Andrew Turco - A year in Cambodia

In the interest of staying in shape before I find a way to start playing soccer regularly, I’ve sporadically been going to the Phnom Penh gyms for the past couple of weeks, which range from VIP (becoming my regular) to the Cambodiana Hotel gym, which I tried for the first time yesterday. No matter where I go, though, it always seems to be an experience onto itself.

The VIP Club is the closest thing I can think of to being Phnom Penh’s country club. Although unfortunately a somewhat far ride from where I’m living, VIP has a pool, a gym, a few tennis courts, and a snack bar and appears to be the ultimate status symbol for wealthy Phnom Penh residents. The facilities are pretty good, and beyond that, going there is a great way to see what the lifestyle of upper-class Phnom Penh residents is like. Although in some ways, everything feels like a slightly poorly done imitation of one of the Western-style gym facilities, part of the charm is that, although it’s not affordable to the majority of the people here, it’s very much of the place. Highlights include running on the treadmill every time to a remixed version of “Hotel California,” which seems to be THE workout song. Additionally, I have yet to see anyone besides myself actually run on the treadmills. Most are walkers. Plus, it has five of those funny belly shakers that I think are designed to build your ab muscles and are always in use there. There is a certain country club-like, laid back atmosphere, as kids come from the pool and try to use the work-out equipment in their flip-flops and bathing suits only to be kicked out by the gym staff. Additionally, for inspiration, plastered on the walls are posters of buff Westerners dressed in Olympic style outfits and lathered in some kind of glistening oil that look like they were produced in about 1983. All in all, the place has a good vibe, and the equipment is actually pretty good. It has character and is overwhelmingly Cambodian-used. The only negative is that it’s pretty far away from where I live.

In the interest of seeing what else is out there before I actually join, I went to check out the Cambodiana Hotel’s gym and pool yesterday. It’s just South of “the riverfront,” which is actually still on the river but just not in the area that everyone refers to as “THE riverfront.” I had never been to the area, and it’s occupied by three huge hotels. It was weird to discover a part of the city that’s so close to where I go everyday but to feel completely removed. Anyway, the Cambodiana can best be described as a massive Holiday Inn crossed with the decorative lion statues and pagoda-style roofs of Chinese restaurants in parts of America that probably shouldn’t really be serving Chinese food. It was weird walking into this massive complex, and it felt way too empty for the scale of the building. All of the hotels in these areas are reincarnated versions of properties that were built and opened for the first time in the 1960’s. Anyway, the gym was small, although it did have a great view of the river. Unfortunately, it felt less like Cambodia than VIP does and felt more just like a not so nice hotel. But the people who run the gym were incredibly friendly, and just when I was starting to get bored, I eyed the huge punching bag and asked if one of them could show me the proper technique for using it. Not only did the person explain to me how to use it, but he also essentially gave me a personal hour-long tutorial on the martial arts style of using the punching bag and offered to work with me whenever I am at the gym so that I can really get it down. It was lots of fun and exciting to be learning something new (in addition to feeling like a good workout). Plus, in contrast to listening to remixed “Hotel California,” they played good pump up songs: mainly American hip-hop and pop songs from the past three years. Anyway, my instantly writing off that gym has now become more ambiguous.

Because I had been occupied with learning the martial arts punches and kicks, Brendan and I left much later than we intended and were running late for dinner. We decided to try to grab a moto a little further away from the hotel, but either no one had any desire to pick up extremely sweaty people or we’ve somehow gotten to the point where we have adopted a walk in which people no longer constantly ask us if we want rides. Anyway, we had just been working out and didn’t have too far to go, so almost simultaneously, we decided to just run back. Phnom Penh is not exactly a city for runners. I’ve never seen any, and it’s not exactly conducive to it. But it was one of the most fun things I’ve done since arriving because it felt so surreal. Plus, there was an element of free-style parkour: leaping over dips in the road, sprinting through motos when we got to road-crossings, jumping over little security fences that prevent motos from driving up on the sidewalks in front of the big houses in town. And the run back was topped off right at the end by us running full speed along a row of parked cars at the same time that a bicyclist rode out from a food stand on the sidewalk and into the street. Brendan hit him first, just enough to stop his bike and then I came right behind, his face planting right into my sweaty armpits. It was hilarious, and all three of us laughed, although not as much as the rest of the Cambodians eating at the food cart.

Anyway, we continued on and made it back, and now I’m off to try another gym and to bring my first set of essays to grade by the pool.