S21

Cambodia has plentiful public holidays and today was one of the more minor ones. However it meant things were a little less manic in Phnom Penh as Adam and I went walking around town so I could point out some key locations, including, thrillingly for him, all the apartments I formerly lived in. We sourced sustenance periodically, which is even easier than it was before thanks to the myriad extra cafés and coffee shops that occupy every nook. One called l'integrité with funky Indonesian owners had a quiet terrace where we had a cold drink. It epitomised the bourgeois side of Phnom Penh. Everything feels more moneyed than it did five years ago, and my most commonly uttered phrases on this visit have revolved around the rapid pace of change, and some nostalgia for lighter traffic and fewer Starbucks. Nostalgia is a very human emotion to feel, and whilst I am not attempting to deny the positive aspects of Cambodia's developing economy, after this visit I can empathise a little more with harking back to 'the way things were'.

It's important to visit Tuol Sleng when in Cambodia; the school that was used as a Khmer Rouge prison and known as S21. Since my last visit it's been upgraded with a very sophisticated audio tour, which enhances the interpretation and strikes at the heartstrings even more than this place did before. Today's picture is from one of the upper balconies of a block that was converted into crude cells. Barbed wire was erected after one of the prisoners committed suicide from an upper floor.

I feel the Khmer Rouge regime is unique in its impact on the history of a nation. A quarter of the population died from starvation, disease and systematic murder. It is one of the most misguided experiments in the history of civilisation, to try to dismantle anything and everything of a country's progress in favour of a utopian peasant agrarian society.

Adam left after a week here to head to Taiwan for work. Over dumplings I met up with colleagues from our programme here, which was fantastic. It wouldn't be a typical Phnom Penh day without two lads on a motorbike snatching something valuable from inside a moving tuk tuk, and then speeding and weaving away through the traffic. This happened in front of the restaurant where we ate, and caused a minor flurry of panic among bystanders.