Pol Pot's House

Northwestern Cambodia


Surrounded by a cinder-block wall, the late Khmer Rouge dictator's jungle hideout has been comprehensively looted, though you can still see a low brick building whose courtyard hides an underground bunker.

It's about 5km east on the dirt track accessed behind the smugglers' market at the Choam–Chong Sa-Ngam border crossing (when the trail forks at the water-lily lake, take the left-hand track). This narrow part of the track is navigable only by motorbike.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby Northwestern Cambodia attractions

1. Peuy Ta Mok

0.32 MILES

For spectacular views of Cambodia's northern plains head up to Peuy Ta Mok (Ta Mok's Cliff). The access road is behind the ramshackle smugglers' market,…

2. Anlong Veng Peace Centre

0.37 MILES

The small Anlong Veng Peace Centre is an initiative from the Documentation Center of Cambodia (DC-CAM; www.dccam.org) in Phnom Penh to build…

3. Ta Mok’s Grave

1.12 MILES

Ta Mok’s Angkorian-style mausoleum was built by a rich grandson in 2009. The cement tomb of the Khmer Rouge military enforcer bears no name or inscription…

4. Khmer Rouge–Era Statues

1.72 MILES

About 2km before the Choam frontier the road splits to avoid a house-sized boulder. A group of statues hewn entirely from the boulder by the Khmer Rouge…

5. Khieu Samphan's House

1.83 MILES

Former Khmer Rouge leader Khieu Samphan’s house is one of the most difficult sites to get to in the Dangrek Mountains area and many local moto drivers don…

6. Pol Pot's Cremation Site

2.28 MILES

As you arrive at Choam border village, look for a sign for Pol Pot's cremation site on the east side of NH67 (it's 50m south of and opposite the Sangam…

7. Ta Mok’s House

7.26 MILES

On a peaceful lakeside site, Ta Mok's house is a spartan structure with a bunker in the basement, five simple wall murals downstairs (one of Angkor Wat,…

8. Ta Mok's Lake

7.45 MILES

Swampy Ta Mok’s Lake was created on Brother Number Five’s orders, but the water killed all the trees; their skeletons are a fitting monument to the…