Cambodia

A country that suffered more in its dark history than most other places on earth. The Cambodian (auto-)genocide at the hands of the Khmer Rouge under Pol Pot between 1975 and 1979 was one of the very worst crimes against humanity ever. And that was on top of years of suffering previously – from post-colonial chaos (Cambodia used to be part of French Indochine, together with Laos and Vietnam), civil war, and from being dragged into the Vietnam War (although a neutral country it was massively carpet-bombed by the USA, one aspect that helped the Khmer Rouge get strong enough to eventually seize power).

The country still hasn't recovered, although it is now making progress in the slow and painful process of coming to terms with its past. And tourism is helping a bit with this too. Ancient cultural sites may draw the biggest crowds (Angkor Wat in particular), but a couple of (really quite extremely) dark tourism sites, especially those in the capital Phnom Penh, are also popular with foreign visitors. Others are way off the beaten track:

- Tuol Sleng – S-21 prison memorial museum, Phnom Penh

- The Killing Fields of Choeung Ek, near Phnom Penh

- Landmine Museum, near Siem Reap

- Pol Pot's cremation site in Anlong Veng & Ta Mok’s house

- Preah Vihear