27/03/2010 Sobering Sightseeing

27/03/2010 Sobering Sightseeing

Met up with our tuk-tuk driver for a day’s sightseeing although it was a more sobering experience than our recent adventures. After a couple of hours at the National Museum (where most of the Angkor sculpture resides) and a look at the simulation of life in the time of Angkor we headed off to the Killing Fields of Choeung Ek. Choeung Ek which contains 9000 skulls is a monument to the 17,000 men, women and children who were slaughtered here by the Khmer Rouge between 1975 and 1978.

 It is an incredibly sad place but even more so when you learn that this is one of hundreds of similar such killing fields where two million Cambodians lost their lives to the Khmer Rouge for no reason other than they wore glasses or spoke foreign languages. In the end the Khmer Rouge didn’t even use these paltry excuses and were basically murdering anyone who might expose their atrocities including many of the people who had carried out the executions.

We stopped for a quick lunch on the edges of the Russian Market (Psar Tuol Tom Png) which would have been great to explore if we had more time. Then we went back into town to visit the Tuol Sleng Museum – a gruesome account of the detention and torture of thousands of Cambodians. Tuol Sleng – known as Security Prison 21 (S-21) during the reign of the Khmer Rouge was formerly a school whose detainees were mostly sent to Choeung Ek for execution after their detention. There are also mass graves within the school (museum) grounds as the prison itself claimed over 100 victims per day.



That evening we went for an amazing meal at a local restaurant – five star experience without the price tag – the food was excellent, the service superb and it only cost around $30AUD.

Goldiana Hotel, 10 St 282 Phnom Penh ($42 w pool, wifi, air & crap b’fast)

Ph: 023219558