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Photo: Timgray200, CC BY-SA 3.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This is where the Khmer Rouge killed many thousands of their victims during their four-year reign of terror. Today the site is marked by a Buddhist stupa packed full of over 8,000 human skulls. The sides are made of glass so the visitors can see them up close. There are also pits in the area where mass graves were unearthed. However, there is not much to see otherwise since all buildings and materials were removed shortly after the Khmer Rouge dictatorship. Regularly throughout the day, a small museum screens a documentary with gruesome video images of human remains that were unearthed when the mass graves were found in 1979. As millions were killed during the traumatic genocidal regime of Pol Pot and his Khmer Rouge, as a sign of respect, wear respectable clothing such as long pants and no sleeveless shirts or tops. Flowers and incense can be bought in front of the stupa. In 2005 the memorial site was sold to a for-profit private company, JC Royal Co., to develop the memorial.
A tuk-tuk from the center to the site costs about US$7 one way. A tour bus to the site that also stops at the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum will cost US$16 or US$28 for 2 people.
Choeung Ek is a site in Dangkao on the outskirts of Phnom Penh, capital of Cambodia, that was used as a Killing Field between 1977 and 1979 by the Khmer Rouge to perpetrate the Cambodian genocide.
© OpenStreetMap contributors
A school converted into Cambodia's most important prison in 1975. More than 14,000 people were tortured here before being killed at the killing fields; only 8 prisoners made it out alive. The museum is easily accessible and a must-see for everyone interested in Cambodia's horrific history. The beautiful courtyard with palm trees makes for an unsettling contrast with the horrors remembered in the museum: concrete cells, skulls stacked in cabinets, implements of torture and disturbing photographs of people dying. For an introduction and further reading, try David Chandler's Voices from S-21 (ISBN 0520222474). Documentary movie S-21 can be purchased in Phnom Penh for US$1.50-2. There is also a short movie screening featuring some survivors that plays at 09:30 upstairs in the far building. An audio tour (available in several languages) is enough to understand the place and lets you go at your own pace. Plan to spend about three hours at the museum if you do the audio tour. There are survivors of the camp who sell their memoirs on site. Across from the museum (No 54 & 56, St 113, is a little shop called CHA (http://www3.online.com.kh/users/wthanchashop) that sells inexpensive handmade goods that are made by women disabled from polio and land mines. If you ask, you will also be able to tour the shop, meet the female workers and see where they study English.
Built in the 1960s for the Asian Games that never happened, this interesting complex in the Modern-style has been sold off to the Taiwanese, in a murky deal by the Cambodian government. The new owners have renovated it and it has begun to be used once again as a venue. However in the evenings a walk around the top perimeter is worthwhile: you can see hundreds attending exercise and dance classes, and get a view of the abandoned track below. There is also an Olympic-size swimming pool and diving pool with a 10-m platform open to the public opposite the main building, across the track.
Impressive Buddhist-style Independence Memorial, commemorating the departure of the French in 1953, dominates the centre of the city. Nearby is the Stalin-style Liberation Memorial, marking the Vietnamese capture of the city in 1979. The area is especially popular on weekend nights with locals when multi-coloured fountains are activated and communal music is played.
The only casino in Phnom Penh.
Historically, the wat was favoured by royalty. In the 1930s, it housed a charming young novice named Saloth Sar, who "never caused anyone any trouble, never started fights - a lovely child". Later in life, he changed his name to Pol Pot.
The King of Cambodia still lives here, but much of the palace is open to the public. The manicured gardens are nearly as dazzling as the colorful glass tiles of the palace roof. The two magnificent pagodas in the Palace Grounds, the Silver Pagoda and the Temple of the Emerald Buddha, are among the few public buildings in Phnom Penh really worth seeing. They were built in the 19th century with French technology and Cambodian design, and have survived the traumas of the 20th century amazingly well. See them early in the day before it gets too hot. No photography is allowed inside the Silver Pagoda and some of the palace buildings. You're expected to dress decently (no bare legs or shoulders, and no scarves or shawls) - make sure you dress accordingly, because they'll happily sell you a ticket before informing you that your attire is inappropriate. Shorts that cover your knees are okay. The palace complex has a structured, formal, organised, and harmonious layout with a clear and specific architectural style. There are no information panels, so a guide hired at the gate (US$10) can give you a good explanation of the history of the palace and of the Cambodian monarchy.