Choeung Ek Killing Fields

No, we are not talking another detention center, or work camp. They didn’t even have the comparable humanity of Lenin to relegate the educated and upper class to jobs that wasted their training and talent: they instead opted for a grand finale: The Killing Fields. Where adults and children, even babies, were murdered in a myriad of almost unthinkably horrible ways.

There are informative english speaking guides who tell the grave and emotional tale of the site; too emotionally heavy to be explained here, it must be seen (and felt) for oneself. The museum acts as an interpretive center, explaining the significance of the site as well as interesting information on how ramifications of the The Killing Fields are best dealt with on a global and national level.

Decades later, the United Nations set up a formal international court to try the people who were instrumental in the unfortunate success that was The Killing Fields. For the first time the world had access to the testimony of the few surviving as well as the men of trial. At the time of this writing, not all of the accused have been tried.

It is a $2 dollar entrance fee and around $8 to $10 (roundtrip), 30-minute tuk tuk ride out of town. Talk ‘em down from this price if you can. There are refreshment stands and a handicraft shop inside the grounds. Before the gruesome glass tower of skulls and bones there is a stand to purchase flowers or incense before taking your shoes off to reverently give a moment of silence to or contemplation of the dead.