, as we walked through the well-worn wooden plank ways, was somewhat nauseating. The fact that man could do this to his fellow human beings, was so unimaginable. In the midst of this serene reminder of a violent past, not so far back in the day, stands the monument housing the skulls of the excavated bodies. The significance of the place rings through the silence which reigns despite the presence of throngs of visitors - each one in a shocked silence, awed, dismayed.
