On Monday we woke up and got ready to leave the hotel. We boarded a van to visit the Anlong Veng district. In the northern most tip of Cambodia. It is the province bordering Thailand, and is within the base of the Dangrek Mountains.
Our bus driver was a bit of a jerk, but slightly hilarious nonetheless. He sped all the way to Anlong Veng district, going almost 90 miles an hour (apparently he was used to these roads), when the professor finally asked him to slow down he mocked us by going 2 mph when approaching potholes. What a guy.
When we arrived in the city of Anlong Veng, Professor Path told us that this area was 99% Khmer Rouge cadre and their families. Only recently have victims of the regime come in from other areas of Cambodia to buy land and start businesses. (In fact now, survivors occupy most of the economy and businesses in Anlong Veng).
Our first stop was for coffee, where all of the waitresses greeted us and smiled at us, they appeared to be either Vietnamese or Thai. Once we left the cafe, we went to visit the governor of the province (who is an ex Khmer Rouge general himself). He was a bit older, and incredibly guarded with us as a group of foreigners.
**NOTE: Khmer people in this area are incredibly hostile and paranoid about foreign involvement in Anlong Veng due to the continuation of the ECCC trials against the Khmer Rouge cadre. Many, if not MOST of the men living in Anlong Veng were high up Generals of the Khmer Rouge. and were very trusted by Pol Pot and Ta Mok (Khmer Rouge army general). The leaders of the Regime met here and in the mountains, since it was an amazing place to hide, and close enough to flee to Thailand if necessary. Anglong Veng was THE LAST STRONGHOLD of the Khmer Rouge, it only finally fell to government control in 1998. As you can imagine, the Khmer Rouge mindset has not left.
So now, people in Anlong Veng are wary and angry at outsiders, especially non Khmer people. They fear that their families may be tried by the ECCC and brought to justice.
So as we traveled further into the district we were met with more disdain and angry facial expressions, apparent looks of suspicion and distrust.
Most interestingly, we tried to visit Pol Pot’s grave, a small plot in the middle of the field. Nothing to see much besides a marker of one of the cruelest Communist dictators that ever lived.
When our van pulled up, a motorbike with a young man followed us into the small dirt driveway. He looked visibly pissed off, with a large bloated, red tumor like wound on the left side of his face, making his left eye bulge in a rather scary way. He informed us that we would have to pay 2 dollars to walk to the grave, less than a hundred feet away. It was guarded by a piece of string.
Our professor informed him, in Khmer, that he refused to pay to see Pol Pot’s grave, as a survivor of the genocide himself. Why was this man charging to see Pol Pot’s grave? This was far from a historical site.
The woman’s mother came out, and also said we must pay (obviously they were just trying to make side money from tourists), and our Professor said we must be given a reciept. Of course they could not produce one, as they were in no way associated with the government (as they said they were). The boy on the bike got increasingly angry, and went to get his father from their hut.
The father looked like a haunted old Khmer general, pulled out his cigarettes with disdain and refused to look at us ‘foreigners.’ He told us in Khmer to get back in the car and leave this place.
His son then mumbled under his breath in Khmer, that ‘I would like to shoot these people.’
Obviously, we then promptly got in the car and left.
All of us, especially the professor, were a bit shaken by the experience and left the area.
We then visited Ta Mok, an old Khmer Rouge general’s old home. We met a bunch of Khmer Rouge children, who were very sweet, but when asked about the regime claimed they had been told nothing, and no nothing. Very typical of Angkar’s teaching during the regime. “Speak nothing, See nothing. Hear nothing.”
They all worked at the casino nearby, they were 17, had no education, and did not know what to expect beyond working at the casino for less than 100 US dollars a month. Despite this, they were kind and excited to see strange looking Americans.
Lastly, we visited the countryside and interviewed an ex Khmer Rouge cadre, who had been enlisted in Anlong District when he was 20. He was later imprisoned by the Rouge when they discovered his father was a school principal. An intellectual; in the words of the Khmer Rouge, ‘he was of bad trend.’ He had a lot to tell us about the starvation and labor, as well as the arranged marriages. We could see that he was still very much affected by the brainwashing of the Khmer Rouge, and their insistince on tradition and obedience to Angkar.
Overall, Monday was one of our most exciting and interesting experiences in Cambodia yet.
