Day 7 – S21 Jail – Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum, Killing Fields, Museum, Cruise Port, Lunch, Starting River Cruise

Phnom Penh is a city marked by sad events over the past half-century. Our first visit of the day was going to the Tuol Sleng Genocide Museum. We had a local guide that joined us at this location to take us through the history of this old school that was converted into a security prison S-21 (detention and torture center) from 1975 to 1979 by the Khmer Rouge. We were told about the atrocities in the prison as 12,000 people came through this jail before being executed at the killing fields.

When the Khmer Rouge moved into Phnom Penh in 1975, it is estimated that in days, they forced close to 2 million people out of the city. This allowed them to detain and torture thousands of people in hundreds of prisons nationwide without any oversight. They have preserved the site as a memorial to the many Cambodians that lost their life here. There were 3 survivors of the prison in the courtyard, each with a separate place to sell books of the stories of their experiences.

We then continued to the Choeung Ek, which is one of many “Killing Fields,” where there is a stupa memorial that displays the skulls of thousands of the victims of the genocide that took place here. There was a feeling of reverence in this place as we had an opportunity to reflect on the atrocities that took place while wandering past the mass grave sites. To this day, when it rains, bones and pieces of clothing come to the soil’s surface. It is estimated that over 1.3 million people were executed throughout the country, and up to 2.5 million died, including starvation and disease out of 8 million people. It was a humbling place to visit, but it was done with great respect.

We returned to the city for a short visit to the National Museum of Cambodia. It was a beautiful temple-like building filled with old artifacts from Cambodia’s past. I found one hall of statues the most interesting but the gazebo and fountains in the central courtyard were also very beautiful.

After a short 30-minute visit, we left for our river cruise port. The check-in time was between 12:30 and 1:30 pm for Pandaw Cruises. It was a bit difficult trying to find the stairs that led down to the ship as they were off to the side of the pier, and we had to go through another river cruise boat to get to our ship. After a bit of asking around by our guide, we figured it out and checked in. Initially, we were told to stay on the ship until after dinner at 7:30 pm, but there were no meals until then, so we walked about 15 minutes to the night market area, where we found a Chinese Food Restaurant. We felt a bit rushed, however, as we needed to be back onboard by 3 pm for the security and ship briefing.

We enjoyed the evening relaxing onboard, meeting some of the 24 other guests on the ship, and a delicious dinner. At 6:30 pm, an hour before dinner, we had the opportunity to watch an onboard Khmer Traditional Cultural Performance on the sundeck. There were a few dancers that performed a traditional dance, and one of my favorite parts was when they projected light onto a screen and did a stick puppet show using cowhide-carved two-dimensional characters. They would hold these characters up behind the screen to show the traditional way of providing entertainment in the villages. We opted to stay onboard rather than go back into the city for the evening. The ship was docked for the night, and we had until 11 pm, but it was a long day, and we needed a bit of downtime.