Budget: 1800B/$60; Spent: 3020B/$101
We slept in until around 11am and headed straight to the corner restaurant for breakfast. This place is actually on the corner of a street, hence the name "Corner Restaurant". Food has been tasting so good the past few days since we've started exercising again. It's amazing how much happier we have felt since getting active again. It's such an important part of our lives back home and unfortunately on this trip we haven't done a good job of consistently working out, but Muay Thai has reminded us of how good it feels to just get exercise!
After breakfast we went back to the hostel and did some stuff on the internet, checking e-mails, facebook, etc. I don't have a proper sports bra with me so we decided to go to a nearby shopping mall to find me one. We ended up also buying some shower stuff at the grocery store on the lower floor. It's amazing how many whitening products are sold in Asia. We finally found a regular body wash and a well priced shampoo. Sports bras hard to come by in Chiang Mai, at least quality ones. I actually fit an extra large! Only in Asia! So in the end I walked out with an extra large Nike bra on sale for 50% off. It should do the trick for the rest of the week.
By the time we got back home there wasn't much time before Muay Thai. We just sat around and shortly after our ride rolled up and we hopped on the back of the truck.
S
We're finally kind of getting used the routine for our sessions. First thing we do is jump rope for warm up. Afterwards we do a quick stretch and get our hands wrapped by the trainers. From there we belong to the trainers and they tell us what to do. Today, the owner Chelsea taught us some foot work, more specifically the different kinds of approaches and retreats: big steps, smalls steps, one foot leading, etc. He's a friendly guy and a good teacher, though not as hard on us as Samart.
Chelsea then had the two of us learn how to absorb kicks and then return with one. We practiced this on each other for about 20 minutes. Long was assisting Chelsea the whole time and they both would get really excited when we did things well. It's a good feeling.
Afterwards I worked with Long on the floor doing some simple combinations like jabbing and then punching. It doesn't get much simpler than that, but even this basic combo is so tough to get right. I still very much punch like a girl. Long made fun of me a lot talking about how pretty I make the movements look. All I could do is laugh at myself and try harder. It's still not great, but I think I'm making progress finally. The biggest problem with my punch I learned today was that I don't twist my body enough. All the power is only coming from my arm, which is kind of scrawny so thanks to Long today, this made a big difference.
I then went into the ring and worked with Wimbledon for 4 rounds. The guy killed me. I could barely move at the end of each round. He also made fun of me a lot. First thing he said to me was that he liked my pedicure. Finally a man who notices these things! We had some good laughs when he had me continually step forward and punch and kick only then move out of the way so that I almost hit Long in the face as he sat watching us. This happened about 3 times. Luckily I stopped before actually hitting Long, if only barely. Again my form when punching was criticized by Wimbledon and he said the same thing Long said, that I wasn't using my core to punch. By the end I think I can say I actually learned how to punch properly! Another reason I have come to like Muay Thai so much is simply seeing myself improve everyday. That makes it very satisfying.
Meanwhile, Jeff was working with Perg, who doesn't smile much, but when he does smile, you know you finally did something well. He's very different than most of the other trainers in that he is mild mannered and fairly quiet. He has no expectations of you and therefore there is no pressure. Jeff performed better with him as a result and he really enjoyed working with him.
At the end we did some work on the punching bag doing the exhausting exercise of kneeing the bag consecutively 50 times. The objective is to push and pull the enormous heavy bag back and forth as you exert as much power as you can into kneeing the bag as if it were you're opponent. Getting the form right when you're so tired is also very difficult. But what a great workout.
Last part of the session was just stretching. We talked to Landon about going out for dinner and told him to invite Jon. We agreed to meet up around 8pm at our guesthouse.
That night Lewis showed up with Landon for dinner, but Jon was apparently busy with his writing so didn't join us.We went to a kind of expensive Italian place for dinner. Though I must say, I was impressed with the authenticity of the food. My gnocchi were delicious. Jeff on the other hand didn't enjoy his pizza.
During dinner we got know each of them better. Landon seemed tired though. Lewis talks a lot and is very outgoing. He told us about his experience doing Kung Fu in China. There, kids get beaten for the smallest mistakes, like showing up 5 minutes late, or not finishing a drill properly. The students also get very little food and little rest. Lewis was saying all they do aside from train for Kung Fu is eat and sleep. Their days start at 5am and don't end until 5pm that night. Of course they eat 3 meals a day, but it's often only a bowl of rice with some chicken. There was not much variety in their diets, and all the students were weak and in his opinion malnourished. Based on his description of the experience (by the way, he lasted 3 months there!) it sounded like pure hell. He seemed in good spirits about it though, surprisingly.
Landon told us he lived in Korea for a couple years and has been living abroad for the past 6 years. He has a sister back in the US who is getting married soon, but apparently the two are not very close. Lewis is the baby of the family. He and Jeff shared funny experiences about being tormented by older siblings. Lewis made us laugh about when his older brother and sister would put his favourite stuffed toy up on the tallest shelf in their kitchen and he would cry, yelling out the toy's name. We all had a good laugh. Overall it was a nice dinner.
We got back to the guesthouse around 10pm. We were running on empty by this point and pretty much went to bed to rest up for another fun day of Muay Thai.
No comments:
Post a Comment