It’s not every day you meet the family of an incredibly infamous dictator, but then again, I’m not exactly your average traveler. And that’s what led me to Prek Sbauv.
According to the internet, Prek Sbauv was the hometown of former Cambodian communist strongman Pol Pot. But merely knowing where a place is won’t get you what you want. You can’t just rock up, point at a random house, and expect answers. But as I’ve said before, I’m no ordinary dark tourist.
Getting to Prek Sbauv
Getting to Prek Sbauv means first getting yourself to Kampong Thom, which sits roughly halfway between Phnom Penh and Siem Reap. From Siem Reap, it’s about a 3-hour drive south on National Road 6, while from Phnom Penh it’s around 3 hours heading north.
There are also shared taxis and minivans coming in from Preah Vihear, which take around 3 hours depending on road conditions. Once you’re in Kampong Thom town, Prek Sbauv is a short hop away, roughly 8 kilometres north along the Stung Sen River. You can take a tuk-tuk, moto, or even cycle there, but getting what you actually want from the visit takes more than simply turning up.
Setting up the meet
When it comes to dark tourism in Cambodia, and anything related to the Khmer Rouge, I’ve spent more than five years building contacts and studying this period of history. This meant I wasn’t exactly going in blind when it came to Prek Sbauv.
That being said, what I actually had on the day was a modest budget, a tuk-tuk driver who claimed he knew the family, and my usual ability to fly by the seat of my pants. I dropped my bag at the Glorious Hotel in Kampong Thom, grabbed my camera, and off we went.
The drive took about 10 to 12 minutes, with Prek Sbauv sitting just under 8 kilometres from town. It’s so close that you don’t even leave the city proper before you’re surrounded by small wooden houses and farmland. When the driver suddenly pulled up in front of a rural Khmer home and motioned for me to get out, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.
Meeting the nephew of Pol Pot
I stepped off the tuk-tuk to find three generations of people sitting outside, chatting in the shade. Chairs appeared, cigarettes were offered, and before long I was introduced to a man who, as it turned out, was the nephew of Pol Pot.
Looking at him, the family resemblance was actually pretty striking. Through my translator, I asked if we could talk on camera. He reluctantly agreed, but made it very clear that he didn’t “know anything about politics.”
Fair enough. I took the hint and kept things as vanilla as possible. We talked about his family, what people did for work in the area, and life in the village. He mentioned that most of the Saloth Sar family had left long ago, apart from him. I did, however, later see the house said to belong to his sister.
The nephew also mentioned that the last time he had seen Pol Pot was in 1993, just before he rejoined the remnants of the Khmer Rouge in Anlong Veng. Pol Pot would remain there until his death in 1997. It was a strange, almost surreal conversation — a quiet afternoon chat with someone related to one of history’s most infamous men.
What to see in Prek Sbauv
In truth, there isn’t much to see in Prek Sbauv. The place offers little more than a calm, rural Khmer atmosphere and the faint echo of dark history. Even for the most dedicated Khmer Rouge historian, there’s not much tangible here. No monuments. No plaques. Not even a sign telling you where you are.
Aside from meeting family members, the only real landmarks are a small church that’s over 100 years old and a house said to have belonged to Pol Pot’s sister. That house reportedly stands on the same site where he himself was born. Whether true or not, it’s about as close as you’ll get to physical history in this part of Cambodia.
What really strikes you about the place is how simple it is — and how little it seems to have changed in the past century. Wooden homes on stilts, chickens scratching about, old men smoking by the roadside. And yet, from this tiny, peaceful village came Saloth Sar, the man who would become Pol Pot, architect of one of the most obscene mass killings in modern history. Heavy stuff indeed.
So, can anyone just meet the Pol Pot family?
In short, no. You can’t just turn up and expect to have tea with them. You’ll need a translator, someone who knows the area, and more than a little tact. The location of the house isn’t exactly public knowledge, and the family understandably prefer to stay under the radar.
But fear not, both me and Young Pioneer Tours havethe guanxi to make this happen. Click to check out our independent tours to Cambodia.