Touring the Killing Fields with a Survivor

The Uniworld experience ...

Last Christmas, we took a river cruise with Gate1, a budget-oriented tour company. This year, we decided to experience the other extreme.

“Surrounded by the ambiance of an elegant, destination-inspired ship and embraced by our passionate staff, you’ll notice the Uniworld difference immediately.” — Uniworld website

Today, I share our assessment of the Uniworld difference and the most memorable day of our 20-day trip to Vietnam and Cambodia.

Just a few of the skulls on display at the Killing Fields memorial.

Uniworld

On 6 December, we boarded an Emirates flight from Lisbon to Hanoi, vis Dubai. The trip would take more than 18 hours. We flew business class, allowing us to relax in the Emirates Club in Dubai, the largest and most luxurious airline club I have ever visited.¹ When we arrived in Hanoi, the Uniworld driver met us at the airport and took us to the Sofitel Hotel in Hanoi.² We would spend one night here before departing for our 4-day, pre-cruise extension to Ha-Long Bay. 26 other travelers joined us on this portion of the trip. While I enjoyed floating inside a Japanese block print for several days…this portion of the trip was not noteworthy.

Ha Long Bay.

We returned to the Sofitel and were joined by the rest of the tour participants … 51 in total. We were divided into three groups, ensuring intimate tour groups.³ Over the next two days, we toured Hanoi … during a free evening, we dined at a bún chá restaurant made famous by President Obama. We then flew to Siem Reap where we were joined by our Cambodian guide “Nin”.⁴ We spent two days touring the Angkor Wat Temple complex and then boarded the boat that would be our home for the next nine nights.⁵

I have not been on river cruises offered by Viking River or AmaWaterways…but I believe this part of the trip exemplifies the Uniworld difference. First, EVERYTHING IS INCLUDED…drinks, gratuities, etc. Second, within 24 hours of boarding, every staff member called you by your first name. The bartenders and wait staff knew our preferred beverage, including the fact that we wanted the French Sauvignon Blanc. In all, there were 56 staff for 51 passengers. The cabins were large and well-appointed…our complimentary mini-bar was restocked each day.

Nin left us when we crossed into Vietnamese waters, and we continued our river tour for another 5 nights. We disembarked in Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) which we toured over the next two days.

Our standard cabin on the Mekong Jewel. Denise is elevating a toe that got infected during our travels. Fortunately, an Australian GP on the cruise got antibiotics at a local pharmacy.

Please permit me to end this brief Uniworld review by saying it was worth every penny. When we tour the Amazon and the Nile, we look forward to booking with them again.

Now the hard part, and the main subject of this post.

This is Nin. We may be in the room where his parents were tortured or killed.

Touring with a Survivor

You may recall that we visited Terezin this summer. It was a difficult day. Our visit to the S21 and the Killing Fields was more difficult. All of our Cambodian guides were alive between 1975 and 1979 when the Khmer Rouge was in power. Our guide, Nin, was 7 years old. His parents, both school teachers, were the first to be rounded up with the other educated citizens. They were likely sent to a place like S-21, an integration center in a former school. There, they were tortured until they “confessed”. After signing confessions, they were killed.

There were only 8 survivors of S-21. All were severely injured. Two are still alive. We met the man who is second from the left. But brain damage caused by electric shock torture left him unable to speak.

Nin, his sisters, and brothers were scattered to various farms. Only one of his brothers survived. Nin’s job on the farm was collecting eggs. He explained that he survived by occasionally stealing one to eat. He would exclaim his allegiance to the Khmer Rouge and then accept his punishment for “breaking an egg”.

A classroom was turned into a dozen cells.

Tears streamed down his cheeks as he explained that the classrooms were turned into cells. Prisoners were forced to urinate and defecate in an ammunition box. If any soiled the floor, the prisoner was required to clean the floor with his/her tongue.

The children’s tree.

We then drove a few miles outside town and visited a Killing Fields memorial. You walk on low boardwalks noting pieces of bone, teeth, and tattered clothing that peak through the dusty surface. One of our stops along the route was an area designated for burying babies. They were killed by smashing their heads into the tree to the left.

Angkor Wat, the greatness of the Khmer Empire.

Khmer Rouge

Over the previous 5 days, Nin had spoken with great pride about the accomplishments of the Khmer Empire.⁶ It wasn't easy to imagine how his country had devolved to this by 1975. But with a little help from the Communist Chinese Party, the Vietnamese, and the US, Pol Pot came into power.

It was purportedly set up in 1967 as the armed wing of the Communist Party of Kampuchea … Cambodia’s communist movement originated in the Khmer People’s Revolutionary Party, which was formed in 1951 under the auspices of the Viet Minh of Vietnam. The party’s largely French-educated Marxist leaders eventually renamed it the Communist Party of Kampuchea .,.After a right-wing military coup toppled Sihanouk in 1970, [it] began attracting increased support in the Cambodian countryside, a trend that was accelerated by the destructive U.S. bombing campaigns over Cambodia in the early 1970s. By this time the Khmer Rouge were also receiving substantial aid from North Vietnam…— Britannica.com

Pol Pot’s reign killed 2+ million people. It virtually eliminated the educated class from the country … another genocide in my lifetime.

We asked Nin, who was visibly shaken, why he led such tours. He said it was his duty to make people know what occurred in hopes of preventing another genocide. We hugged and cried with Nin that day. I was also struck by a sign that had been posted in the school before it became a prison.

“Not to do any evil. To cultivate good. To purify one’s mind. This is the teaching of the Buddha.”

Viajamos para aprender, pode ser difícil…

Nanc

1. We could have saved money by flying Turkish Airlines via Istanbul, but I had heard great things about Emirates. Yep, they are a great airline.

2. A 5-star hotel with a storied past.

3. We had Vietnamese guides in Vietnam and Cambodian guides in Cambodia. A 17-1 (guest to guide) ratio was maintained.

4. We also stayed in a Sofitel hotel in Siem Reap. At this hotel, we saw guests touring with Viking and AmaWaterways.

5. I’ll discuss Angkor Wat in a future post.

6. In addition to present-day Cambodia, the Empire included portions of Laos, Vietnam, Thailand, and Myanmar.