Wednesday was a very sombre day in Phnom Penh as we visited the S21 prison and Killing Fields. The prison was extremely harrowing in particular and reduced us both to tears. They have preserved it remarkably as it was during the 1975 -1979 period when it was the main Khmer Rouge interrogation centre during their campaign to rid the country of all educated classes or those likely to resist their rule. During this period about 2 million were killed which was a quarter of the Cambodian population. We saw the tiny cells and torture rooms (many still with blood stains and splashes on the floors, walls and ceilings) and met one of the 2 living survivors who was spared in order to maintain the Khmer Rouge typewriters used to record the confessions extracted through fear or torture. We heard of the inhuman treatment of prisoners and how babies were dragged from their mothers' arms and killed by smashing their heads against a tree, while she was forced to watch. We followed that with a visit to the Killing Fields where the executions took place - bullets were too expensive so prisoners were killed by being beaten on the head or having their throat cut. It was pretty ghastly and we did not feel able to follow that experience with sightseeing so returned to the hotel to reflect on how mankind can do such things to each other. It was particularly sobering to realise that had we been born in Cambodia we probably would both have perished because of our generation and professions.

The city itself is manic - so much noise, traffic, dust, heat and smells. Venturing out of the oasis of the hotel is a challenge and you return feeling totally exhausted and filthy dirty.