Cambodia Calling: Golf in Cambodia 1

Saturday, December 06, 2008

Golf in Cambodia 1

There is a driving range some 3.5km from our house. It costs USD3 for 100 balls and you get a free iced-tea thrown in. I don't play but Alan does (he's a Scot, after all!). Alan even went for the first Johnnie Walker Cambodian Open, held in Siem Reap in November last year (the second one will be held this year from Dec11-14). I have to get the photos from him and show readers what the golf course looks like.

This is Tim Ireland, the man behind Ultimate Golf Challenge, one of Australia’s largest golf tour operators, which helped organised Cambodia’s first pro-am tournament for Australian amateurs and professional golfers. I covered the event in October for AsiaLIFE magazine. It is such a small world, Alan actually knows Tim from Singapore. Tim was a golf coach and they would practise at the Bukit Batok Driving Range in Singapore. We had an interesting time catching up with Tim who is lucky to be doing something he loves and making a living from it.

The pro-am event saw 52 Australian seniors and club pros fly in especially to Cambodia. They played on the new Nick Faldo-designed course, the Angkor Golf Resort, here in Siem Reap. The Cambodia leg is part of the Indochina International Circuit which includes two pro-am events in Vietnam. The golfers play for a total prize of USD 33,000 cash. Here are the golfers receiving their prizes at the Victoria Angkor Resort and Spa, which put up the golfers.

Here everyone is standing up for the national anthem of Cambodia. The Aussies then broke into a spontaneous rendition of their national anthem, "Waltzing Mathilda". I don't know what Cambodia's anthem is called, but you can watch the full 2 and 21 minute here on youtube.

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THE BLOOM MANIFESTO

1. We believe in the right of all people to a decent life, free of poverty and with access to education

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WHAT IS A SOCIAL ENTERPRISE?

A social enterprise has as its central objective, a social or environmental purpose, and not the obsession with profits. Yes, of course we want to be profitable, but it is so we can hire even more people in unfortunate circumstances, and offer them a shot at a better life, and not because we want to "increase shareholder value" or for the sake of lining our personal pockets. In fact, the only foreign staff (and founder/funder) does not get a salary from Bloom.

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WHO WE ARE

Bloom is a social enterprise established in Sept 2006 with the intention of providing fair-paying jobs to abandoned, widowed and divorced Cambodian women. Bloom is not a factory. We are a small workshop of nine people who work closely as a team to produce original, quality handmade bags made from recycled rice and fish feed bags.

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Please Visit Bloom's new workshop off Norodom Boulevard in Phnom Penh and our retail outlets. Bloom is next to Warehouse Pub in the Old Market Area in Siem Reap and at No.808 Russian Market, Phnom Penh.