Arjuna Solitaire Hotel, Sihanoukville – Episode 2: Twelfth Floor, the Pool Beneath the Arches

One floor below the Sky Lobby, the Arjuna Solitaire has gathered what it calls its Wellness Hub: an infinity pool strung between arches, a gym with pointed windows and a spa that begins with a foot bath. Second episode of our series: Saturday afternoon, between two storms.

The twelfth-floor Sky Pool: a run of arches over a turquoise basin, with the city at the far end

A colonnade above the city

From the thirteenth-floor lounge one already senses it: the pool is directly beneath, and the Sky Lobby's glass walls look down on its arches the way a box looks onto a stage. One floor in the lift. The doors open onto a corridor of water.

A procession of white arches, their vaults tinted the palest water-green, spans a turquoise basin that runs straight to the void. The last arch has no wall, only horizon. Infinity pool is the term, and it does not quite cover it: here one swims beneath a vault, between pillars that plunge into the water down to their base of golden mosaic, and the final stroke ends on a line of sky. The basin opens on two sides, which is rare: to the west, the sea, a grey band that day, with Sihanoukville's new towers cut out against it; to the east, the ochre roofs of the Kampong Dewa residences, the hills, a few cranes. The city is there at its exact height, neither hidden nor staged.

On either side, decks of dark timber, midnight-blue loungers with grey cushions, rolled towels the colour of sand. Above, in a box of glass, one can make out the crystal drops of the Sky Lobby where we had taken tea an hour earlier. The building reads at a glance: the lounge watches the pool, the pool watches the sea.

On a clear day the far arch opens onto the sea and the waterfront towers

The storm

Timing was everything. That Saturday the light turned to lead in ten minutes: a dark front off the sea, then curtains of rain advancing over the hills and erasing the towers one by one. Beneath the arches one is sheltered – the vault does its job – and the storm becomes a spectacle watched with one's feet in the water, sitting on the pool's edge. The youngest swam anyway, goggles pushed up on his forehead, between two pillars, while the sky did the rest.

A waiter in a sand-coloured jacket arrived with a tray and set it on the small table between two loungers: long, crisp fried dough sticks in the style of Chinese youtiao, to dip in chocolate ganache, a chunky strawberry jam, a caramel cream and a black-sesame sauce. Youtiao by a swimming pool was not something we had expected; it may have been the best idea of the afternoon. The bar menu also runs to coconut ice cream served in its shell, with a side of tapeh made with Sora, the house-fermented cocktail that will be the subject of the next episode.

The storm front comes in off the sea; beneath the vault, everyone stays dry

Youtiao-style fritters with four dips: chocolate, strawberry, caramel, black sesame

The Workout, and its arched windows

On the same landing, the gym picks up the motif. A row of arched windows, framed in brass, looks out over the hills and the building sites of the neighbouring towers; in front of each stands a treadmill or an elliptical, as if the machines had been lined up so that one looks outside rather than at a screen. The equipment is Life Fitness, joined by red-rimmed ICG spinning bikes, a rowing machine, a set of battle ropes coiled on the floor and benches in tan leather. A yoga studio and a sauna complete the floor. The hotel runs group sessions of 45 to 60 minutes on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays. We confess we photographed the room more than we used it. The youngest, for his part, tested a treadmill in his swimming trunks, which is not in the rules.

The Workout: Life Fitness treadmills and ellipticals lined up in front of the arched windows

Arjuna Spa by Sandjong: wooden bowls and lime

The spa carries the name Sandjong, an Indonesian brand the group has brought along with it. Booking platforms still list it as "unveiling soon"; it is open, and we went in at the end of the afternoon, when the light outside had already dropped.

The ritual begins seated. Two high-backed armchairs in greyish mauve, a marble side table, and on the carpet with its blue and yellow pattern, two large wooden bowls of warm water with slices of lime and petals floating in them. One soaks one's feet while a therapist in black brings two glasses of something deep red and a cool towel rolled in a rattan basket. Then the double treatment room: two beds dressed in brown linen with a sand-coloured runner, a tray with a ceramic cup on each, walls upholstered in cream leather framed in dark wood, a lantern lamp lit in the corner. We had chosen a full-body pressure massage, and that is where the spa stopped being a backdrop. The therapists work deep and with a precision that owes nothing to chance: sure hands, a rhythm held from start to finish, none of the hesitations that give away a team still finding its feet. The treatment unfolds in that low light, barely disturbed by the sound of rain on the windows, and one emerges an hour later in a bathrobe, for tea, with the sense of having changed floors once more.

The double treatment room at Arjuna Spa by Sandjong, brown linen and low light

Outside, the storm had passed. The waterfront towers had returned one by one, and the lights were coming on across the city. Time to climb again: the twenty-third floor, the Sky Bar and the table at Angkasa were waiting. That is the subject of the next episode.

Practical information

Wellness Hub, 12th floor of the Arjuna Solitaire Hotel, Kampong Dewa Resort, Otres Marina Road No. 833, Sihanoukville: Sky Pool & Bar (infinity pool, sun deck), The Workout (Life Fitness equipment, yoga studio, sauna), Arjuna Spa by Sandjong. Poolside: "Arjuna Style" coconut ice cream served in its shell, USD 12 net. Group fitness sessions on Mondays, Fridays and Saturdays, USD 10 per person. Reservations at arjuna.jhlcollections.com.

Next – Episode 3: the twenty-third floor, the Sora ritual and Angkasa's new menu, a journey through the provinces of Cambodia.