Northwestern Cambodia - Cambodia - page 496

The bus depots are on NH67 north of the roundabout, while share taxis gather on NH67
just southwest of the roundabout.
Share taxis to Siem Reap (20,000r, 1½ hours) and Sra Em (20,000r, two hours) are most
frequent in the morning.
Rith Mony (NH67) and Liang US Express ( 092-905026; NH67) have a few early-morning
buses buses to Phnom Penh (US$10, seven hours) and Liang adds a night service.
A moto circuit to the Thai border and back, via Ta Mok's house and grave, costs about
US$8.
TOP OF CHAPTER
Dangrek Mountains
Further north, atop the Dangkrek Mountains near the Thai border, are a number of other
key Khmer Rouge sites. For years the world wondered where Pol Pot and his cronies were
hiding out: the answer was right here, close enough to Thailand that they could flee across
the border if government forces drew nigh.
About 2km before the frontier, where the road splits to avoid 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 uni-
formed Khmer Rouge soldiers (the latter were decapitated by government forces).
Just after you arrive in the bustling border village, look for a sign for the cremation site of
Pol Pot (admission US$2) on the east side of NH67 (it's 50m south of and opposite the
Sangam Casino entrance). Pol Pot's well-tended ashes lie under a rusted corrugated iron
roof surrounded by rows of partly buried glass bottles. The Khmer Rouge leader was hast-
ily burned here in 1998 on a pile of rubbish and old tyres, a fittingly inglorious 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, like his deputy Ta Mok, is
said to give out winning lottery numbers.
The Choam-Chong Sa Ngam border crossing is a few hundred metres north of here near a
ramshackle smugglers' market . From behind the smugglers' market, a dirt road with
potholes the size of parachutes, navigable only in the dry season by 4WD vehicles and
motorbikes, heads east, parallel to the Dangrek escarpment. Domestic tourists head along