Phnom Penh is a charming city, not a huge metropolis like Bangkok. This means there are significantly fewer sights, and sightseeing is dominated by horrific genocide the Cambodian people endured in the 1970s under Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge regime.
There are two sites relating to the genocide: Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (a former school coverted to a prison/torture site by the Khmer Rouge) and the Choeung Ek Killing Fields (a site of brutal execution and mass burial). They are both pretty heavy going but they are a respectful and necessary way of teaching about the past.
We did the genocide museum first as it wasn’t a very far walk from our accommodation. We later thought that doing them in this order was better as it would have been the route the prisoners would have taken. The museum is $3 in. They offer a guide for another $3 which we took but turned out to be a massive waste of money as there was very little inside and nothing that you didn’t see/read elsewhere in the museum.
Once inside everyone is respectful and quiet as they amble round. You can see former torture rooms and prisoner cells and read accounts and documents from the prison camp. It was pretty dark to think we were standing in rooms where people had been tortured to death, almost exclusively for no reason at all. There is a small memorial stupa at the end with a collection of skulls and bones from the deceased. No one stops you taking pictures of them but I thought it was in bad taste to do so.
The second memorial site is Choeung Ek, the ‘Killing Fields’, which is a former site of mass executions and burials. Its strange because the site of such former horrific crimes is now a beautifully serene place where birds sing and hundreds of butterflies flit around the grassy mounds. It’s not until you walk around and see fragments of bone and teeth coming up from the earth that you get a grasp on what the place was previously.
Entry to the site comes with an excellent audio guide which describes the harrowing events that took place there, alongside stories from survivors of the genocide. It’s quite a tough listen at times, especially when coming to a tree where the used to kill children against it, but it’s something everyone visiting Cambodia should hear. The people there suffered untold suffering and a shameful lack of help from the international community. Hopefully they can soon overcome this tragedy and rebuild a strong nation which the people deserve.
The final stop at Choeung Ek was the memorial stupa: A large towering stupa, again filled with the skulls and remains of the dead. Again I was happy to picture the outside but left the remains inside in peace.
The story of the Cambodian people is such a moving one but we were grateful to hear it. I was quite ashamed that the western world and UN made no attempt to intervene in this tragic situation. I hope the Cambodian people continue their recovery and positive attitude and can prosper in the future.