Things to do in Anlong Veng
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Ta Mok's House
Ta Mok's house, on a peaceful lakeside site, is a Spartan structure with a bunker in the basement, five childish wall murals downstairs and three more murals upstairs, including a map and an idyllic wildlife scene. About the only furnishings that weren't looted are the floor tiles - on these very bits of ceramic, the men who killed 1.7 million Cambodians planned offensives, passed death sentences and joked with friends.
To his former supporters, many of whom still reside around Anlong Veng, Ta Mok (Uncle Mok, AKA Brother Number Five) was harsh but fair, a benevolent builder of orphanages and schools, and a leader who kept order in stark contrast to the anarchic atmosphere…
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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 s…
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Ta Mok's Grave
From the turnoff to Ta Mok's house, driving a further 7km north takes you to Tumnup Leu, where a right turn and 400m brings you to Ta Mok's grave. Situated next to a modest pagoda and the concrete foundations of Ta Mok's sawmill, it is protected from the elements by a blue roof. The tomb has no name or inscription of any sort but this doesn't seem to bother the locals who stop by to light incense sticks - and, in a bizarre new local tradition, hope his ghost grants them a winning lottery number.
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Khmer Rouge Statues
About 2km before the frontier, where the road splits to go around a house-sized boulder, look out for a group of statues - hewn entirely from the surrounding rock by the Khmer Rouge - depicting a woman carrying bundles of bamboo sticks on her head and two uniformed Khmer Rouge soldiers, since decapitated by government forces.
Now a macabre place of popular pilgrimage, local people come here to leave offerings of fruit and incense to honour the souls of dead Khmer Rouge soldiers.
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Pile of Rubble
Most of Anlong Veng's sights are connected with the terrible Khmer Rouge years. An Angkorian temple used to stand in the southeast corner of the yard behind Hun Sen Anlong Veng Primary School - formerly Ta Mok Primary School - but it was turned into a jumble of laterite and sandstone blocks by Ta Mok and his army in their search for ancient statues to sell to the Thais. The school is 600m east of the roundabout.
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Peuy Ta Mok
From the smugglers' market, a dirt road heads east between minefields, parallel to the escarpment. After about 4km you come to the overgrown brick walls and cement floor of another Ta Mok residence, shaded by mango, jackfruit and tamarind trees. Nearby is the cement shell of the Khmer Rouge's radio station and Peuy Ta Mok, where domestic tourists come to enjoy spectacular views of Cambodia's northern plains.
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Choam-Choam Srawngam border crossing
Next to a ramshackle smugglers' market, is the old Choam-Choam Srawngam border crossing. A bit to the west, right on the nicely paved main road, the Thais have built a spiffy new crossing, but the Cambodians say it's on Cambodian territory - yet another Thai land grab. So for now, with no end to the dispute in sight, the old facilities will have to do.
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fruit and veggie stalls
South of the roundabout there's a row of food stalls, some with pots you can peer into, others with blazing braziers barbecuing chicken, fish and eggs on skewers. There are fruit and veggie stalls around Sheang Hai Restaurant.
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Sheang Hai Restaurant
Named after the Chinese city of Shanghai (the owner's nickname), this all-wood, mess hall-like place serves Chinese and Khmer dishes, including fried rice and tom yam soup.
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Monorom Restaurant
Next to the Monorom Guesthouse, this brightly lit place is the town's fanciest eatery. If you order a beer, you get hot oily peanuts you can try to eat with chop sticks.
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Pol Pot's Residence
A small brick structure - an outhouse, east from Ta Mok's house, is all that remains of Pol Pot's residence.
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