Toul Sleng & Choeung Ek

Our first day was spent at Toul Sleng Genocide Museum (prison S-21) and Choeng Ek (Killing Fields). It was depressing, yet fascinating. Toul Sleng is where the Kymer Rouge regime (led by Pol Pot in the late 70's) imprisoned and tortured over 20 000 people, for little reason other than opposing to their political views. They were then taken to Choeng Ek simply to be killed, then dumped in mass graves. We watched a video first, outlining a typical family’s life & experience during the Kymer Rouge period.

The whole scheme was just brutal - the prisoners weren't allowed to look anywhere but straight ahead, they were forbidden to show emotion, and were punished for portraying intellectual ability. They were imprisoned and chained in either single cells or mass cells (where each prisoner was chained together by feet and also to an iron pole). Once taken to the interrogation and torture cells, they were forbidden from crying out, and had a strict set of regulations which basically forced them to give the answers that would result in death. The torture mechanisms were horrific.




At Choeung Ek, there are the remains of mass graves which were discovered in late 1980, and a large area still to be excavated. The memorial stupa contains a 17-storey high glass cabinet with 8985 skulls, and piles of clothes and shoes recovered from some of the victims. It is a chilling experience to see it all and realise that this unbelievable act was carried out by humans, and fairly recently too.


We got dropped off by the Independence Monument in the afternoon, and I wondered via the Royal Palace, down by the riverbank, and through some markets to Wat Phnom. Walking by the river was really nice, although scorching hot.