Our first day in Cambodia started with, for most of us, a freezing cold room upon waking as we'd put the aircon to 16 deg C, and an alarm that went off an hour early because we forgot about the time difference. After only a few hours of sleep, having arrived at the airport around midnight, this wasn't exactly refreshing. However, after breakfast and a trial that found Mariana guilty of the brutal murder of Thomas the Croissant, we woke up a bit, and by the time we got on the bus to the school most of us were almost awake.

At the school we were instantly welcomed by the kids. Some half a dozen were waiting for us on the balcony, and another few by the gate. They all seemed excited to see us, and were incredibly cute! After a tour around the school we started lessons. It was amazing how well behaved the kids were; we could see that they really wanted to be there.

During lessons some of us were taken to see the community where the kids live. The conditions were quite shocking. There was rubbish strewn on the ground everywhere, puddles of muddy water from the last rainstorm, and the roads were no more than dirt tracks. The place looked miserable, but the people seemed optimistic: they were happy to answer our questions through the translation of our guide, and a few children smiled shyly at us as we bought bracelets made by the locals from paper they'd found in the rubbish. The children of this community had a future.

In the afternoon we had lunch by the river and had time to be tourists. We convinced Kevin that the Jackson on the twenty dollar notes is Michael, and set off for a walk down the boulevard. After a few gallons of sweat, the philosophical question of "to do TOK or not to do TOK" and some dozens of pictures of the various fancy buildings and Buddhist monks with matching orange sun umbrellas, we met up again, took some group pictures in front of a fancy building, chased some pigeons and took the bus back to the hotel. After repeating the philosophical question most of us decided against TOK and went for a swim. After this we had dinner at the Cambodian version of Hongmei Lu, and headed back to the hotel in small groups. The geekier ones got back early, feeling guilty about their earlier decisions regarding TOK, and presumably we didn't lose anyone on the way.

(Editor's note: there are some great photos by Martin Brown in the Cambodia 2011 photo gallery, and we'll be adding to these as he takes more and sends them to us!)