Phnom Penh

The main reason for our visit to Phnom Penh was to learn about Cambodia’s recent past. Our hotel was situated on the banks of the Tonlé Sap River which offered spectacular panoramic views. They were in stark contrast to some of the sights we would encounter during our stay here.

The killing fields at Cheung Ek, some 15 kilometres south-west of the capital Phnom Penh, was where the Khmer Rouge regime under the leadership of Pol Pot executed around 17,000 men, women and children, even babies, between 1975 and 1979.

Some of the skulls on display at Choeung Ek.

Mass graves containing 8,895 bodies were discovered at Choeung Ek after the fall of the Khmer Rouge regime with many more graves yet to be exhumed. Many of the dead were former inmates of Tuol Sleng prison, a former high school, better known as Security Prison 21 or simply S-21.

On arrival at S-21 prisoners were photographed and required to give detailed autobiographies before being interrogated and tortured into confessing whatever crimes they were charged with by their captors.

Portraits of S-21 victims.

Of the estimated 17,000 people imprisoned at S-21 there were only seven known survivors.

A visit to Cheung Ek and S-21 is, as you would imagine, a distressing and upsetting experience but a worthwhile one in understanding Cambodia’s past.