Tuol Sleng

As a tourist in Phnom Penh, it's imperative to make a visit to the Tuol Sleng Genocide museum. When the Khmer Rouge were in power, they turned a local high school into a prison where, over the course of 3 years--from 1975-1978--they killed more than 17,000 people. Today the prison exists as a museum (open in 1981) and a visit is both harrowing and fascinating. The museum is divided into 3 parts--the cells where the prisoners were shackled to metal cots, the wooden and brick solitary confinement cells, and the photo exhibition. We spent about 2 hours touring the grounds, watching a documentary about the prison and reflecting on the experience.