The Tragedy of the Killing Fields

Among the most important things to do when visiting another country is learning about their history. Cambodia's history is pretty famous for the Genocide Era that occurred during the Khmer Rouge's reign.

Stupa containing the excavated bones arranged in levels

 What started as a small guerilla movement in 1970 turned into a massive army of around 700,000 men by 1975 under the leadership of Pol Pot. The Khmer Rouge brought about the civil war in Cambodia resulting to the death of almost 156,000 people with most of them being civilians. This movement believed in reconstructing Cambodia into a communist model of Mao's China by forcing populations of the country into laborers in a single federation of collective farms. And anyone who opposes and all those who were intellectuals or considered as educated were executed in killing fields scattered all over the country.

The Killing Tree - against which executioners beat children

The Magic Tree - where a speaker was hung to drown/mask the noise of the killings

So, naturally, a day was dedicated to learning more about this bloody history by visiting the most famous and one of the largest killing fields ever made in Cambodia, the Choeung Ek Genocidal Center. Located 15-20 minutes from the city center of Phnom Penh, this was the site where prisoners from S-21 were killed, usually bludgeoned to death. Its mass graves contained around <9000 and="" bodies="" children.="" men="" of="" p="" women="">

Choeung Ek Mass Graves

We started our day early to avoid heavy traffic because of some road constructions going on. By riding a tuktuk, worth 14 USD for 4 pax, we were already at the killing fields at around 7am even before it opened. We ate a hearty breakfast at one of the carinderias there for around 2 USD/pax.

Cambodian Tapsilog

Then we availed of the audio tour for 6 USD/pax. If you don't want to shell some bucks, you could just go around the center with a handy dandy pamphlet, or you could bring your own handbook guide. But I suggest you avail the audio tour since it is relatively cheap, and to really have a feel of the killing fields because you can actually hear some of the testimonies of the survivors, their stories, and songs composed inspired by this bloody history of Cambodia. I had goosebumps during the whole audio tour! It started as just meaninglessly looking at large dug holes in a field, and then later while hearing the audio tour, turning out to be the mass graves, would definitely give you the creeps all over!

Choeung Ek Genocidal Center Audio Tour

At the end of the audio tour, you may visit the museum to look at some of the preserved artifacts, as well as watch a short clip summarizing the history of the genocide era of Cambodia. The site is open from 7.30 am to 5.30 pm. Suggested time of stay is around 2 hours.