War Museum Cambodia
I couldn’t visit Cambodia without wanting to immerse myself in it’s history. Yes this country boasts an impressive ancient history that spans centuries, and we’d enjoyed our Angkor Wat and Angkor Thom temple tours, but the Khmer Rouge genocide happened within my lifetime, so I wanted to make time to get to grips with Cambodia’s recent turbulent history.
We rented a tuktuk for a few hours to take us to Siem Reap’s War Museum (which was renamed to War Museum Cambodia in 2013, but I’ve also seen it referred to as the War Remnants Museum). Despite it’s compact size, it’s the largest war museum in Cambodia.
Free Tour Guide
Foreigners pay $5 entrance and locals pay $1.
$5 seemed a bit steep when you consider that a pint of draft beer at happy hour is 50c, but included in the price is a free tour guide (but they accept donations), which was well worth it.
We visited on a quiet day and had Meng Ratha, one of the Museum’s youngest guides, as our private guide.
Although he hardly looked old enough to shave, he witnessed the war first hand as a refugee, and his father was a soldier who fought against the Khmer Rouge.
The Museum’s collection was accumulated from the provinces where most of the fighting took place (Siem Reap and Odor Meanchey) and is a mix of Russian, Chinese and American hardware, which includes vehicles and weapons, as well as old photographs and a mish-mash of uniforms.
Meng spoke excellent English and walked us around the covered displays dotted around the perimeter of the Museum, explaining the history of the Khmer Rouge.
As we poured over the displays of photos depicting the young soldiers that fought in the war, Meng recounted stories of the Khmer Rouge’s rise and fall with enough detail for us to grasp the impact of this regime.
Landmines, Artillery Shells and Weapons
The most sickening stories were the design tactics of the landmines. Some were plastic so they could avoid detection.
Others where shaped liked small wooden boxes so that a child’s first reaction would be to open it to see what was inside.
The majority of the mines were designed to maim, not kill, so that it would take one or two soldiers to tend to the wounded and transport the wounded soldier back to safety. Thereby taking three soldiers out of action on the front lines.
It’s this sneaky element of warfare that I found hard to come to grips with.
I had no ideas there were so many different types of landmines. And after seeing all of the hardware up close, and handling the exhibits it brought the reality of war home to me.
So the second half of our visit was a welcome diversion.
Meng wrapped up his tour and invited us to wander around the vehicle graveyard which is set amid the trees in the center of the Museum. It was a time for reflection, and we wandered around the collection of tanks and other vehicles that escaped the fate of being sold off for scrap.
It was helpful to visit Cambodia’s war museum to get a better understanding of the ongoing impact of the Khmer Rouge. The visit was well worth the $5.
I’d highly recommend including this War Museum in your Siem Reap Itinerary. The free tour is excellent for providing you with a good solid understanding of the impact and atrocities inflicted by the Khmer Rouge.
- Total time needed for the tuktuk ride (from central Siem Reap and back) and museum tour is about 3 hours max.
Opening Times
- The War Museum is open daily from 8:00am to 5:30pm.
- Website: http://www.warmuseumcambodia.com/
About 30 minutes the other side of Siem Reap Airport is the Angkor Silk Worm Farm that also offers free entrance and tours, so as you’re out this way it makes sense to kill two birds with one stone and visit both locations.
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