This museum was on the grounds of a monastery that was cleared of monks during the time of the Khmer Rouge so the regime could bury the dead. When the bones were found and excavated, they were cleaned and put on display for people to see, remember, and keep from happening again. As we passed the well where many were thrown into, Mario said his bit about our family because he was overwhelmed with the freedom we have to travel, speak our minds, and get an education. He and many of his friends and family do not have this freedom. After regaining his composure, he told us how he saw the regime throw knives at children who were hiding in trees to kill them. He also drank from a well similar to the one we were standing next to, only to come back later and see a skull floating in it. His mom would tell him to cover his eyes as they were all scared that they would be next. He told us the Cambodians would say the Khmer Rouge would kill the chicken in front of the monkey to control the monkey. That is how they felt. Scared and controlled by these monsters.
He never completed how the Khmer Rouge ended in his own life story, only that he remembers it getting better when he was 5 or 6 years old. Pol Pot went into hiding and the Khmer Rouge lost power. I asked him if the people were upset that Pol Pot was allowed to live and die of natural causes instead of being put in prison and executed. He said many people still loved him at that time. This, I cannot fathom. I have found many of these dictators of murderous regimes make their people drink the propaganda Kool-Aid to believe their leaders do nothing wrong and they are really helping them. Stalin, Lenin, Mao, Ho Chi Minh, Kim Jun Un, do I dare say Putin? Despite all the horrors and lack of freedom they give their own people, they make the people believe the leaders are doing all these things for the people’s protection, good and pride of country. It makes me sick! I told him I would have had Pol Pot executed.
As we continued on our tour, Mario then told us how he wanted more for his life than rice fields, so he left home and found a monastery to join because they were the ones who had the food. When the monks he was learning from moved to Thailand, he followed. There he learned English and Thai and continued to learn about history. He came back to Siam Reap some time after and studied to become a tour guide. His mother and sister still live where he grew up but his father has since died. It is an all-day ride to get back to his family near the Vietnam border and it cost $20. This is too much money for him to go often, so he sends them money when he can. Covid destroyed the tourism economy which therefore hurt him. Ankor Wat went from having 2000 visitors a day watch the sunrise to only 800 after. He’d leave Cambodia if he could, but the price of a passport is too high…anywhere from $800 to $1000. Most Cambodians, like him, cannot afford a passport. It almost seems like the government doesn’t want any Cambodian to leave the country. Huh. We tourists continued our tour through this poor yet beautiful country.