I don't think any trip to Phnom Penh, or Cambodia in general, would or should be complete without learning a little about the Khmer Rouge and the genocide under their rule. We thought today would be a good day, as we had a meditation practice and a set of Nerd talks planned for the evening, to hopefully balance the day out.

There are a number of different tours and ways to see the main locations, S-21 and the Killing Fields, but we opted for the hotels recommend provider. The itinerary stated an 8am pick up, but the hotel did say they normally turned up around 8:20. picking others up from their hotels. At 8:45, when it finally did turn up, we were a little annoyed but that's part and parcel of it.

The first stop was S-21, a former high school turned torture / prison facility. We decided to go for the audio guide, to move at our own pace. A little frustratingly (we didn't know this beforehand) the tour group only allowed to do the quick tour (there was about 45 recordings, about half were recommended on the short tour). It felt a little like they were trying to save time because they were late and, in this kind of the place, you don't want to be rushed round. We were there when it was the 40th anniversary of the liberation from the Khmer Rouge regime, which looked like it was being commemorated with speeches and dances etc. We didn't watch for long, as it was all in Khmer. Won't go into detail about the place, it's a harrowing place, but it seems, to me at least, they have created something quite peaceful and reflective from it. The grounds are very well cared for and the various monuments and plaques are very nice. They also had a meditation / quiet area for people to sit a contemplate the experience, which we thought was a nice touch. It was a real shame we didn't have more time to go around and listen to everything.

We got back on the bus and headed to the Killing Fields. They put on a documentary on Pol Pot and the Khmer Rouge for the journey, which did give a lot of context as to what happened. It also had the added benefit of shutting the boring old people in front of us up (discussing mortgage rates and how successful each others kids are).

We arrived at the Killing Fields and we did this time get enough time to do it in a bit more detail. We got the audio guides and headed straight in. It really wasn't what either of us were expecting, when we've seen similar places in Germany, again, similar to S-21, it's a bit more peaceful. A memorial rather than just a reminder. There was silence pretty much all the way round, people either listening to the audio guides, or actual guides.

We got back on the bus and headed back, the bus a lot quieter with everyone contemplating everything we'd seen.

The bus did offer drop off to pretty much anywhere, which was nice in theory, except one guy kept changing his mind when we arrived at his destination. We opted back to the hotel, as it was definitely lunch time. One stop we realised we had been waiting for ages, no idea where the guy went. However, it wasn't that far from the hotel, so we got out and walked. A really interesting day, but quite unhappy with the recommended tour. We could've hired a tuk tuk for the day, spent however much time in each place as we would've liked and not have to ferry other people around. A learning for us.

Later that day, one of the larger Wat's in PSquared was offering an hour meditation session, which we thought might be a good thing to do after the earlier activity. Not really knowing what to expect, we headed inside. Turns out it was less a class and literally a place to do some meditating with monks and other visitors. Either way, it was a very nice setting inside the Wat. A good mix of people there, both foreign and local (even one kid about 5 or so who impressively sat still for the whole session). We both managed to do the full hour, which we were quite impressed with. 

We then, feeling all zen and what not, ordered a tuk tuk to the Alchemy Gastropub for our talks. The place was pretty westernised, in the expat area, with a menu and price tags to match. But we didn't really have anywhere else to go with the timings, so I ordered a burger and a pint (#likealocal) and Hannah ordered a BBQ chicken thigh and red wine (chilled). They were both really good, which i should hope so. Once we finished, we were just in time for the talks so we headed outside to the stage and got a seat.

The talks were a event called Nerd Nights, apparently a big thing, where people get up and talk about stuff, anything. it was billed as five people each speaking for 20 minutes on any subject of their choice. They had one on limiting personal beliefs, cognitive bias, yoga, America's ethic makeup and Cambodia's laws on violence against women. Some sounded more interesting than others, but all had good potenetial. However, it turned out this wasn't the case. The presentations followed a specific format, 20 slides with each slides lasting 20 seconds, so 6:40, a bit less than the 20 minutes we thought. It was still interesting, but all felt a little rushed, became more of an exercise in time management and some clearly had prepped more than others. After the first 3 there was an intermission of 15 minutes (we both didn't think you need an intermission for 40 minutes of talks, especially not 15 minutes) and it began to feel a little bit more like an expat communities excuse to hang out drinking. Considering that and neither of us were arsed about the last two talks, we just got a tuk tuk back to the hotel.