It is probably not fair to compare Tuol Sleng with Auschwitz. But I hope I can easily be forgiven with the excuse that memories of the Cambodian genocide museum still linger on my mind (especially when I just visited it a month ago). Unlike Tuol Sleng, there are no gory pictures depicting inmates being tortured or killed. There was no gruesome collection of skulls: just the empty 60 year old wooden beds. There were no more bodies in the gas chambers: just the large greyish furnaces.

Just by walking into the camp compounds, the simplicity of the exhibits can bring someone down to earth. It is that simple.

After a quick lunch of a salty noodle soup (3.5zl), I took a shuttle bus (free) to Auschwitz II-Birkenau. This camp is 3km away and built as an extension to Auschwitz I. Although the official protocol was to medically examine all inmates (some may be healthy enough to contribute to the war efforts of the Third Reich), most (around 75%) inmates who arrived here (after 1942) were often sent straight to the "showers". Some trains drove straight into the gas chambers: there were no medical examinations for the day.

The Nazi managed to destroy most of the buildings before they fled back to their motherland. Auschwitz II-Birkenau is now a vast piece of land left with the entrance and a couple of structures. But still, it is not difficult to comprehend on what has happened.

Feeling empty and heavy, I walked around blindly for the rest of the afternoon. Caught a bus back to Krakow for 7zl. Didn't really recall what I did for the rest of the evening.