Phnom Penh: Choeung Ek Killing Fields worth visiting?
 

I have read the posts on Phnom Penh. From the web. it looks like there is not much to see in the killing fields other than mass graves and a monument with skulls. Although these are important sights, are they really worth seeing?

Thanks.

RooseveltG.

Only you can answer that. I found Choung Ek extremely evocative, but then it took me a week to recover from visiting Auschwitz. Besides the skulls, and the tree where babies were killed, bones looming whitely through the ground was the most arresting sight for me.

Personally I found Choung Ek coupled with a trip to Tuol Sleng incarceration centre very interesting. I could not say I enjoyed either but they helped me to understand something of the horror of living under the Khmer Rouge.

However, it is ultimately your decision. I remember a post here from several months ago in which the author felt that the site would be too upsetting for them so they passed. Is it upsetting? Maybe, we are all unique individuals with different sensibilities.

I suspect, if you have to ask this question, then probably the answer, for you - is no.

I found it one of most evocative sights in S.E. Asia - very moving - but that's me. IMHO if you are in any way serious about traveling to Cambodia and actually attempting an understanding of the recent, inexplicable history of that country then you should go - but that's me.

But you have to have eyes to see - and a heart to hear the terrible silence. Those talents develop at different times in life for different people.

I don't have the figures, but at a guess, I'd say 80% of the population of Cambodia is under 25. No prizes for guessing why. They really couldn't care less either. As it's THEIR country and all they want to do is move forward, you don't lose any brownie points by following their lead.

Of course, if you ignore history, as somebody wise once said, you are condemned to repeat it. But he's been ignored, too.

Actually, you already know the answer to your question.

Very well put dogster. I found it to be the most moving place I have visited anywhere in the world. An evocative testament of man's inhumanity to man. But, as you say, the vast majority of the Cambodian people want to forget and move on. They do after all, have more pressing current issues of poverty to address.

Many people travelling to SEA seem to want to ignore/forget/deny its recent history which is a shame IMHO it is a shame to visit these countries and not experience the past that has made them what they are today. One would hope that we learn from past mistakes, unfortunately this seems not to be the case.

I concur with what everyone has said, very eloquently I might add, before me.

We just returned from Cambodia a couple of months ago and spent an afternoon and evening at Tuol Sleng followed by Choung Ek. While it was definitely upsetting (we were 'prepared' for it, having been to the genocide museum in Rwanda earlier this year), we felt that the visits were an integral part of understanding the Cambodian culture, psyche of the people, and the unimaginable horrors that the Khmer Rouge regime committed.

Apart from what Thursday described, there is also a small museum in Choung Ek that provides more details on the atrocities, victims and the perpetrators. If you do decide to visit Tuol Sleng, I would recommend timing it so you can watch the movie (we saw it at 3 PM), which is very moving.

Travel is not always about having fun or feeling happy. Sometimes, these moments of sadness and anguish are necessary to fully appreciate/understand the world we live in and the people in it.

Thanks for all your responses. We will visit the site.

Roosevelt.