A lot of people can associate Cambodia with Angkor Wat, but not too many foreigners know the capital of Cambodia is called Phnom Penh, perhaps because the name is not easy to pronounce or to remember.

Like most of the group tour itineraries, the two most popular points of interest in this capital city are the Royal Palace Complex and the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. The Palace Complex consists of a few elegantly designed buildings including the Silver Pagoda. But on the contrary, Tuol Sleng, with the word genocide in the name, is a very depressing museum. I've been to the concentration camp in Germany and Poland (actually each of them twice), but I found this one even more depressing, just to think that those victims were all brutally tortured and executed by their own people. When I visited those concentration camps in Europe, I re-learned the history through the photos and narration. But when I listened to what happened in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, the effect was more striking. I was facing the local guide who was biting his lips, trying to hold back the tears when he told us in an emotional voice how he lost his father, brother and sister in less than one week, during the 4-year "Killing Fields" era among the other 2 million Cambodian people, which was a quarter of the population of the whole country at that time. The guide also said that during those days, there was no communication among friends. They could not trust or talk to anyone, for everyone could be tortured to give out names, whom they knew were well educated, whom they knew had special skills, etc. Some children were killed because they were witnesses when their parents were killed, and might grow up to take revenge.

(All rights reserved)

Note: If you were born after the 80s, or have no idea what Killing Fields in Cambodia means, or have not seen the famous movie about it, please search in:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killing_Fields