The End?

Bangkok, Thailand

 

First, apologies are in order insofar as I haven't been updating as much as I should.  The reason is I had typed up a post with more muay thai vids and pictures but I have had tremendously shitty luck with finding a computer with a working USB port so I could not upload them.  I didn't want to get out of sequence but I guess it will have to be that way.

 

Second, an update, last weekend was my last hurrah at Fairtex camp (congrats, by the way, to Yodsaenklai,  (pictured below) who added a world title to his collection on Saturday in Sydney and now literally is the baddest man on the planet at 154 lbs)  Although my initial impressions of the camp were less than favorable and I expected to have a heinous time, it ended up being a shitload of fun and I was a beloved figure when I left.  My trainer was getting bleary eyed, and everybody from the fighters to the cleaning lady to the office workers were saying "when you come back, when you come back?" as I walked out the door.  And you know what? Even though the downtime there was rather boring and the accomodations spartan, I probably will go back.  When you're with friends it doesn't really matter so much.

 

On the negative side, i don't think I lost a single kilo of weight despite the training (though I did make a lot of progress physically, at the end I was going 5 4-minute rounds in the AM session and 7 4-minute sparring rounds in the PM session - up from 3 & 3 when I first started, and finishing it off with 200 situps).  I chalk that up to the fact that each training session was followed by a gigantic, calorific thai food breakfast and dinner at which I stuffed my tired exhausted body to the maximum extent.  Also I didn't do much running insofar as I had some nasty toe blisters from the canvas which I will not detail insofar as it is disgusting.  I did become more competent in the deadly art of MT - I got in a few decent shots on my trainer in the sparring sessions, though I got much more than I gave, of course.

 

Since then, I have been hanging out at the Shangri-La in Bangkok, shopping, living, etc.  Not quite as nice as the Oriental or the Peninsula but nice enough.  My first impressions of Bangkok (from 3 days in October 2004) were less than favorable but since then, having been in and around BKK for about the past month or so, the place has grown on me significantly.  The biggest negatives in Bangkok that I took from last year were weather, scammers, and traffic.  As far as the first two, I've been in Asia so long  I hardly even notice them anymore (plus the weather the last week in BKK has even had some bluish skies above the pollution and only in the 80's, which is as good as it gets here).  As far as traffic, I've quickly mastered the Skytrain, Metro, and Public Ferries (which I pride myself on, am sort of an urban mass transit Kalahari tribesman) and have gotten a serious handle on the geography of the place, which makes life a lot easier.  Plus I tell every cab driver that I just spent time at Fairtex (and not telling them that I suck at fighting) so it makes them think twice about scamming me.

 

But all this is secondary and a long way of saying that in about 18 hours I am on a plane headed back to JFK.  I suppose I should come up with some grand essay but I'm a bit hung over at the moment and really I don't know what to say.  About a month ago I was dining alone in a restaurant in Nong Khai during Loy Krathong (as I am often wont to do) and I started writing down the things that I've learned on this trip, but for the life of me I can't remember what the hell I wrote.  I've learned that I enjoy having a good time is the main thing.  Which is ridiculous to have to learn, but probably more people should. 

 

I'm not done with this blog yet though I've got a few more things stored up, though I will probably be posting them from stateside, alas.