Cambodia — Day 4: War Museum, Siem Reap, Cambodia — part 1 of 2

A sobering experience

September 2015

The tour’s last stop was an optional visit to the local War Museum. The visit turned out to be a sobering experience.

The Cambodian Civil War ran from 11 March 1967–17 April 1975 (see Wikipedia) and resulted in a victory for the Khmer Rouge (June 1951 — March 1999; see Wikipedia), which led to the Cambodian–Vietnamese War (21 December 1978–26 September 1989; see Wikipedia). The War Museum seemed to focus mainly on the Cambodian–Vietnamese War.

I arrived at the museum at 11:10 am for a 40-minute tour. I had no idea what to expect, and what I experienced was sobering, harrowing, depressing and … well, words cannot describe it.

My guide had been in the army for nine years in the 1980s, and I knew it would be an interesting tour when he told me that he had died ten times while serving, as he put it, in surprisingly good English, more times than a cat.

During his nine-year army career, he had been shot three times, badly burnt once, blown up by a grenade, and lost a leg and sight in both eyes due to a landmine. Thanks to an operation, he regained eyesight in one eye a few years later. His family had been killed by the Khmer Rouge in the killing fields when he was 8. The man had a tough childhood and life.

What shocked me was that he was two years younger than me. He looked a lot older. But, I guess being…