Today was a very productive day blogging wise. I went to the Lazy Gecko cafe close to my guesthouse, and sat there for close to four hours. They offer free wi-fi to their customers (as long as the bill exceeds $3). This was the third time in 2 days that I was going there, and the staff had become quite friendly with me. One of them even asked me if he could login to skype from my netbook, to which I happily obliged. Highly recommended place. Also, for a change, their menu is written in perfect English.

There was a couchsurfer called Rudie who had invited any travellers in town to hang out at OK guesthouse where he was staying, and I thought I’d go say hello to him. So I rented a motorbike taxi and set off with nothing but the name of his guesthouse. I hadn’t been able to find a map of the city yet, so I really had no idea where to go. I thought I’d just ask people along the way, but as you’d expect, nobody understood me. Whoever I asked either gave me a blank expression or a broad smile, but no real help.

At long last I found an English speaking student who had no idea where OK guesthouse was, but he taught me how to say “where OK guesthouse?” in Khmer. To me it sounded something similar to “nateeney patheysamne OK?”. I repeated my newly learnt Khmer sentence several times until I thought I had it right. But when I put it to use, the results were worse. The blank expressions only turned blanker, and the broad smiles only turned broader. So I gave up and stuck to English.

The Independence monument

Finally, after a frustrating 20 minutes of riding around aimlessly, I met a tuk-tuk driver who not only spoke decent English, but also knew the exact location of the guesthouse. So I met with Rudie, chatted with him for a bit, and then headed off to find the Tuol Sleng genocide museum (also known as S-21).

Tuol Sleng used to be a school once upon a time. Later, under the Khmer Rouge regime, it was converted into a prison, and today it is a museum. Apart from cleaning and minor restoration work, it is kept in the same state as it was found on the day the school was liberated. A long time ago, during one of my wikipedia-binge-reading episodes, I had read extensively about atrocities committed by the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot. At that time, I had no clue whatsoever, that one day I’d actually get to see the places I was reading about.

Once a school, then a prison, now a museum

That sign probably prohibits laughing

Barbed wire used to prevent prisoners from attempting suicide by jumping out

One of the hundreds of narrow cells

I was keenly interested in waterboarding, a torture technique employed by the prison guards in Tuol Sleng. When reading about how it is executed, it seems harmless enough. But in reality, it is considered as one of the most cruel torture techniques ever devised. It can apparently cause permanent brain damage or death in a matter of minutes. The board that was used to inflict this torture is still preserved in Tuol Sleng.

An artist's illustration of waterboarding

The waterboard

The experience at Tuol Sleng was quite depressing, but in my opinion, it is also very important for everyone to go to such places where unspeakable human rights violations have been committed. No other species subjects other members of its species to so much suffering as human beings sometimes do. Going to these places serves as a reminder of what we are capable of, and how important it is for us to ensure that horrific things like this are never repeated.

From Tuol Sleng, I went to an internet centre where a totally unexpected thing happened. The guy sitting next to me was talking to his folks back home, and he was telling them what an awesome time he had had shooting an AK-47 in Phnom Penh. I was like, “What?!!! You can shoot an AK-47 here?”. I googled for it immediately, and sure enough, it was a popular thing for tourists to do! Once the guy had finished his call, I asked him all the details; and decided that I would do it before leaving Phnom Penh. After all, where else on earth would a simpleton like me get to touch an AK-47, let alone fire it?