Life in Cambodia

Phnom Penh wonders

So, I’ve finally taken the time to discover a bit of Phnom Penh, the wondrous capital, that seems to be both sleepy at times and quite happening at others. I came in for numerous meetings on Friday and then spent the rest of the weekend thinking I should be working, but just couldn’t seem to slow down long enough to start.

Friday night I discovered the VIP Sports Club. Yes, this is the Cambodian upper class retreat and sports center, which has pretty good facilities. A nice big pool, sauna, steam room, snack bar, tennis courts, boxing area and machines, weights and aerobics classes (with posters around the room reminiscent of the 80s aerobics craze/Olivia Newton John style and un-natural looking body-builder types). Anyway, I had a great swim and observed the local sports club culture…lots of young men, oogling girls in bathing suites, joking around, dunking each other; families with the kids with water wings; and the older men walking around in towels settling in to the sauna. What better way to end a productive exercise routine then to hop on a moto and meet a friend for burritos and margaritas! Guacamole, sour cream, cheese, it was all there and I was sitting on the riverfront in Phnom Penh. Crazy. Although, for my first burrito experience in SE Asia, I would say I’ve had better, but this was just right for the time and place. The riverfront was breezy, cool and the action was all over the street—young people hand in hand, kids running around screaming and an alarming amount of foreigners. Maybe I just haven’t spent enough time in PP, but every other person on the street was not Cambodian or Asian. Maybe it’s keen time to travel here? Not sure, but I enjoyed sipping the margarita and talking with my friend.

Saturday morning I rose with the rain. It started around 6am and I laid around in bed until about 7am thinking it might slow down. I dashed out of the hotel to find a spot to eat and found the most lovely little restaurant right next to the hotel where I always stay. It’s called Near and Far—I had the place almost to myself, but got the prime spot: a raised, large Cambodian style table that people sit on, with a mat and lots of pillows. A smaller table on it, in the middle to hold my coffee, crepe and fruit salad. Perfect. I lounged around there, waiting for the rain to die down and decided it wasn’t going to stop anytime soon, so I bolted for a tuk tuk and headed to the Russian Market.

I’ve now realized I won’t need to worry about stocking up on ANYTHING when I come home to visit. Thanks to the Gap, Old Navy and H&M sweat-shops running in Cambodia (ok, not thanks, I’m not endorsing the sweat-shops here, but sad to say this is where I shopped while living in the states and well, same stuff available in the market here). It’s plentiful, although the pants were a problem, they didn’t really have much for women larger than a size 4…so the tailor will help me with this. But tops, shoes (Puma, Adidas, Birkenstocks…these, I think are rip offs, but they’re good enough rip offs to me…). I didn’t go crazy in the clothes department, just checked-out the miles, upon miles, upon stacks of t-shirts, tank tops, polo shirts…and then decided it was too much to sort through at this time. I headed for the crafts and material. This was my weakness…lots of ‘antiques’ that looked like real antiques, unbelievable amounts of gorgeous richly colored textiles—all silk. Carved dark wooden pieces, pottery with deep colored gloss and whimsical Cambodian designs. I’m sort of glad my house is 2.5 hours away from here, as I would buy up a good amount of this stuff for my place, but I’m scared it would crack in transport. Anyway, I bought some good gifts and some material for myself to settle up with the tailor. It was a marathon day, but there was no way to do it in less than 3 hours. I still didn’t see the whole place.

After settling down in the food area for some noodles and a coke, I made my way home to drop my loot and headed to a usually expat crowded spa for a thai massage and pedicure. I figured it was cheap enough and well, it was time to get the sore muscles worked a bit. And that they did, a woman half my size, worked my arms, legs head, back for a good 2 hours—as I’ve said before, Thai massage is like contact yoga. It was great. Came out feeling relaxed and the muscles were all stretched out; the mind was at ease. I had dinner with a friend and some of his friends and then headed home where I crashed close to 11.

Sundays always end up feeling rushed, with a sense of urgency or worry about all the things that should have been done over the weekend, but you know you didn’t want to tackle, because, well, it was the weekend. Anyway, here I am, in my hotel room, procrastinating some more as I wait for the taxi to pick me up to return home.

posted by Life in Cambodia @ 7:29 PM