Staying Fit

The former French Country Club of Sai Gon, now know as the Labor Club

Since I have plenty of time on my hands here in Sai Gon I have made it a priority to try to improve my level of fitness, so I located a gym and swimming pool not far from my apartment. I think it is quite interesting that this facility was once the French country club during the days of colonialism. Often in my travels in this part of the world have I been outraged at the audacity of the European powers who overpowered the local authorities and established a European society. In the case of the country club it is built immediately in the center of Sai Gon on prime real estate next to the former presidential palace. It is easy to understand why the Vietnamese hated the French so vehemently when seeing something like this abuse of power.

Now however the former country club is far more egalitarian, open to the public and is called "The Labor Club". I love the irony of the name and also love that it sounds so very communist. The once surrounding golf course is gone, replaced by polular badminton, tennis and basketball courts.

I have a month membership in the gym for $6 and also can pay less than half a dollar to swim in the huge pool whenever I want. The gym is pretty basic, most of the machines probably having been welded together based on some rough idea of what an equivalent Nautilus machine would be, the free weights are scattered all over the floor instead of neatly racked, and the cooling fans hardly work at all. The Y in Valdosta looks pretty % star in comparison, but this is a friendly place and convenient so I am determined to get into better shape while here.

I took a picture of one page of the snack bar menu at the Labor Club. Whenever I go into the snack bar I always nostalgically think of Esther and Robert from the snack bar at the VCC when I was growing up. No hotdogs and hamburgers are on this menu, but you certainly have a wide variety of rice dishes. There is a pidgin English phrase used all over southeast Asia, "Same, same but different." That is how I feel about the snack bar here in Sai Gon.

The whole facility would be much improved with a coat of paint and I suggested posting notices for a volunteer work party to spruce up one Saturday. The very practical response I got was, "Who would supply the paint?" I still have this idea in my mind, however.