When we got to Phnom Penh, the capital city of Cambodia, the whole trip was winding to an end. Angkor Wat was the international sensation and we had just checked it off the list during the trip. It was how we traveled back then, in a checking-things-off-of-other-people’s-list kind of way.

Upon arriving at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, I was ready to quickly walk around the once one of 150 torture and execution centers established by the Khmer Rouge, so we could move onto the next site. Yet, the guide started the emotional recounting of what his family and people like his experienced after the fall of Phnom Penh. Half an hour would go by as we stood under the scotching sun. All the while, I was eager to leave and see the exotic and pretty Cambodia that we went to the country for.

Statues-with-Offerings-Wat-Phnom-Temple-Phnom-Penh-Cambodia-Copyright-Jean-Huang-Photography

Even so, two things that the guide shared stayed with me. One, after the Khmer Rouge took over the city, everybody with glasses (i.e., the educated) were rounded up and sent to far away places, supposedly to do labor work. Two, his father was one of those people in glasses. They have not heard from him since and do not even know if he’s still alive.

Looking back, I realized I did not have any photographs from the Genocide Museum. I wish I had listened more closely.

It was ten years ago. I was too young.