Choeung Ek Memorial

A quiet orchard on the city’s edge, now a memorial with a tall stupa and a calm, remarkable audio tour.

Area

History & memory

Start from

Central Phnom Penh

Distance

about 15 km south

Time needed

half a day

Best season

All year; morning is cooler and quieter

Difficulty

Easy

Transport

Tuk-tuk (about 45 minutes each way) or car

Tickets & rules

Entry ticket with audio guide (around 6 USD, check current price); quiet, respectful behaviour; modest dress

Why go

Choeung Ek is one of the sites where prisoners from S-21 were taken and killed, and today it is a memorial park. It is calm, green and very quiet: a former orchard with old trees, a small lake and birdsong, and in the middle a tall white memorial stupa.

The audio guide is one of the best I have heard anywhere. It is narrated slowly, with long pauses, testimony from survivors and former guards, and music, and you walk alone along a path with numbered stops, sitting on benches by the water when you need to. Most people are silent here.

It is a hard place, but there is peace in it too. I sat for a long time by the lake listening to the last track, watching a heron, and feeling more than understanding.

The story

In the late 1970s, people from S-21 were driven out to this place at night. After 1979 the site was found, and the remains of thousands of victims were exhumed from mass graves. Many of the depressions in the ground where graves were opened are still visible, roped off with small signs.

The memorial stupa was built in 1988. Through its glass panels you can see thousands of skulls arranged in tiers, many examined by forensic specialists. It is a Buddhist stupa, and visitors are welcome to leave flowers and light incense at its base. Remove your shoes before going in.

Choeung Ek is one of many such sites across Cambodia. Around the country there are memorials and stupas in villages and pagodas, and every family carries the memory of the years from 1975 to 1979, when an estimated one and a half to two million people died from execution, starvation, overwork and disease.

The site also has a small museum with background on the regime and on the tribunal that later tried its surviving leaders. Some visitors find it helpful to see this first, to frame what follows.

Getting there

Choeung Ek lies about fifteen kilometres south of the city center. A tuk-tuk takes forty-five minutes to an hour each way along busy roads, depending on traffic; a car is quicker and keeps you out of the dust. Most drivers will wait for you, so agree a round-trip price in advance.

Allow around two hours on site.

A suggested plan

1. Early morningLeave the city by tuk-tuk or car, before the heat and the traffic.
2. On arrivalPick up the audio guide included with the ticket and begin at the first stop.
3. Next two hoursFollow the numbered path at your own pace, sitting by the lake where you need to.
4. Before leavingVisit the memorial stupa and the small museum.
5. AfternoonReturn to the city and plan something calm and restful.

Where to stay

Visit from your base in the city; there is no reason to stay nearby.

Good to know

• Wear comfortable shoes and a hat; there is shade but also open ground.
• Bring water and a little cash for drinks at the entrance.
• A face mask or scarf helps on the dusty road out of town.
• Visit Tuol Sleng and Choeung Ek on separate days if you can.