GobackpackGo
  • Home
  • Countries
    • Australia
    • Europe
      • Denmark
      • Estonia
      • France
      • Germany
      • Italy
      • Latvia
      • Lithuania
      • Norway
      • Sweden
      • Switzerland
      • The Netherlands
    • Asia
      • Cambodia
      • China
      • Hong Kong
      • Indonesia
      • India
      • Japan
      • Laos
      • Malaysia
      • Myanmar
      • Nepal
      • Singapore
      • Sri Lanka
      • Thailand
      • Vietnam
    • Africa
      • Botswana
      • Morocco
    • Cycling holidays
      • TourduPisa
      • TourduGermany
      • TourduEurope
  • Travel
    • Travel tips
    • Travel e-SIM Card
    • Buy local sim card
    • e-SIM For Laptops
    • Holiday Car Rental Tips
      • Car Rental Australia
      • Car Rental New Zealand
    • Airport Car Rental
    • Yacht Charter
    • Compensation delayed flight
    • Travel Inspiration
  • About me
    • Featured articles
    • Supporting Kiva
  • Contact

The Killingfields Phnom Penh

Killing fields Cambodia

Tip: Do the audio tour. Its $6 and with it! They have a lot of languages.

Yesterday it was the most depressing day of my trip so far. In the ’70’s (’75 till ’79) one out of four Cambodians where killed by the Khmer Rouge. There are more than 20.00 mass graves in Cambodia and two million people out of a population of 8 million where killed. The rest of the world didn’t know whats going on on that moment. It was hard to see al the pictures of the killing fields and bones and clothers everywhere. They are still in the ground and you can see them. When it is raining they will come up to the surface.

Smart move: save this guide now, so it is there when you need it on the road.Save to PinterestPinterestEmail it to myselfEmailSend to a travel buddyWhatsApp

The big tower with al skulls that looks so unreal! They didn’t kill them with bullets because they where to expensive. So with wooden sticks, iron sticks machetes etc. You can imagine how hard it is for the Cambodian people. Everybody knows someone who’s killed by the regime of Pol Pot. (Red Khmer)

Tree in the killing fields

If you can’t handle realy depressing stories stop reading here and don’t read the text in the image below!

The most depressing was a tree. Just a “normal” tree in a field. But when you do the audio tour you know what happened over there. They smashed baby’s on that tree an trow them into the graves.

Killing fields Cambodia

After the killing fields we saw the killing fields museum and the movie. Its so unreal this happened just 40 years ago.

Prison S21 Phnom Penh

After the killing fields we went to the S21 prison in Phnom Penh. Its is insane what the regime did. They killed all the educated people and let the others work on the land. They had to work will they die. Not much food or rest at all.

Killing fields Cambodia
Killing fields Cambodia
Killing fields Cambodia
Killing fields Cambodia
Killing fields Cambodia
Killing fields Cambodia

In the prison S21 the people had to make fake confessions so the regime could torture them. The pictures of the prisoners in the S21 prison are insane. They way they treated people as animals its impressive (depressing) to see.

Paul Ram

Written by Paul Ram · updated 13 September 2024

I am Paul from Amsterdam and I have been writing GoBackpackGo since 2013, from my own trips through 32 countries and 1,000+ days on the road: backpacking in Asia (2014 and 2023–2024), road trips in Australia and New Zealand, and bikepacking trips in Europe.

More about me · Instagram (17.9K followers) · Strava · YouTube · Pinterest

Previous Post
Best motorbike route Vietnam Ho Chi Minh Trail (Highway)
Next Post
Bus from Phnom Penh to Ho Chi Minh

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Fill out this field
Fill out this field
Please enter a valid email address.
You need to agree with the terms to proceed

Hi, I’m Paul

Paul from GoBackpackGo

Outdoor and sports enthusiast. Since 2013 I’ve been backpacking, bikepacking and motorbiking through more than 30 countries, and writing about it on GoBackpackGo. Everything here comes from my own trips, routes and real costs.

More about me →

Travel tips

Get a local travel simcard
Ready within minutes

Get compensated for a delayed flight
Super easy to claim

Charter a yacht
Plan your sailing trip

Tips Car Rental
Rent a car with confidence

© 2026 GObackpackGO

Manage Consent
To provide the best experiences, we use technologies like cookies to store and/or access device information. Consenting to these technologies will allow us to process data such as browsing behavior or unique IDs on this site. Not consenting or withdrawing consent, may adversely affect certain features and functions.
Functional Always active
The technical storage or access is strictly necessary for the legitimate purpose of enabling the use of a specific service explicitly requested by the subscriber or user, or for the sole purpose of carrying out the transmission of a communication over an electronic communications network.
Preferences
The technical storage or access is necessary for the legitimate purpose of storing preferences that are not requested by the subscriber or user.
Statistics
The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for statistical purposes. The technical storage or access that is used exclusively for anonymous statistical purposes. Without a subpoena, voluntary compliance on the part of your Internet Service Provider, or additional records from a third party, information stored or retrieved for this purpose alone cannot usually be used to identify you.
Marketing
The technical storage or access is required to create user profiles to send advertising, or to track the user on a website or across several websites for similar marketing purposes.
  • Manage options
  • Manage services
  • Manage {vendor_count} vendors
  • Read more about these purposes
View preferences
  • {title}
  • {title}
  • {title}