15. Disc Golf During Rain Season?
01.10.2023
Today only a short update:
2 days ago I felt drowsy and wanted to vomit. I considered food poisoning but it was unlikely. Maybe too much sun? Who cares? Whatever it was I changed my plans for the day and spent most of the time in my room, only went out for lunch and bought some fruit. At the market I decided to go inside to see what type of stalls they had there. I expected a lot of meat and fish, so I was pleasantly surprised when I saw plenty of veggies on offer. I couldn't resist and bought everything I needed for my standard Asia-hotel-room-made-salad. 3,000 riel (USD $0.75) plus some sesame blend oil from Phnom Penh was all it took and it made me happy...so I did it again the next day! In the evening I had a bath because a)I felt sick and b)how often do you come across a room with designer bath tub for USD $10.00? I checked online and indeed it turns out only the deluxe family room has a bath tub, not the deluxe double room I actually had booked. Best free upgrade ever! ;-) Guess who travels with an exquisite selection of little bottles with essential oils? Yeah, this guy here! I opted for lavender and the steam in the bathroom smelled really nice. Not sure if it was the bath, the resting or both, but the next day I was back on my feet. And there’s more good news: the froggies/toadies seem to be only an annoying force of sleep disruption when it has rained...which naturally happens quite a lot during rain season but I got already 2 nights that were frighteningly quiet – not really, I much enjoyed the the silence.
Let’s get to the actual topic of this post: Yesterday I finally hired a bicycle to make my way to a disc golf place – the first and only one in Cambodia. I cycled the first 5 km on a main road going out of Siem Reap and then the adventure began…
Bloody rain season – deep puddles and plenty of mud! After a while I had to get off the bike and push and balance on the very edges of the path trying to save my feet from an influx of excessive wetness. It was a miracle that I succeeded in that because several times I was close to crashing when I was riding through narrow sections. I took a little collection of photos of the different types of mudstacles (a muddy obstacle) I faced.
The closer I got to my destination the more I was concerned about the conditions of the fairways where I envisioned myself to throw frisbees hitting those metal baskets. ...And right after telling the guy at the disc golf place that I wanted to play he made clear that there was no playing. Most of the disc golf “holes” (baskets) had to be taken off the fields during rain season because they would be knee deep in the water and sink even further into the mud. The disc golf course is simply the entire neighbourhood. You play on public land and other people's private property. Apparently in Cambodia that is no problem at all and once you scroll down and see the as-rural-as-it-gets-village photos you will understand that things are handled a bit differently than on your posh fenced-off golf course at home with meticulously cut grass and artificial lakes and sand bunkers.
The Siem Reap course uses rice fields, natural ponds and trees that are already there. I got a short tour around the village by Pich (a very nice guy residing at the disc golf base) who showed me where people usually would start throwing the discs and were the baskets are supposed to be.
Pich and me
Although I would have loved to play a round, exploring a rural village away from all the tourists was totally worth it.
For reference: here is the official page for Cambodia Disc Golf with interesting info and a youtube video how the founder, an American named Jacob, came up with the idea and what the challenges were to get this project off the ground. https://cambodiadiscgolf.com/
It is high noon now and I will pack my backpack, mainly stuffed with camera gear and 2 bottles of water, drop by a restaurant to refuel and cycle to the legendary Angkor Wat temple. C Ya!
