In the 1970’s, a brutal regime called the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia and began a totalitarian genocide that would result in the death of about 3 million people. Tuol Sleng Prison is a museum that memorializes this dark chapter in Cambodia’s history.

This prison held thousands of prisoners and only a handful would survive. One of them was named Vann Nath and he only survived because of his value to the regime as an artist to create propaganda paintings. After the prison was disbanded and the Khmer Rouge swept from power, Vann Nath painted a series of paintings to illustrate the horrendous conditions. While we were there, Vann Nath was on there too to give an educational speech.

After this, we headed off to a bar that also contained a gun range full of automatic weapons.