January 23, 2024
Day Phnom 3A: Unstoppable
The day began with a bootcamp.
The workout was no joke, it involved 5 rounds of skipping rope and then heavy dumbbell snatches. For the most part I would skip the skipping at my familiar group gyms, but this time here at Crossfit there was no choice. I figured that I might as well learn these skills with a supportive coach. The people at the group workout were really cool also. One guy in particular from the Philipines had been living here for awhile, but only started fitness in his mid-30s. He told me was severely obese and wanted to end this condition.
I told him, "It's never too late to start fitness man, I didn't start until my 40s." I could totally relate to this story because the cruel fact of the matter is that some people like us have endomorphic body types which means we will indeed be obese if we don't work out or control the calorie intake very strictly. Ultimately though it boils down to appetite management. We need to accept the fact that when we think we're hungry and "not full", this is really not the case.
People say I'm obsessed with working out and healthy diet, but I do it to maintain my body shape and also to prevent spending all this money for hospital bills when I reach my 60s.
So with a successful workout done, I would surely come back.
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The stars must have been aligning for my life course, because out of the blue a former fitness instructor from Taiwan who used to live in China but quit and relocated to Phnom Penh with her family sent me a message. She asked what the heck I was doing here. I explained the plan, then one thing after another we kept chatting.
Once we realized we both had common ground of a strong dislike of the Chinese government, I started sharing voice messages, including the main event: my father passed away in the fall of 2022 and China's covid policies prevented me from traveling abroad to see him in his last days. For that I will never forgive the Chinese authorities as long as I live. While the 2022 Shanghai lockdown was the worst specific thing they did to us, it was within the context of the ultra-stringent zero covid policy over many years. Even well after our so-called "release", I still couldn't travel and see my Dad. Even he himself said the lockdown was pointless, and he started shaking his head when I explained all the idiot simpletons walking around my compound in hazmat suits.
While doing more decluterring later on, I found a quote that sums up all this perfectly: "Contempt is such a dangerous thing these days, we reduce people to a policy".
At this point I'm telling fewer and fewer people I live in Shanghai and am traveling on winter break. It was the same as last year when I was in Texas; I just tell them I am from Canada and on a tourist trip.
Regardless, these issues are going to need multiple sessions of talk therapy with a professional that I am trying to line up in advance. I guess nobody is unstoppable after all.
Since I had been at the sports bar and restaurant all morning doing these tasks, the waitresses all knew me. Before leaving I asked one of them, "Please throw all this shit in the garbage" and handed the piles of papers and other materials that had been digitized. She totally got my vibe and ripped them to shreds with a smile on her face, all right in front of me. Then they were dumped in the trash. I said thanks very much and gave her a nice tip.
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