Wat Samrong Knong - Cambodia blog entry #35

Well, here I am, finally winding down telling tales of my trip to Cambodia. It has been fun reliving it and is hard to believe it’s been four months since I was there.

The last pagoda we visited was Wat Samrong Knong in Battambang.

Once again, we walked throughout the grounds of this religious site filled with fascinating buildings and statues, and we weren’t sure what they were all about.

The oldest pagoda in Battambang Province, it was built in 1707 by a monk named Thudong Chey. It was named Samrong because of the many Samrong trees growing around the temple.

Tragically, as at so many other sites in Cambodia, this one was used as a prison during the Khmer Rouge, from 1975 to 1979.

It’s estimated that possibly as many as 10,000 victims were housed here throughout those years. Many were tortured and murdered.

After the collapse of the Khmer Rouge, this pagoda was built to house the bones of those who had been killed here.

After witnessing all the atrocities that took place in Cambodia during the late seventies, and after reading about all the other genocides that have happened throughout history, I can’t comprehend that these horrors continue. And yet they do. And how close to home will the next one hit?