Take 2... Day 14/16

Blur pic of Mitt in middle

Tuesday, which means 2 days left.

Actually am already kinda looking forward to going home. Hmm I think 2 weeks is just the right length of time to train here. Not too long to get burnt and just long enough to see results.

Not sure if I’m falling sick or something but today I was totally out of fuel. Maybe I’m just tired from pump yesterday… I hope. Had to like break after every combo, every few seconds. More 6-min rounders, that certainly didn’t help things. Hah, think my stamina’s definitely improved with these killer rounds.

Take 2... Day 13/16

AHHH!! Overslept!!

Woke up at 7.05am. Usually I’d have finish like 20mins of warm-up by 7.15am. It was a mad dash to the treadmill and only did like 10mins of quick jogging. That’s hardly enough to get my muscles sufficiently warmed for training.

Went into the ring with eyes still half closed. Trained with Samang, heng ah… Not the best training but under the circumstances, it was alright.

I think it must be Monday blues or something. Somehow trainings on Mondays always seemed less productive or ‘smooth’. Sucks.

Take 2... Day 12/16

Som Tum and Beef Noodles at MBK


Sunday again!

This is my last Sunday here which means I gotta get all my shopping done. Usual dose of sun worshipping then it’s off to MBK!

Caught Ratatouille this time. It was really good! Bought more DVDs too hehe! Finally had the Som Tum I was craving for. So far, I still think the best one I’ve had is at MBK. Other places somehow just tasted a little too fishy for me. For beef noodles wise, MBK’s pretty good but I think the best one is still at the stall behind Asia Hotel.

Managed to buy another pair of army pants, another Doraemon top and some stuff for the rest. All in all, good shopping trip.

Take 2... Day 11/16

Garden behind the school

Jakrit (left) and Son (right)


Saturday ahhh…

Training on Saturdays almost always feels less stressful. Probably because you know the next day is Sunday so you can go all out and not worry about holding back for tomorrow.

More 6-min rounds again. That’s seems to be the fav number these few days. I don’t have to repeat how tiring it can get but have been training with Boon Ma more and long rounds with him is not as bad. He doesn’t work so much on speed so I can mostly manage to catch my breath. Did more sparring today hehe. Sigh, keep getting hit… Am just lousy. Period.

Take 2... Day 10/16

Yawn…

Neck sore and stiff. So much for praying…

Didn’t sleep at all last night. Seriously considered skipping training but remembered the cleaning aunty will come in anyway so I dragged my ass out of bed. Needless to say training sucked, made worse with 6min rounders.

Trained with Boon Ma on last 2 rounds! Finally gotta train with him again but I seemed to have lost the flow of his style. Think I’m now more used to the Trio’s pattern and actually kinda prefer their way of holding the pads and speed. It’s still fun to train with Boon Ma cos there’s an element of sparring with him so I do have to stay very alert.

Did real sparring with him in the afternoon, hehe! Was a little hesitant at first since I haven’t done it for so long but somehow I just got right into it. It was great! Even tripped him a couple times hah!

OH OH! Finally got my muay thai shorts!! Got them to put my name on it too. Couldn’t decide between red or blue, finally got Tick (the salesgirl) to pick for me. So excited! Gonna wear it next week!

Take 2... Day 9/16

Som tum and beef noodles

More Nam Daeng

Burnt fish stall. Those fishes are still alive and flapping!


6 minutes rounders.

Enough said.

Shit, one round of that is more tiring than an hour of bodycombat. Seriously!

Starting to feel my back now. Almost forgot how straining the kicks can get for my lower back, especially my left. Hmm I think it could partly be due to how Apedej holds the pads though. Have been training with him for past couple days and sometimes I just don’t like how he holds the pads and some of his fav moves.

He got me to do clinching with Boon Ma after! Hah it was fun and I’m just praying my neck won’t be sore tomorrow.

Didn’t really eat the dinner at school again today. Nope, wasn’t because I was late. It was sort of their version of Hor Fun but with instant noodles instead. Another dish was pasta in like ketchup. Eeeeeew… Decided to go Big C for some real food while getting some groceries. Managed to order som tum and meatball noodles, all for the price of 60baht. That’s like less than S$3 ladies and gentlemen!

take 2... Day 8/16

Traditional ice cream! Only 7baht which is like 35cents!! Tastes great too!


This is like their 'Mix Veggie Rice' stall. Very interesting ;)

Had to see a doctor today so headed down to Nam Daeng Market. Rash is getting worse so better nip it before it gets bad.

Always love walking along local markets and streets. This is where you get to see the ‘real’ lifestyle of a country’s people. Loads of interesting stuff here but unfortunately I can’t speak thai so have no idea what many of the things are. Did finally buy the burnt fish I wanted to last round! Hopefully it’ll taste good!

Take 2... Day 7/16

This is the stall outside the school which i get food sometimes


This is the roadside stall i was talking about


Muscles still not recovered from Sunday’s pump so gonna skip it today and save it for tomorrow.

Have been dutifully suntanning everyday, hopefully I’ll manage to get a decent shade before the end of this trip. So far so good I guess, still looking too fair for my taste but can see a bit of difference. I stress the word, A BIT, again.

I was late for dinner today, yet again. Either they didn’t knock the doors to announce it’s ready or I was in the shower when they did. Damn, the ppl here are pigs! Food was totally gone by the time I got in. You can’t be late here cos everything gets wiped in like 2 mins. Went to the roadside stall at the back to grab some food, had their stew pork and rice this time. I think one of the reasons the people here are generally small and petite is that their portions are small. Actually it’s wrong to say that. We’ve been so used to American sizing that we’ve forgotten we don’t need that much food per meal.

You don’t see many overweight people here cos they simply don’t over eat! Now that’s food for thought ;)

Take 2... Day 6/16

Monday.

It all starts again.

Could barely get up for training this morning. Got back around 11ish late last night and slept pretty late. So sluggish at training. Had a little more energy in the afternoon but was interrupted by a guy from UK or something filming for his network. Did a little interview haha!

One interesting thing that I noted in my trips here is that when you are starved for entertainment, you’ll watch just about any DVDs available. Which was what happened and that is how I’ve seen Raging Bull and The Godfather. I mean, back home I’ll probably watch those movies if there’s NOTHING else to see or if someone else wanted to watch it. I know Raging Bull is critically acclaimed etc etc but it’s not something I would’ve picked. Turned out to be a pretty interesting show, Robert Deniro was great. Now as for the super-hyped Godfather… I don’t know. Wasn’t a bad show but I thought I’ve seen better. Hmm guess it’s considered a classic, something extraordinary in its time.

Take 2... Day 5/16

Lake behind school

SUNDAY!!

That means, no training and shopping in town!

Suntanned in the morning then headed to Cali-Wow at Sala Daeng, PatPong branch. Went to combat and pump, and I have to say both were much better than the ones I attended in Siam Paragon. Hmm I’ve noticed that so far, all the combat instructors have pretty good techniques. Quite impressed.

Usual, had no idea what they were talking about but since I know most/all the tracks for both the classes, could follow pretty well. Haha, pump class was funny. The instructor’s timing was off a couple of times and best part was he forgot some of his chorey too and since I happened to stand somewhere in middle – class was not crowded – he saw I did the right chorey and quickly changed. Would’ve followed his cues but like I said, no idea what he was talking about most of the time so wasn’t exactly listening 100%.

Oh! Oh! Caught Harry Potter 5! Much prefer this one to no. 4. Best part in this installment, Dumbledore’s much more like his character than the crazy loo-loo back in 3 and 4. Haha, bought Dunkin’ Donuts too! This is in the name of research. Serious. Must sacrifice self to find out what’s with all the hype about it. Sigh… the things I do for humanity.

take 2... Day 4/16

Haha! The air-con breaking down turned out to be a good thing! They had to move me to another room and it was a private room!! Woo-hoo! Big space, bigger toilet, basically way better than previous room. Gonna sleep like a baby tonight!

Darn knuckles are stinging like a bitch everytime I shower. I’m not being a pussy, it’s just really irritating cos they don’t get a chance to heal at all. Getting rashes again like last time. Hah, I’m well prepared though, brought along my cream for it cos I had a feeling it’s something I can’t avoid over here, what’s with the heat, used-by-everyone pads and mitts. Just hope it doesn’t get too bad.

Still training with Mitt and Peng. Haven’t got a chance to train with Boon Ma yet which is kinda disappointing. Mitt likes to go much faster which is great and Peng is very predictable. I’ve figured out his favourite pattern by now which is not a good thing.

Missed dinner as I was busy shifting room, by the time I got to the dining room, all the food have pretty much gone. Thank goodness it was their version of spaghetti so I didn’t miss out much. Went to this roadside stall at the back to have beef noodles. A must-have everytime I come to Thailand.

Take 2... Day 3/16

ARRRGH!!

Stupid air-con broke down again! Why does it always happen to me? Same thing last round! Dammit! Bloody stuffy and uncomfortable. Thank goodness I was tired enough to actually fall asleep last night.

The guys here are just having fun killing me. Trained with the trio again, Peng was like, pointing to Mitt and Samang “He two rounds, he two round, I two rounds, okay?” Hahaha I didn’t mind at all. Everyone has their style so it wasn’t too taxing on a particular part/move. Starting to feel my hip flexors though, all those kicks are pretty hard on your pelvic/hip area. Oh wait, there’s the ankles too. Oh oh, there’s the knees too. Hmm well your entire lower body lah. Fortunately I’ve more or less gotten the basic kicking technique last round so am not killing my ankles… at least not yet.

First ‘injury’ of this trip: Knuckles.

Middle one… Raw…

Wrap doesn’t help much. I mean, when you are punching hard, it’s still skin to cloth and abrasion is inevitable. Hah, at least I know I’m punching the right way since it’s my first 2 knuckles.

Take 2... Day 2/16

Aching a little from pump yesterday… Actually slept not too badly last night which was a great relief – didn’t sleep properly for 2 weeks last round – and woke up on time on my own!

Trained with Apedej for first few rounds. Thank god for that cos each round seemed to go on forever. Only realized it was 6-min rounder when I peeked up at end of round 3. 6 MINUTES ROUND!!! Was almost K.O-ed by round 2! If I had been with other trainers, I would’ve not made it to round 4. He seemed pretty happy with me, other guys also don’t patronize me just cos I’m a girl. Hmm actually I’m the only girl training this time.

Afternoon training was just as tiring. 5-min round wasn’t a joke either. Whatever happened to good old 4-min rounders?! Apedej’s legs wasn’t feeling too good so I trained with others. It was so funny, he got me to the ring and Mitt, Samang and Peng, all 3 of them said I’ll train with them. Everyone has been trying to K.O me since yesterday! Hahaha! And yes I did train with all of them, a few rounds each.

Exhausted.

Take 2... Day 1/16

Yes I’m back!! Had to wake up at an ungodly hour of 4am to catch the super early flight at 6.30am but it was worth it. Reached the school around 10plus morning and it was straight into workout.

Hit the tiny gym to do pump, had to adjust to the weights there again. Not much have changed since I was last here but quite a bit of the punching bags and stuff have been changed. That was excellent! New and cleaner pads and bags are always welcomed.

It almost felt like I’ve never left. Everyone here still remembered me! Even the little kids! Warm greetings, surprised looks and smiles just made me feel really at home here.

I dived into my training straight away in the afternoon. It was great. Didn’t have clumsy coordination problem this time round, no need to worry about getting body orientated. I won’t have to waste time getting into ‘the mode’ this time, which means I’ll be able to get the most out of my 16 days here. Only lousy thing was my stamina. Let me tell you, no matter how good you are in other sports or martial arts, once u stop something and pick it up again, its almost back to square one. It’s like if you are a marathon runner with excellent stamina, you’ll still be huffing and puffing like crazy when I put you in bodycombat. Different activity just works your system differently. Footwork was complete trash too. Have to get used to it again. Dance like a butterfly baby!

Another Trip!

I'm going back!!

Yep, only 4 months and already planning to go back. Will be there mid-july..so i'll escape Sister's 'confinement' back home. Only 2 weeks this time. One month was a little crazy hehe...