No-longer New: #2. Heat Acclimatised?

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Can you imagine sledding in South East Asia?

Coming to Cambodia one of my biggest concerns was how we’d fare with the heat. More specifically is how we’d cope with the humidity. Obviously, I’d come from a place that was significantly hot. But humidity and constant heat were the new factors. Before we came someone described coping with the humidity and they likened it to Sydney traffic (for those not familiar with Sydney traffic, think either scary or jammed). They said the heat is like Sydney traffic, you never get used to it, you just learn to live with it.

So far, this has been our experience. We’ve learned to live with it and I’ve been pleasantly surprised at how we’ve gone in this aspect. Now don’t get me wrong, on those hot days when there is no power my energy levels plummet and my crankiness skyrockets. But generally, life is doable in Cambodian heat.

What do I put this down to? Part of me surviving in the heat is probably due to my tennis background. Tennis being a summer sport and fairly vigorous, I’m not unaccustomed to heat or hot places or expending energy in the heat. But a second factor has probably been how we’ve sought to set up our lives in Cambodia. Part of our1 strategy has been to limit air-conditioning use. Sure, there’s a financial (and environmental) benefit here as well, but one of the benefits is missiological (Previously I’ve discussed other missiological reasons for why I ride). Not using A/C too much helps us get out more and helps us not feel a huge disparity between our house temp and outside temp (which also limits heat rash). My riding a bike is also another significant way that I’ve gotten used to the heat. On top of this there are plenty of other strategies like taking a cold shower, or a cold shower then standing in front of a fan, through to lying on the floor as the tiles are cooler, and then more cold showers. And many of our drinks now have ice. Don’t know if I’m fully Cambodian yet… while I’ll sometimes have ice in my beer, I won’t always.

So these strategies have helped us settle in to the heat, to the point where this January we found that it was sometimes too cold to swim. That’s crazy for two reasons. First, January in Australia is peak swimming season, but it’s the cooler part of the year in Cambodia. Second, when we arrived last year (in January) we went swimming all the time because of the heat. Now we’ll probably just wait till the hotter heat.

One funny story to finish. Last year, about this time, a letter came home from our kids school saying that due to the cool mornings (think 18-21 degrees Celsius), the students should wear beanies, jackets and gloves to school in the morning. Sam and I couldn’t believe it, and laughed at the thought, while continuing to wear shorts and a t-shirt. Fast forward one year, and as our kids are getting on the bus they ask for a jumper to go with their long pants. We just had to laugh at how things have changed in just one year.

  1. I say this very un-prescriptively. This is not the only way to do heat acclimatisation. Its just the way that we’ve attempted it. There are many other ways to live and survive in Cambodian heat.