After a night that I'd rather forget, I decided to take Saturday off. As a practicing Seventh Day Adventist I decided to attend Mission Seventh Day Adventist church for the morning's worship service. However, before I left I was asked by the gym to stay behind for a few minutes as there was a girl, who was doing a documentary on Muay Thai, that wanted to interview me.
I stayed around and was interviewed. I was asked general questions on why I went to Thailand to train, how is the training, how does Muay Thai Compare to other martial arts, and finally to give a shout out to anyone who was going to watch the documentary.
I was honored to do the interview and fortunately I was not the only one that was being interviewed. The rest of my gym mates were interviewed but I feel that mine was the best because I answered every question not only honestly but to give an interesting answer so that the interviewer came off with a great interview.
After sticking around for a few minutes it was then time for me to go to church. After arriving at Mission Seventh Day Adventist church I was notified that communion was going to take place. I was happy that I made the right decision to attend.
After the service I then took a motorcycle taxi to Siam Paragon. Siam Paragon is Southeast Asia's biggest mall. I decided to have lunch there and did not really have a place in mind. When I arrived within the vicinity of Siam Paragon I ended up seeing an Outback Steakhouse on the rooftop. I then decided that was where I was going to have lunch. Outback Steakhouse never tasted so good.
After deciding that I had enough fun for the day I took a Taxi back to the gym. The afternoon session was still going on. When I'm training I never get to see the other people train, particularly the pro's. I took it upon myself to watch and learn how the pro's bang it out. I've seen pro's train many times and it just never gets old for me.
After dinner it was time to wind down and get ready for the next day.
Sunday is a day off for the gym. There is no training for anyone so everybody pretty much just slept in. When I woke up around 10 am I went to have breakfast when the owner of the gym called us out and told us that there are some Muay Thai fights that were being shown on TV but that we could actually be there live free of charge. As soon as I heard that the fights were free I was all over it.
The ride to the fights gave me a perspective on how big Bangkok is. Bangkok is a huge city, it took another 45 minutes to an hour just to get to the fights. The fights were good, they were not as good as the ones at Rajadamnern Stadium the previous week. However, I liked being there and soaked up the atmosphere.
We got back relatively early in the afternoon so I decided to get a haircut. I've gotten a haircut from the same hairdresser here in Thailand for the past three years. It was here that my friend Diogo asked me if I wanted to go with him to Khaosan Rd. to get a pizza after my haircut. I replied that it would be fine.
After my haircut I asked Diogo why we had to go all the way to Khaosan Rd. to get a pizza when we could just go to Pizza Company (Thailand's Domino's) or Pizza Hut. Diogo stated that the pizza that we were going to eat is the best pizza in Bangkok and that it was authentic in the style of Italy. Knowing that it probably is a great pizza I nevertheless wanted to piss Diogo off.
I repeatedly kept asking Diogo if the pizza really was good. I stated that there are probably some better places that we can go to but that he just wanted to go Khaosan Rd. because the pizza was probably the cheapest. I then stated how can we be eating authentic Italian Pizza when we were in Bangkok in the middle of Southeast Asia. Diogo then replied in his Portuguese accent:
'My friend, you probably think that the Pizza you eat in the States is the best. I really think that the pizza you eat at Pizza Hut or Pizza Company is shit and is a bastardized version of the true pizza that comes from Italy. Being from Portugal I am true fan of Italian food and when I say that the pizza at Khaosan Rd. is authentic and tastes better than any of the shit you just mentioned I really mean it. If you do not want to go with me to Khaosan Rd . then just say so and go to the Central Pin Klao (Shopping Mall) and have that bastardized recipe you call a pizza.'
I then laughed and stated that I was looking forward to eating at Khaosan Rd. and tasting the pizza he mentioned. I then stated that I just wanted to piss him off. He smiled, called me an a-hole, and then we were off to have dinner.
I really do not like Khaosan Rd., it is a major tourist attraction and it is constantly packed with people, especially on weekends. When we finally arrived at our destination I surveyed the area and really liked the atmosphere. I ordered a pizza (the name of the pizza I cannot pronounce) and I must say it was a great pizza. Really thin crust, not too much sauce, and it did not look anything like I was used to. I gave my thumbs up to Diogo and called it a day.
With the weekend behind me it was time to get serious. I view this week as a crucial week for me in terms of my weight and fitness. Last week was a week to get acclimated, get used to the training, and take in some good food with some good people. I then decided that I was going to sleep well, eat right, and train hard.
The morning training was first and with a new group of people from Canada I wanted to get my work in as soon as possible. I worked with trainer Ta and he pushed me hard. For four five minute rounds I went non stop and earned the respect of my trainer. My punches are ok but my left leg was dialed in. My wind was strong and after the rounds with Ta, I then went to work on the bag. All in all it was 3 hours of hard training. Harder than most of the other morning sessions I had simply because I wanted to train harder.
After that morning session I had breakfast and after breakfast I had to sleep. My body was aching and I wanted to recuperate for the longer and harder afternoon session. When the afternoon session started I decided to work with Mao, a former champion of Thailand. Working with Mao was good because he corrected a lot of my technique. Again it was non-stop work for 4 rounds. After about 5 - 6 rounds on the bag it was time for clinch training. I was paired off with Robert a Chinese Muay Thai practitioner from Canada. He got tired faster than I did but he killed me in the clinch. It was obvious he was better in the clinch than I was. I stuck it out but it was tough. After clinching it was time to run and I did not have much gas to run after the 2 previous hours of training. I did stick it out and ran and after the customary cool down exercises it was time to call it a day.
So right now in Thailandit is about 11:20 pm on Monday evening. I have 4 more days to dial it in before I leave for the Fairtex Gym in Pattaya City.
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