By Christina Chin
The Star (Malaysia)
Tonlé Sap
I remember reading about Tonlé Sap (meaning “large freshwater river” but more commonly translated as Great Lake) in geography classes many years back. I recall drawing a map of the lake and writing about its importance to the people of Cambodia, but the facts and figures meant nothing to me at the time.
That it was one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, supporting over three million people and providing over 75% of Cambodia’s annual inland fish catch and 60% of the Cambodians’ protein intake were just facts I had to memorise to get through the PMR exam.
Huts and old boats line Tonlé Sap. — Pictures by CHRISTINA CHIN
But sitting in a rickety motorboat as we cruised along South-East Asia’s largest freshwater lake, I felt a bittersweet feeling – sadness overcoming excitement. The blue lake seemed to stretch on forever, into the horizon and beyond, but it broke my heart to see the many rundown shacks that lined the shores.
The irony of it is that the Tonlé Sap is one of the richest fishing zones in the world.
But the locals were hospitable. As we floated past, little boys bobbing along in plastic tubs waved happily. When we came across elderly, sun-kissed fishermen, they gave us toothless grins. Those that I spoke to never once complained about their living conditions. Instead they spoke with pride of their mighty Tonlé Sap and were grateful for the biscuits and sweets we handed out as tokens of appreciation.
It made me realise how spoilt we Malaysians can be sometimes.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
It was late evening by the time I arrived at the gates of Tuol Sleng. Two days before I had visited the temples of Angkor in Siem Reap and left the place dazzled by the richness of Khmer culture. Now here I was at one of the most horrible prisons known to man.
As I entered the genocide museum in Phnom Penh, I expected to feel disgust and anger, for the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime are well documented here. Instead I felt a chill that stayed with me long after I left Cambodia.
Shackles in Tuol Sleng.
The Tuol Sleng Museum was a school that was converted into a detention and torture centre by the Khmer Rouge during their reign of terror. When I read the 10 regulations prisoners were expected to follow, I felt a kind of terror. And as I walked into the classrooms that had been turned into torture chambers, the pictures of those who had lost their lives greeted me in the profound silence, and I wept.
The museum is quite bare except for the skulls, pictures and shackles but it is probably the only museum in the world that can evoke so much emotion in its visitors.
That it was one of the most productive inland fisheries in the world, supporting over three million people and providing over 75% of Cambodia’s annual inland fish catch and 60% of the Cambodians’ protein intake were just facts I had to memorise to get through the PMR exam.
Huts and old boats line Tonlé Sap. — Pictures by CHRISTINA CHINBut sitting in a rickety motorboat as we cruised along South-East Asia’s largest freshwater lake, I felt a bittersweet feeling – sadness overcoming excitement. The blue lake seemed to stretch on forever, into the horizon and beyond, but it broke my heart to see the many rundown shacks that lined the shores.
The irony of it is that the Tonlé Sap is one of the richest fishing zones in the world.
But the locals were hospitable. As we floated past, little boys bobbing along in plastic tubs waved happily. When we came across elderly, sun-kissed fishermen, they gave us toothless grins. Those that I spoke to never once complained about their living conditions. Instead they spoke with pride of their mighty Tonlé Sap and were grateful for the biscuits and sweets we handed out as tokens of appreciation.
It made me realise how spoilt we Malaysians can be sometimes.
Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
It was late evening by the time I arrived at the gates of Tuol Sleng. Two days before I had visited the temples of Angkor in Siem Reap and left the place dazzled by the richness of Khmer culture. Now here I was at one of the most horrible prisons known to man.
As I entered the genocide museum in Phnom Penh, I expected to feel disgust and anger, for the atrocities of the Khmer Rouge regime are well documented here. Instead I felt a chill that stayed with me long after I left Cambodia.
Shackles in Tuol Sleng. The Tuol Sleng Museum was a school that was converted into a detention and torture centre by the Khmer Rouge during their reign of terror. When I read the 10 regulations prisoners were expected to follow, I felt a kind of terror. And as I walked into the classrooms that had been turned into torture chambers, the pictures of those who had lost their lives greeted me in the profound silence, and I wept.
The museum is quite bare except for the skulls, pictures and shackles but it is probably the only museum in the world that can evoke so much emotion in its visitors.
1 comment:
Thank you Christina for visiting our country. We greatly appreciate your time,your thouhgt, your kindness and understnading to our people. It's very little that our very own people or government with money and power would see the same thing as you would have seen or do anything to change it. It's truely one of our National,yet still shameful. My thought and prayer go to you, your family and friends that came to see us.
With all our love,
Ordinary Khmer
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