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My Month Training in Cambodia

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Tonight’s my last night in Cambodia. I’ve been in this country for a month but in the morning, I’m boarding a flight to Bangkok, where I’ll be for all of May. Before I leave, I want to write down some memories about my time training here.

 

Training with H/Art

After taking almost a month off due to illness, I was stoked to get back into the gym in Cambodia. After a little research, I could only find two options in Phnom Penh. One was a huge facility that had classes for everything, but BJJ was just a side note in the MMA section. The other gym, H/Art, was completely dedicated to Jiu Jitsu. I knew that was the right choice if I wanted to find a tight knit community to join for the month.

The first day wasn’t a strong start after I showed up, not know what day it really was, for conditioning class with nothing but my gi and flipflops as they were about to go for a run. After looking like an idiot on my first impression, I was surprised by how welcoming everyone was when I showed the next day. Everyone was friendly and excited to get a few rolls in.

Not training for a month, combined with the draining 36C heat, made the first few classes brutal. I couldn’t remember any technique and I had no strength to execute what I did know. I felt like the past eight years of training were washed away as white belts kept slapped straight ankle locks on me like it was nothing. But, after coming to more classes and working on my conditioning in and outside the gym, I slowly became more comfortable. By the last day, I was actually trying some offense, instead of just surviving like I did for the rest of month.

(We didn’t train shirtless. The team just wanted to show off their “beach bodies” since they just got done getting in shape for a tournament.)

A lot of the guys at the gym were also training for the IBJJF Copa de Bangkok tournament while I was there. Check out my last post for more info on that.

 

The owner, Vi, told me that the gym had been around for less than a year and he started it because there wasn’t any other place in the city that really felt like home to dedicated BJJ practitioners. In the short time H/Art has been open, Vi has fostered an amazing team of extremely tough members and skilled instructors. The level of skill in that gym was truly impressive. I got a few pointers about an acrobatic north/south escapes from a Polish gymnast and learned a cool trick for a side-control bent armbar from Vi, that I promised not to give away.

I loved being able to step into the community at H/Art and see how this sport brought so many amazing people together. I’m excited to come back to Cambodia and see how much this gym has developed if it is already this amazing after just a few months.

Bonus – Here’s a few pictures from my time in Phnom Penh:

Phnom Penh Street

It’s hard to show how this city felt, but this picture of a normal street on my walk to the gym gives you an idea.

The infrastructure in PP is not the same as the west. On my first night, I watched a electrical pole, covered in a web of cables, spontaneous burst into flames. I wasn’t surprised when I came home and there was no power.

Catching a a tuk tuk. The driver was not as excited as I was.

Sunset over the colorful city buildings.

Weekend Trip to the Ancient Temples of Angkor

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As the team I’ve been training with in Cambodia boarded their plane to compete in the Copa de Bangkok IBJJF tournament, I was on my own flight to a considerably less strenuous weekend getaway. Instead of entering the competition with the rest of the guys and girls I’ve been training with, I decided to spend a few days exploring ruins in the Cambodian Jungle.

 

A Little About H/Art Academy and the Tournament

Before I get into my side-trip expedition, let me tell you about the guys I’ve been training with in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They form a small gym called H/Art. Their tagline is something all BJJ enthusiasts can appreciate: Art / Heart / Harmony. It’s only been around for about six months and is the city’s only gym fully dedicated to BJJ. It’s insane how dedicated and tough these guys are for only training together for such a short time. I’ll write more about the gym in my next post.

When I began training with them at the start of the month, they were all fine-tuning their strategies and focusing on getting on weight for the tournament. They were hungry to prove themselves; especially Rithy, a white belt who, as of last weekend, is the first local Cambodian to compete abroad. H/Art ended up taking twelve medals back with them!

I really wanted to join the team for the tournament, but having only just got back into training about week ago since I got over a 4 week long respiratory infection. I need to take it easy and get back in shape before I push too hard.

 

Exploring Ancient Temples and Learning About Cambodia’s Politics

After a 45 minute flight Northwest from PP, I was in the tourist infested city of Siem Reap. Just outside the small city, are the temples of Angkor. Within a 400 square km area, there are hundreds of ancient temples, many still inaccessible and unexplored, that were completely consumed by the jungle until the French began restoring them in the early 20th century.

Saturday I woke to an unthinkably early 6:30am alarm (after working until about 2:30am the night before) to get to the temples before the blazing Cambodian sun made them unbearable. As the sun rose, me and two buddies met with our guide, hopped in a tuk tuk and headed off toward the most famous and largest temple: Angkor Wat.

After a few hours at the sprawling Angor Wat grounds, we spent the rest of the day traveling between and exploring temples of varying size, age and levels of dereliction. My favorite was the Face of Bayon. Although this was a relatively new temple, (only 600 years old) it was the most deteriorated because of the inferior sandstone it was constructed with. The crumbling walls, giant face statues and vast corridors would make it the world’s best laser tag venue. But sadly, I don’t think UNESCO or Cambodian government would sign off on that.

We also visited the temple used for filming the Tomb Raider movie with Angelina Jolie. It was stunning because massive trees have grown through the giant sandstone blocks to become a part of the temple’s structure. The historic architecture and natural fauna have melded together for hundred of years to create breathtaking scenery. It looked just like the first level of the original Playstation Tomb Raider game.

If you ever find yourself even remotely close to Cambodia, take some time to check out these wonders. I regret that I only had a day to explore. I could’ve spent a week trekking deep into the jungle to find the most remote and untouched ancient temples.

 

Grappling Lessons from an 800 Year-Old Carving

Since this blog is supposed to be about BJJ, I better end it with a tie-in to martial arts. While at the Faces of Bayon temple, I was lucky to stumble across this carving on the exterior wall depicting two Khmer warriors:

This scene shows that even ancient fighters had to be careful not to overextend their arms, especially when they’re on their back and excited to set up a choke. It makes me feel a little better knowing that wrestlers were getting caught in the same trap I do hundreds of years later.