Taking a Phnom Penh Killing Fields tour is an emotional sledgehammer. The experience feels like you are walking within a nightmare only to discover that it is a gruesome reality. A haunting and thought-provoking encounter that stays on your mind long after your visit.
Cambodia has had a complicated and tragic history, a trip to the Killing Fields and S21 Prison will shed light on the events that led to the mass genocide of the Cambodian people under Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge.
Around two million people, a quarter of the Cambodian population lost their lives between the years of 1975 and 1979. When you visit these memorials, you will hear the stories and walk in the footsteps of the men, women and children who were tortured, murdered, and buried within the grounds.
A Phnom Penh Killing Fields tour takes you on a journey into Cambodia’s past, a history lesson that will hopefully teach us to never let it happen again.
Getting to the Killing Fields and S21 Prison
There are a variety of ways to get to the Killing Fields and S21 Prison in Phnom Penh Cambodia. You have the choice of taking a multi-day Wendy Wu all-inclusive tour of Cambodia, picking a day trip from Phnom Penh, or visiting the sites independently.
Wendy Wu Tours to the Killing Fields and S21 Prison
Wendy Wu Tours have a fabulous range of all-inclusive Cambodia and combined Vietnam and Cambodia tours and cruises. One of the most popular is the Mekong Delta cruise tour which begins in Saigon (Ho Chi Minh City) Vietnam and visits the Killing Fields in Phnom Penh and the spectacular temples of Angkor Wat at Siem Reap Cambodia.
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S21 and Killing Fields Half Day Tour From Phnom Penh
We chose to take the half day Killing Fields and S21 Prison tour, and we can highly recommend it. Our tour guide gave us a good insight into the events that took place on the grounds of the killing fields and within S21 prison.
Click here for the Half Day Killing Fields Tour
S21 and Killing Fields Full Day Tour From Phnom Penh
The full day Phnom Penh tour combines a trip to the Killing Fields and S21 Prison with a wide range of local Phnom Penh attractions. Places visited include the Royal Palace, the Independence Monument, Silver Pagoda and much more.
Click here for the full day Phnom Penh Attractions & Killing Fields tour
Visiting Cambodia Killing Fields Independently
If you want to explore the Killing Fields and S21 Prison independently you will find audio guides for rent at the entrance to both memorials.
Keep in mind that the Choeung EK Genocidal Center (the Killing Fields) are a 15-minute drive from the centre of Phnom Penh, and you may have difficulty finding a return ride back to the city.
Although confronting, I honestly believe the Killing Fields Phnom Penh should be seen by everyone. To get an idea of the true extent of this tragedy it is important to note that this is just one of the hundreds of killing fields Cambodia wide.
The Killing Fields – Choeung EK Genocidal Center
The Phnom Penh Killing Fields are a 15-minute drive from the centre of Phnom Penh. It is a pleasant drive out of the city with views overlooking farmlands growing an array of fresh produce.
When you arrive, you will find a peaceful rural setting. The first hint of anything sinister is the sign at the entrance, Choeung EK Genocidal Center, or the Killing Fields as they are more widely known.
The Memorial Stupa
From a distance you cannot help but admire the architecture of this towering Buddhist Stupa. It is not until you get closer that you notice the skulls stacked along its glass walls, stretching high into the roof of the stupa. These are the skulls and bones of 9,000 people that were found within the mass graves that surround the complex.
The Killing Tree
At first glance you could imagine you have entered an enchanted forest. Standing tall is a tree trunk covered in colourful beaded and braided bangles. At its base sit a collection of teddy bears and toys.
Instead, the tree was used as an instrument of death and terror when executioners employed it to shatter children’s skulls. A pink Barbie hairclip reminds us of a childhood that never got to be lived, and the bangles and toys pay tribute to the children killed and buried here.
Transportation from S21 Prison to the Phnom Penh Killing Fields
For secrecy, the prisoners from S21 Prison were transported to the killing fields during the night. The executions were kept as quiet as possible without the use of guns. The victims were killed by primitive means, using anything at hand such as hatchets, shovels and hoes or being pushed into the sharp branches of a tree.
At its peak around 300 executions were performed each day with an estimated total of 20,000 people killed and buried within the grounds. Today as you walk around the fields you will still find fragments of bone and clothing protruding from the soil.
As you walk around the Choeung EK Genocidal Center you will hear many more sickening stories, and we leave them for the Phnom Penh Killing Fields Tour guides to tell.
S21 Prison Phnom Penh – Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum
After a trip to the Killing Fields, most people will head back into Phnom Penh to visit the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum or the S21 Security Prison as it is also known.
The museum is the memorial site of the S21 interrogation & detention centre, a former secondary school used by the Khmer Rouge regime under Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979.
If the Killing Fields were not enough this Phnom Penh genocide museum is even more disturbing, putting a human face on this tragic period of Cambodian history. Of the estimated 20,000 people who entered the S21 prison only 12 survived.
The Prison Cells
When S21 Security Prison was liberated, they were greeted with a foul stench coming from inside the building. When they entered the larger cells the bodies of the tortured victims were found shackled to their beds. Photographs were taken of their decomposing bodies, and they are displayed on the wall of the cells.
As you explore the prison you will find that the cells become progressively smaller with some only being a metre wide. These cramped cells could hold up to four people and often had no window for ventilation or light.
Museum Photographs
One of the most disturbing and heartbreaking aspects of the prison were the walls of photos on display. Most of the photos were taken while the prisoners were alive, but there are some which were taken after death as a warning to other inmates.
Of all the photos two stand out in my mind. An image of a mother with a baby on her lap, her face glaring at the camera with a look of defiance and resignation to her fate. The other was of a teenage boy with a thick chain around his neck. He looked exhausted and the black circles under his eyes told a story of past beatings and torture.
The Prisoners
Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge promoted an agriculturally based society, splitting families and forcing their children to work in farming communities across the country.
Intellectuals such as teachers, lawyers and doctors were considered a threat to their ideology and were arrested as CIA spy’s and became political prisoners.
Wearing glasses or speaking a foreign language were also grounds for arrest which meant most prison inmates were innocent of any crime.
Survivors Stories
Of the 20,000 people who entered the S21 prison only 12 survived. At the time of our visit only two survivors remained, both being in their 90’s.
Through a translator we heard their stories. Both experienced appalling conditions often eating cockroaches and rats to survive. Licking excrement off the floor and being “ridden” up the stairs were just two of the punishments inflicted by the prison guards.
Cambodia Travel Tips
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Last Words on the Phnom Penh Killing Fields Tour and S21 Prison
Taking a Phnom Penh Killing Fields tour and S21 Prison is an emotional rollercoaster. We felt anger and disbelief that people could display such cruelty and still call themselves human beings.
We questioned how a regime could impart so much fear and pain on their fellow countrymen. Surely a decent leader would try to make their peoples life better, not treat them like cogs in a machine.
A Phnom Penh Killing Fields tour and S21 Prison is confronting but I do believe it is a place that should be seen. The lives of these men, women and children need to be remembered in hopes that it will never happen again.
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