Hey everybody,
I know it's been a few weeks since my last post but I figured I should write something to let people know that I'm not dead. Other than that I don't have a whole lot of interesting stories or amusing anecdotes or picturesque landscapes to share with you because I've been living in Phuket going to the beach and training and that's about it. I feel as though I may have come off as a little too critical in my last write-up so let me state for the record that I love Thailand. At the end of this trip I will have spent approximately 10 months of my life here and that is not by accident or coincidence. I've had some of the best experiences of my life and met some of my closest friends here. That doesn't mean I have to be crazy about the sex tourism here but that's part of the experience since as Pop said... everything is ok. I was talking to Mui the other day and he was telling how open the culture is about sexuality, that it's fine if you're gay or transgender or a ladyboy, in fact you'll see ladyboys working behind the counter at a Dairy Queen in Bangkok or a KFC here in Phuket. Gay teachers, doctors, whatever... not a problem. He told me there's even a "pink channel" on tv dedicated to gay programming. For those of you that know Mui this was thankfully not one of those moments where he was speaking in riddles; what he was saying is pretty straightforward. And I don't want to sound cynical about the possibility of romance, people do find love here. There are many Thai-farang families around who seem to be perfectly happy. I even know a few happy couples myself. If you respect and embrace the culture and you find somebody that's right for you, Thailand can be a pretty groovy place to settle down.
Mui and I got to talking a little bit about how Thailand is so accommodating to farang and he summed it up pretty succinctly: "Life here for farang is easy." Whether you're super-rich or on a tight budget you'll find something for you. Then I admitted to him that sometimes when I reflect on the fact that the only reason I can stay here for a month at a bungalow on the beach is that it costs $10 a night it seems slightly unfair, like I'm taking advantage of economic inequality, and I wondered if Thai people were ever resentful of that. I know Mui can't speak for every Thai person but he said he doesn't think so. It's a two-way transaction since tourism fuels such a large part of the country's economy. I got into the same conversation with Yok, the guy who runs a restaurant a couple of miles away from my bungalow. He lived in London for 10 years before moving back to Phuket to be with his family. He said Europe is too expensive so of course people like coming to Thailand, and with the European economy in the tank they've seen way more Russian and Chinese tourists coming in the last 4 or 5 years. Yeah, no shit. Most of the signs for businesses are in Thai, English, and Cyrillic letters and when you sit down at a restaurant you're as likely to hear Russian as English at the next table over. That's definitely a big change from the last time I was here.
Mui's right though, life is easy. I've settled into a pretty sweet groove. I train, I go to the beach, I read, and every once in a while go out with some of the crew from the gym. I've given myself a goal to try every Thai restaurant and street food stand in a 3-mile radius... so far I think I've hit about 15 different places and have maintained the diarrhea average below 10%. And of course it's the little things that get me hooked on Thailand... many people are aware of my affinity (perhaps obsession) for papaya salad, larb, Birdy, coconut yogurt and Herbal Salt toothpaste. Not all together. I also just enjoy saying larb. Larb. The one main drawback of semi-living in Thailand is, of course, Thai pop music... which rivals only Italian pop music in terms of horrific mind-numbing banality. You also get treated to cover versions of 80s soft-rock classics such as this timeless number...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e157Ner90
Anyhow, the muay thai training is fantastic. The classes are two hours each, twice a day at 7 AM and 5 PM. After warmups there are five rounds of bag work then 5 rounds either sparring or working 1-on-1 with a trainer. Then there are three rounds of either grappling, technique work, kick drills, or my favorite: Learning the Wai Khru which is the ceremonial dance that each Muay Thai fighter performs in the ring before his fight. Sometimes the sparring sessions are done with the trainers, you know, guys who have had like 300 pro fights. They'll let you get a couple of jabs in and then throw some crazy flying knee at you then laugh. I'm learning a ton but it's completely kicking my ass. I'm not sure when exactly it happened but I'm now at the point when I start to wonder if age is a factor. When you're 25 and you're sore you're just sore. When you're 39 you ask yourself if you're sore because you got your ass kicked or because you're old. Stupid aging. Some of these guys I'm sparring against are 19. I'm leaning against the ropes between rounds in a pool of my own sweat and these jerks are bouncing around like kangaroos on meth. So... you know... fuck them. Maybe sometimes they accidentally get a knee in the ribs. Accidentally.
Here's a pretty good short video of what the Wai Khru looks like before a fight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92ibgC1JXo
Anyway, I didn't use to think about age much but for some reason it's come up quite a few times since I quit my job a few months ago. Maybe it's the traveling around and meeting new people so it comes up more often, or maybe it's some overarching philosophical turning point in life, or maybe I just have too much free time. It's most likely something inbetween. I've been trying to figure out exactly when it is that you turn the corner physically into "old" and I think it's when you start making sounds when you stand up or sit down. Something like a like a grunt or "Ooof" or "Mrgh" some kind of sound that signals it's a strain to get up out of a chair. You know what I'm talking about.
Anyhow, Rich and Cari showed up a few days ago so I'm no longer abstaining from beer. I still haven't had coffee in a few weeks which is not making the 7 AM classes any easier. Other than that... life is good. No pictures to share this time but I'll send an update after we take a trip to Khao Lak.
Take 'er easy,
Dave
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| View from the bungalow |
Mui and I got to talking a little bit about how Thailand is so accommodating to farang and he summed it up pretty succinctly: "Life here for farang is easy." Whether you're super-rich or on a tight budget you'll find something for you. Then I admitted to him that sometimes when I reflect on the fact that the only reason I can stay here for a month at a bungalow on the beach is that it costs $10 a night it seems slightly unfair, like I'm taking advantage of economic inequality, and I wondered if Thai people were ever resentful of that. I know Mui can't speak for every Thai person but he said he doesn't think so. It's a two-way transaction since tourism fuels such a large part of the country's economy. I got into the same conversation with Yok, the guy who runs a restaurant a couple of miles away from my bungalow. He lived in London for 10 years before moving back to Phuket to be with his family. He said Europe is too expensive so of course people like coming to Thailand, and with the European economy in the tank they've seen way more Russian and Chinese tourists coming in the last 4 or 5 years. Yeah, no shit. Most of the signs for businesses are in Thai, English, and Cyrillic letters and when you sit down at a restaurant you're as likely to hear Russian as English at the next table over. That's definitely a big change from the last time I was here.
Mui's right though, life is easy. I've settled into a pretty sweet groove. I train, I go to the beach, I read, and every once in a while go out with some of the crew from the gym. I've given myself a goal to try every Thai restaurant and street food stand in a 3-mile radius... so far I think I've hit about 15 different places and have maintained the diarrhea average below 10%. And of course it's the little things that get me hooked on Thailand... many people are aware of my affinity (perhaps obsession) for papaya salad, larb, Birdy, coconut yogurt and Herbal Salt toothpaste. Not all together. I also just enjoy saying larb. Larb. The one main drawback of semi-living in Thailand is, of course, Thai pop music... which rivals only Italian pop music in terms of horrific mind-numbing banality. You also get treated to cover versions of 80s soft-rock classics such as this timeless number...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k9e157Ner90
Anyhow, the muay thai training is fantastic. The classes are two hours each, twice a day at 7 AM and 5 PM. After warmups there are five rounds of bag work then 5 rounds either sparring or working 1-on-1 with a trainer. Then there are three rounds of either grappling, technique work, kick drills, or my favorite: Learning the Wai Khru which is the ceremonial dance that each Muay Thai fighter performs in the ring before his fight. Sometimes the sparring sessions are done with the trainers, you know, guys who have had like 300 pro fights. They'll let you get a couple of jabs in and then throw some crazy flying knee at you then laugh. I'm learning a ton but it's completely kicking my ass. I'm not sure when exactly it happened but I'm now at the point when I start to wonder if age is a factor. When you're 25 and you're sore you're just sore. When you're 39 you ask yourself if you're sore because you got your ass kicked or because you're old. Stupid aging. Some of these guys I'm sparring against are 19. I'm leaning against the ropes between rounds in a pool of my own sweat and these jerks are bouncing around like kangaroos on meth. So... you know... fuck them. Maybe sometimes they accidentally get a knee in the ribs. Accidentally.
Here's a pretty good short video of what the Wai Khru looks like before a fight:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k92ibgC1JXo
Anyway, I didn't use to think about age much but for some reason it's come up quite a few times since I quit my job a few months ago. Maybe it's the traveling around and meeting new people so it comes up more often, or maybe it's some overarching philosophical turning point in life, or maybe I just have too much free time. It's most likely something inbetween. I've been trying to figure out exactly when it is that you turn the corner physically into "old" and I think it's when you start making sounds when you stand up or sit down. Something like a like a grunt or "Ooof" or "Mrgh" some kind of sound that signals it's a strain to get up out of a chair. You know what I'm talking about.
Anyhow, Rich and Cari showed up a few days ago so I'm no longer abstaining from beer. I still haven't had coffee in a few weeks which is not making the 7 AM classes any easier. Other than that... life is good. No pictures to share this time but I'll send an update after we take a trip to Khao Lak.
Take 'er easy,
Dave
