Wednesday 19th October 2022
In the morning we went to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, an old school that was converted to an infamous prison during the Khmer Rouge terror reign.
We debated whether to get the audio guides (an additional $5 per person) but I’m very glad we did. It wasn’t easy listening, but the museum would have had nowhere near the same impact on me without the accompanying commentary. I found the most poignant part was hearing from the brother of Kerry Hamill, a New Zealander who accidentally sailed into Cambodian waters whilst travelling and was captured, tortured, and killed by the Khmer Rouge. The brother’s testimony was heartbreaking to listen to, and will remain with me – just one of so many tragic stories from this dark time.
It took us a few hours to walk around the museum – it was much bigger than I expected, with three large buildings. By this time it was lunchtime, so with somber moods we headed to Kengkong Restaurant, a nearby restaurant. We shared some pork fried rice and morning glory with minced pork. Like most of the food we’ve had in Cambodia, it was delicious, with the morning glory exceptionally good.
After lunch, we got a tuk tuk to the Killing Fields using the Pass app. We’ve found this so useful during our time here, and the rates are much cheaper than hailing a tuk tuk from the street.
Disappointingly, there were no audio guides available, and I found because of this, the Killing Fields did not have the same emotional impact as the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The grounds are beautiful to walk around, it’s so hard to believe the atrocities that took place here.
We again used the Pass app to get a tuk tuk back into town, and got dropped off by the riverside where we had a couple of pre-dinner drinks. We then walked past the night market – much more lively that when we were there yesterday (as it was later in the evening)
We cheated a bit for dinner and went to the Amazing Happy Pizza Pub Restaurant for dinner. They do both western and Khmer food. The pizzas were actually pretty good! Much better than the Khmer dish of yellow noodles with pork that we also shared, which was a bit disappointing.
On the walk back to our hotel, we passed a cool looking building with bright flashing lights. No idea what it was (most probably a hotel), but it looked pretty so I took a photo.
Emma and Pete’s Asian Adventure 