Bicycle rally

Fitness is the flavour of the month in Siem Reap, with the first-ever local triathlon scheduled for Sunday March 21.

And recently came the news that the following week, on March 28, the Paul Dubrule Hotel and Tourism School in association with Sofitel Angkor Phokeethra Golf & Spa Resort will host a “new annual regional event”: a “tour De L’Ecole” family bicycle rally.

The event has the support of the Ministry of Tourism as well as the City of Siem Reap.

The rally has been organised by the 200 teachers and associates of the school, and one of the distinguished guests at the starting line will be the great man himself, Paul Dubrule, the co-founder of giant multinational conglomerate the Accor Hotel Group.

Dubrule also founded the school, inaugurating it on October 24, 2002, at the end of an eight-month-long bicycle trip from Fontainebleau in France to Siem Reap.

He undertook that 15,000-kilometre bike trip when he was mere 68 years old and now, at 76, he’s still well and truly in the saddle.

For registration forms and further information, visit the website at www.ecolepauldubrule.org

Adding up

Readers who think that 2+2 = 5 should certainly turn up on Sunday March 15 to hear the a+b = 3 take on the topic of financial literacy to discover how financial education can help alleviate poverty.

Sophie Paine, a financial education specialist from a+b = 3, which is a Hong Kong-based social enterprise, is giving an introductory presentation at La Résidence d’Angkor.

The 90-minute presentation is free to attend and is being held for the benefit of NGOs, microfinance institutions, schools and childcare centres, educational institutions, and for-profit companies interested in implementing training programs to their clients, students or staff.

The March 15 talk starts at 2pm at La Résidence d’Angkor, River Road, Siem Reap. For details, please email: [email protected]

Sick leave

Western-style medical care is about to get a little better in Siem Reap – for those who can afford it, that is. Bangkok’s famous Bumrungrad International Hospital is opening a representative office near the Central Market on the same street as Frangipani Spa.

The signs are already up in Bumrungrad’s Siem Reap storefront, but manager Neou Prasith said he needed staff and wasn’t sure when it would be fully operational. Stay tuned.