Cambodia - horrible histories in Phnom Penh

Our time in Cambodia was to be short compared to many countries we had been to so far, with just over 10 days. We decided to fly to Phnom Penh before heading west to Battambang and then onto Siem Reap to check out Ankor Wat.

Touring Phnom Penh

We arrived into PP around mid afternoon after travelling for most of the day from Yangon via Bangkok on Air Asia. Public transport has just come to PP so we were able to jump on a bus for next to nothing ($2) and travel to the riverside where we were staying. 

The riverside area is very touristy with many restaurants and bars, especially lady bars, however, it is a nice place to hand out and we spent both of our evenings there.

Phnom Penh isn't really known for its sites, or really a great atmosphere, as many people use it as a jumping off city to head south to the beaches, west to Siem Reap/Battambang or east to Vietnam. However, there are a few things to go and see, sadly most are the result of one of the worst periods of modern history - The Khmer Rouge.

The very visual impact of the Khmer Rouge

Pol Pots' Khmer Rouge had a significant negative impact on the country and has set it back much more than its Asian neighbors. In fact, Cambodia is one of the poorest counties in the world, the majority of which is down to a 5 year period between 1975 and 1979, where 20% of the population - c. £2 million - were either murdered or died from poor conditions or starvation having been put to work in the fields. The scary part is that all the western world turned a blind eye to the horrors that the Cambodians were experiencing and actually allowed them a seat in the UN until the early 90s!

This horror is summed up by two of Phnom Penh's most known sites - Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum (otherwise known as S-21) and the Choeung Ek (Killing Fields).

Tuol Sleng - S-21

Once a school, S-21 was one of 150 interrogation centres for the Khmer Rouge. Over 17,000 people (estimated as no-one really knows) were kidnapped and taken to the site - only 7 people survived. Most of these were educated people - soldiers, government officials, as well as academics, doctors, teachers, students, factory workers, monks, engineers, etc. Later, the party leadership's paranoia turned on its own ranks and purges throughout the country saw thousands of their own party activists and their families brought to Tuol Sleng and murdered.

A school that bares the scars of the opposite end of life

Some people think it is too horrible to visit, and would prefer not to, but we felt it was important to understand what happened here and to appreciate the hardship Cambodia has gone through in recent history.

The site is now a museum and costs $6 to go in. There is an excellent audio guide (included in price) which takes a good couple of hours to run through. It takes you through the classrooms come interrogation rooms with stories from some of the few survivors. 

Walking the haunting corridors of S-21

Past boards and boards of portrait photographs of those that didn't survive, including a couple of westerners (journalists) that were unfortunate to be captured and inevitably murdered. 

The final room highlighted that this was just ONE of 150 integration centres across Cambodia, hitting you with the unimaginable fact that this took place right across the country. 

Choeung Ek - the Killing Fields

A few km's out of Phnom Phen, and a Tuk Tuk ride away are the killing fields. This is where the majority of the people from S-21 came to the end of their lives following their interrogation and eventual forced confessions  having been so horrifically tortured. Victims included Men, Women and even children, and as a result it is a very painful but moving place.

Mass graves of Choeung Ek

After paying your entrance fee and picking up an audio guide, you are directed around the site from where people were unloaded, stored and then lined up and killed over hand dug pits. In total the remains of 8,985 people were found here, most killed by being hit over the head, as bullets were too expensive. Children, especially babies, were separated form their parents and disgustingly thrown against trees until they died.

The killing tree - young children were thrown against it 

Throughout the site you can see many mass graves, many of which have bone fragments and pieces of clothing on the surface. 

Today's evidence of the horrors washed to the surface by the rain

And if that wasn't enough to hit you hard to the core, then in the centre is a pagoda displaying more than 8,000 skulls and bones, many of which have gruesome injuries indicating how they died whether by hammer, spear, bat - it would have been a horrible way to die.

Realising the scale of death 

What the Khmer Rouge did to Cambodia was horrific, but even though it is deeply harrowing we both thought it was important for us to visit these sites.

The palace

Having had quite a hard going morning on the emotions, to cheer us up, we ended our day at the palace in the centre of the city.

The palace isn't particularly old and therefore doesn't have the detail of many other palaces, but it is very pleasant and well worth a visit if you have time. The two main sites are the throne room and the emerald Buddha, but there are also interesting relics and historical items.

Inside the beautiful palace grounds 

We rounded off the day at the famous Foreign Correspondents Club (FCC) with a cocktail in hand at the roof bar, watching the sun set on Happy Hour! 

Cocktails at the FCC

Afterwards we went to Friends restaurant - nothing to do with Monica or Joey! It was a super place and highly recommended. They specialise in tapas type plates, but many are the size of a full meal. They help train disadvantaged kids so all the profits are going to a great charity. It was some of the most flavoursome food we'd had in a while and all washed down with a glass of wine...what a treat!

Wine at Friends!!!

After a day and a half in Phnom Phen we felt we had seen all that we wanted to see. Phnom Penh isn't just about what happened in the 1970s, and there is a lot more to see and do, however we just didn't have time and so moved on by bus ($4) west to Battambang.