Day 1 in Cambodia!

Hello everyone
This is Gavin, bloggin on behalf of everyone here in Siem Riep. If there r any spelling errors, blame the keyboard, it feels like its made of stone.
No pictures to share for now, coz we juz came back to the hotel, the students and teachers have gone back to their rooms to wash up and rest. me? i cant live without a computer. so here i am, using the hotel's computer, all sweaty and sticky.
Our 1st day is/was quite eventful.. We met up at T1 at 3am. Thanks to Mr Mannan , Mr Zul, and Mdm Rabia who came to see us off. However, poor Edward was sent back, coz he didnt fulfil his passport criteria of a minimum of 6 months validity. so we had to leave w/o him. everyone felt quite down becoz of tat, but we had to adapt to this change quickly. Edward had the presence of mind to pass us the materials to be used for CIP b4 he left. and we are really grateful! and its his birthday 2dae. Hapy Birthday to u Edward.

The flight was quite uneventful, coz most of us zzzzzzzzzzzz. took off at 6.10am. after arriving at the airport in Siem Riep, their customs stopped us coz of our 20 boxes of packed gifts for the children here.. pack of corrupted wolves. they stopped me, and asked to check my camera haversack and big bag. And they told me i had to declare my cameras ( he actually asked me how much my cameras and lenses cost) , my carbon fibre tripod, my netbook.. etc etc.. i think they want me to pay duty or taxes after i declare. i took the declaration frm them and sid the 1st clause states that personal effects do not need to be declared. so they were dumbstruck, and had to let me go, soon after, the 20 boxes were let off, withut any questions. for awhile, i forgot i'm not in Singapore...
we went straight to the silk farm from the airport. saw the cacoons, the silkworms, women weaving, dyeing the silk etc. eventually, no one bought any silk products except JARINA and ZURINA. went to check out the sch in which we r gng to perform the CIP.
checked in at the hotel, had lunch then left for the landmine museum. and our last stop was the orphanage. i wont comment too much abut this, coz i know our students have alot to share about their experience there. n the beginning, all of us were entertained by them putting up various performances for us. But reality for me finally kicked in, i juz keep wondering if theres really a future for these orphans. trust me, alot of things , emotions were felt/experienced during the time we were there. will let students tell us more. we had some students who cried when we were leving, some wanted to delay our departure. we left for dinner after tt, and we r now back to the hotel.
2moro will be the CIP Day 1 in the sch. students will wake up at 5.30am. i'll sign off now, hopefully, i can uplod some pictures and post the students'reflections soon! ciao!

the student leaders, teachers from cambodia, signing off for the night!~