Mysterious Attractions You Can Find in Cambodia

By
Abigail P
-
Photo by Raph Howald on Unsplash

Cambodia is a beautiful country with a brutal history made up of unthinkable horrors. Here are some of the locations you can get insight into the country’s past while experiencing the power of what remains.

Killing Caves of Phnom Sampeau

The Killing Caves are located up a mountain and it is a place of true beauty. The beautiful location became the nightmarish location of an unforgivable tragedy and now, it has become a memorial, finding its beauty once more.

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Hope springs eternal 🍃 . . . . . . Standing in these quiet caves at the outskirts of #battambang, sunrays peeking through, it's almost unfathomable to think of the atrocities that were carried out here in the not so distant past. Tens of thousands of bodies flogged, tortured and discarded — piles meters high — one on top of another during the terrorizing reign of the Khmer Rouge. "Babies were thrown here", said our 11 year old guide who spoke little other English, pointing at a hole in the earth on the side. Inside, you saw that hole connected to a deeper cavern, just far away enough to drown out cries and screams from the neighboring villages. At the end, when Cambodia was finally freed from the western-backed Khmer Rouge by the Vietnamese, more than 1/3 of Cambodians lost their lives in caves, fields and non-descript places like these. Let history never forget. . . . . . . #cambodia #historytravel #instatravel #khmerrouge

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Well of Shadows

The Well of Shadows is a sinister memorial for those who lost their lives in the Khmer Rouge genocide. Skulls are encased in a glass box and the horrors of the events are depicted below.

Battambang Bat Cave

Here, you can watch millions of bats swarm at sunset. It’s an incredible sight which is better witness than described.

Phnom Penh Memorial Stupa

Between 1975-1979, 1.7 million people were killed under the Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge rule. A memorial containing the skulls of victims has been erected at Choeung Ek as a reminder of the terrible tragedy that took place.

Dinosaur of Ta Prohm

At Ta Prohm, curious visitors can encounter a carving of what looks like a stegosaurus, carved on the temple wall. It’s a mystery whether the carving is a hoax or is evidence that humans once roamed the earth alongside dinosaurs.