cremation site of Pol Pot

At the pass (a few hundred metres before the frontier), turn right (east) next to a new, cream-coloured, three-storey building and then, after 50m, hang a left. In front of you, under a rusted corrugated iron roof and surrounded by rows of partly buried glass bottles, is the cremation site of Pol Pot, who was hastily burned in 1998 on a pile of old tyres and rubbish - a fitting end, some say, given the suffering he inflicted on millions of Cambodians.

Bizarre as it may sound, Pol Pot is remembered with affection by some locals, and people sometimes stop by to light incense. According to neighbours, every last bone fragment has been snatched from the ashes by visitors in search of good luck charms - Pol Pot, too, is said to give out winning lottery numbers.

In 1997 Pol Pot ordered that former Khmer Rouge defence minister Son Sen - who was trying to reach a settlement with the government - and his family be murdered and their bodies run over by trucks. This incident led to Pol Pot's overthrow and arrest by Ta Mok, followed by his Khmer Rouge show trial (held near the cremation site) and his mysterious death, ostensibly because of a heart attack.