Death

Today we visited Tuol Sleng prison where the systematic torture of 20'000 Cambodians took place from 1975 -78. The impact is through the simplicity of the how the story is told. Bloodstained floors, shackles, a bit of barb wire. It's pretty much how it was found when the Khmer Rouge fled. This included photos of everyone 'processed' in the former school. Haunting images show children, mothers, fathers and grandparents being registered before their "confessions'' were forced out of them. Images of battered bodies and blood soaked tiled floors confirm their fate.

We both found we had been drawn to the same images - a beautiful child shackled, or a grinning man staring at something away from the camera. You can have no idea what is going through their minds. Most were Khmer Rouge cadres and their families, as paranoia killed off even the longest serving revolutionaries.

We then visited the killing fields where these people were taken to be finished off. A stupa containing 9000 skulls is surrounded by deep pits. As you walk round bones poke out of the earth under your feet.

The more you see, the less you understand with this stuff and about the way such tragedy is dealt with in countries like Cambodia.

Think we need a bottle of wine to aid our theological thought processes.