Where The Rice Paddies Are: Battambang Blades

On one of my recent weekend adventures the next closest volunteer to me (Robert) and I had just finished a visit to The Killing Lake in Battambang province (Blog post next week). On our way back to our sites we passed a roller rink that I sometimes pass on my way to town depending on what road I take. So after having just biked over sixty kilometers I had the bright idea to give the rink a shot.

When we pulled up on our bikes there were only two other people skating, so the rink was pretty much empty. As interesting as skating in Cambodia seems it was even more interesting getting fitted for skates. I must digress in saying that many things in Cambodia aren't my above average size. I will never be able to buy pants right off the rack because of my height, and I have to duck when going through most doorways and stairwells for fear of banging my head yet another time. My size thirteen feet are no exception. Any shoes or sandals that I need will have to be shipped from America because my size simply doesn't exist here. You probably see where I am going with this. I had my eye on the prize of skating, completely forgetting that I would need skates that fit to be able to skate.

The woman who ran the place was very persistent in trying to find my size, when in reality all the skates seemed to be around the same size. After having tried on at least five different pairs I was presented with a black and yellow pair of blades that looked to be the biggest pair yet. Like all the others before she undid the straps for me and helped me wiggle my ski sized feet inside. Like the others before they didn't fit either leaving my toes curled up tight inside, but I made up my mind the allure of skating in a developing country was worth the agony my toes were being put through. It was game time!

Within a minute I was having flashbacks to elementary school skate nights where the rink would lower the price to skate for students at the school. Along with the flood of memories I had to give pointers to Robert who hadn't skated since the cold war.

The rink's design led me to believe that that building was used for something else before. Instead of skating around in a giant oval there were poles intermittently spaced throughout, and the concrete tile floor left more to be desired. I kept reminding myself that I am skating, skating in a developing country. Places like this aren't supposed to exist, so take what you can get.

The best part of the rink was the ramps off to one side. There were two total each having a similar design with small hills and valleys. I tried multiple times to get enough speed to make it over one set without stopping or falling, but my efforts were fruitless. Because of my efforts with the ramps I decided it would be in my best interest if I put my bicycle helmet on.

Since we had been gone all morning and had already made ourselves tired we only stayed for around an hour before calling quits. In all my excitement of getting to skate I forgot that skating without socks isn't the best idea. Let's hope the Khmer teenagers who used the blades before me didn't have any feet fungus!

As always the event was well documented in picture and movie form.