Khmer Rouge Tribunal & Takeo Overnight

Yesterday, January 10, we woke up back here in Phnom Penh. All of us were exhausted and sun burnt and really wanted to climb back into our beds and bask in the gloriousness that is air conditioning. However, we all pushed through, and after a rushed breakfast, we went to the Extraordinary Chambers of the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), where one of the Khmer Rouge leaders is on trial. Not all of us were able to get in because it was obvious they were not 18 years of age, but most of us were able to pass and we sat in the court and watched the trial. Nuon Chea, the man on trial, talked in circles, doing his best not to answer any questions. Although he was called Brother Number Two and was the most important Khmer Rouge leader next to Pol Pot (who is called Brother Number One), Nuon Chea denied being in the pictures shown as evidence, and also used his health and memory as an excuse to not answer questions. I honestly felt it was a bit ridiculous that this man was able to act the way he did in court and in some way be able to get away with everything. I felt a bit disturbed that there was really no justice. After about three hours of this, we left and returned to the city to quickly get on a bus to Takeo.

The bus ride was cramped, hot, and a little uncomfortable, but with some perseverance we pushed through the loud, cheesy Khmer music videos and arrived in the little village. Free from the bus, we took a quick walk over to Master Sok Duch’s house, where we were to do our home stay for the night. Tired as we were, we all circled up to watch Sok Duch and his students practice their instruments. As we listened, we began to relax, but that all went away when suddenly my chair decided to break and I fell straight through! Typical Lilly. After everybody had their laugh, we regained our composure and focused on the music once more. At the end of our private performance, we got to spend some quality time with the students and told them a bit about good ol’ Prescott. After a while, we said our goodbyes and headed down the street for dinner.

Dinner was rather fun. We all sat outside with the bugs, and because we had no menus, Dyer had the great honor of ordering for us. We all reverted our favorite noodles, but wonderful Mr. Dyer just had to get everybody’s favorite fish soup, which is called Prahok. Yuck! As soon as that bowl came towards the table half of us didn’t even wait for the stench to reach our noses. We booked it out of there and left Dyer to his soup. One by one, everybody else came out to the front of the restaurant, unable to deal with the smell. Adam realized it was a perfect time to get back at Dyer, and he somehow managed to put some of the rank soup into that red hair. It was only fair, I mean Dyer did do it to him last week. It was all out of love, of course!

Soon after, we headed back to Master Sok Duch’s house. The twelve of us all shared a room, and we quickly got under our mosquito nets. We talked and goofed around for a bit, like teenagers do, but before you knew it, we were all fast asleep! It was a good ending to a very interesting and eventful day.

~Lilly N.