Day 1 - Departure

The big day finally arrived and we were ready to let the journey begin.  We met at the Jurong East campus of CIS at 1:30 p.m. to load the buses and to head to the airport.  

In addition to loading ourselves and our luggage onto the bus, we loaded up boxes of donated goods that we will be providing to the various organizations we will visit during our trip.

In total we had 37 boxes of donated items.  Way to go CIS!

On our way to the airport, we got word that our flight had been delayed for an hour.   Not a problem though, as it gave us more time for the group check in. 

 At the airport, we were greeted by Mr. Cowan who came to see us off. 
With 28 people arriving for check in with their personal belongings and 37 boxes of donations, you would think that the check-in staff would have been overwhelmed.  Not the case. The staff at Silk Air were friendly and very accommodating and made the process very easy.  

Note: the school has been doing this trip for a number of years now and Silk Air has been very supportive of our efforts in Cambodia by not charging us for the additional freight.  So, here's a big shout out to Silk Air for their support.

We arrived in Siem Reap and after a short delay, we boarded the bus for the Prum Bayon Hotel.  The hotel manager accompanied us on the bus and gave us a brief overview of Siem Reap on our way to the hotel. 


Using some previously made contacts, Ms.  Potosky and Mr. Little arranged for eight tuk tuk drivers to take us out to dinner at a place called the Dead Fish.  A rather eclectic looking place, Mrs. Shepherdson informed us that the restaurant looks different every time she goes there.  A multi-tiered place, the decor was kind of part tree house and part nouveau barn chic.  Interesting, to say the least.

We loaded ourselves back into the Tuk Tuks and returned to the hotel around 11:00 p.m.

Off to bed and ready to visit the temples of Angkor Wat tomorrow.

A great first day.