Cambodia has had a recent tragic history that its population still needs to recover from. Back in 1975 the communist party of Kampuchea formed by the Khmer Rouge took over control of Cambodia.
The regime was led by Pol Pot who set up policies that disregarded human life and forced millions of people to leave the cities and work in the agricultural sector. A lot of people died on the long walks or starved to death due to barely any food being provided to them.
The regime was in charge until 1979 when the Vietnamese captured Phonm Penh, the capital of Cambodia. During these four years, nearly two million people died. Most of them imprisoned, tortured and murdered which led to hundreds of mass graves in Cambodia.
S21- Cambodia’s most famous Prison
S21 used to be a high school in its earlier days, which then was turned into a high security prison by the Khmer Rouge. It was one out of 150 execution centres in Cambodia at the time. The prison is located in Phnom Penh and the number of people who were imprisoned is still unknown.
What is known, however, is that out of the estimated 17000-20000 prisoners only a handful survived. People were tortured on a daily basis, forced to write wrong confessions and give up the name of family members, who would then be imprisoned themselves.
S21 is now a museum, informing visitors as well as locals about the tragic history of the country. It is definitely not an easy place to visit. But necessary to understand what actually happened and to know why Cambodia is the way it is.
As a visitor you will be confronted with pictures of prisoners, torture methods, real human skulls and a lot of history.
It wasn’t allowed to take pictures inside, which is why I can only show you pictures of the buildings itself, but even more of a reason for you to experience it for yourself.
How to get to the S21 Prison and what is the entry fee
The prison is located close to the centre of Phnom Penh and I’m sure it would be possible to walk, depending on where you are staying. However, I would recommend taking a Tuk Tuk. You can get the Tuk Tuk to wait for you outside and it will take you to another place after. If you want to visit the Killing Fields on the same day then you will definitely need a Tuk Tuk, since these are located a couple of kilometres out-of-town.
Entry is $5 without an audio guide and $8 with an audio guide. (I would 100% recommend an audio guide!!) The audio guide is available in a lot of different languages as well.
Tip: Pay in dollars, otherwise the exchange rate will be higher.
Killing Fields in Phnom Penh
The Prison could only hold a limited amount of people, which led to a lot of Killing Fields created by the Khmer Rouge. These are mass graves, where prisoners would be transported to in the middle of the night to be executed. In total, the Khmer Rouge was responsible for around 2 million deaths, out of a population of only 8 million people back then.
The best known of these killing fields would be Choeung Ek, which is located 17 kilometres South of Phnom Penh. It was built into a memorial which can be visited by tourists. In the heart of is a Buddhist Stupa, which is filled with more than 5000 human skulls.
The price is $8 dollars for visitors, including an audio guide. The audio guide is this time absolutely necessary as you make your way around the mass graves and the famous killing tree. Most buildings that used to be there, do not exist anymore, so you need to listen to understand what happened there.
Cambodia today
Still to this day, the population of Cambodia has to recover from this nightmare. Even those people that survived the Khmer Rouge regime, have lost family members and are still traumatised by the events. Thousands of people became refugees and fled their own country. These factors contribute to Cambodia’s poverty these days.
Overall it’s been a very sad day, but also really informational and educational. Even after I had already entered Cambodia I didn’t really know much about its history. This visit to Phnom Penh has definitely changed that.
I believe, learning about the past and present of a country is fundamental for getting to know a culture. It can’t therefore always be beaches and sunshine.
So if you think you can handle it, then I would recommend a visit to both of these places when traveling to Phnom Penh.
10 comments
[…] delved deep into war history. One of the things I was most interested to see in Cambodia was the Killing Fields and the S-21 prison block. The Khmer Rouge used them for torture and genocide. During the period that the Khmer Rouge took […]
I agree with you, to know about a country one must learn about it’s past and present. However, sometimes the past can be horrifying and tragic but it will surely give you a different view of many things in life. I really would love to visit this country. Thanks for sharing.
I’ve heard about the killing fields in Cambodia before but every time I see more pictures or read more accounts of visiting the place, I still feel overwhelmed with emotion. I can only imagine how it felt to visit and stand in a place where so much suffering happened. I agree that it’s so important to learn a history of a country. We cannot turn a blind eye to these atrocities.
Wow! I did not know about this. I can only imagine how hard it is to visit but I agree with you its an important thing to do.
These aresuch sobering sites! I found it really tough when I visited a couple of years ago but I think it’s teally important people don’t forget what happened in Cambodia not so long ago. Thanks for sharing!
Great tips for sticking with dollars. This seems like such an interesting and sad place to visit, but so important.
It’s very interesting to read your post. Most of what I know about Cambodia is with Angkor Wat. Seems like a great way to know about the people of Cambodia today.
What a sad and tragic history. It is important for tourists to visit museums like this in order to fully understand the country.
It’s so horrific and unfathomable that the Khmer Rouge did this. I remember learning a little about it when I was there. Thank you for this thoughtful piece. We should never forget past events like this.
My goodness, it sounds awful. I’ve visited Auschwitz in Poland and I can imagine that this feels similar to a visit there. It’s very eerie to walk around!