I'm back

It's 12:20 pm Monday morning and I'm sitting here in a coffee shop on the outskirts of Bangkok taking advantage of the free wifi.  It's been about a year since I was in the far east.  I made the bold decision to come back out simply because I really did not know where else to go.  I had just ended a relationship and by doing so just totally limited my opportunities where to go next.  I've always wanted to go to Barcelona or London but I figure I needed to go with a girlfriend if I wanted to do so.

I bought my plane ticket early and recently I've been going to Bangkok and Singapore.  This time around I'll be going to Tokyo instead.  You may ask why Tokyo?  Well to be honest, I studied the language for 4 years, watched countless fights and TV dramas that took place there, and I was so interested in the culture back when I was in college.

I did not really have an ideal opportunity to go to Japan over the past couple of years.  I lost contact with most of my Japanese friends that I studied with.  There was no real tour that I could find online that had a "one in all" in which the tour would include my flight, hotel, and a tour.

I did make the decision to finally go to Japan in 2011.  It was going to be my last leg of my trip after training in Bangkok.  But then the tsunami hit and I decided to go to Singapore instead.  Finally in late December of 2013 I decided to back to Bangkok and then fly out to Tokyo after I'm done training.

Well time go by fast.  It's now late September and it's Wednesday at around 1:30 pm.  I had just finished my workout few hours ago and it was tough.

The flight to Bangkok was a long a torturous one.  For the first time I flew out of SF in the afternoon, 1:30 pm to be exact.  The flight was 10 hours and I was not able to sleep well.  The cool thing was that I was able to watch "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" which is a movie that I would recommend all to watch.

When we finally landed in Tokyo for the stopover I was beat.  I had about 2 hours until I caught my connecting flight to Bangkok.  I took the opportunity to explore Narita International Airport.  After I was done exploring I waited in line to board my flight to Bangkok.

Flying to Bangkok was only 6 hours this time.  I took the opportunity to sleep and just listen to music.  When I finally landed in Bangkok it was close to 11 pm and getting through customs and immigration was a breeze.  I just waited for my ride and was whisked away to Kiatphontip Gym.

I got to the facility at around 1:30 am Bangkok time.  I  was able to fall asleep at 2 am.  Rob, the owner of the gym, did not expect me to be training in the morning in a few hours time but I was able to make it.

Training at Monday morning was just as intense as I expected it to be.  For the morning session there were two girls from Australia, a lad from the UK, and myself.  For the first few rounds there was a regular rotation between the four of us and the trainers.  It consisted of pad work, bag work, and conditioning circuits.  Training was from 7 am to about 9 am.  I came here strictly for this.  There aren't too many people in the world that would fly halfway around to endure this and I'm one of the few.

After training I was dead tired, took a shower, and headed off to my room.  I was spent and the hours of training back home still did not prepare me for this.  Nothing prepares you for the humidity and the two hour constant session.

I was about close to being asleep when one of the fighters knocks on my door to wake me up for breakfast.  I slowly get up and literally had to crawl out of bed.  It was in the kitchen that I meet up with the rest of the guys and girls that I'll be training with for the next two weeks.  There's Sam from the UK, a young kid who's here at the gym for 3 months.  There's Hannah and Rashella from Australia who are here for 3 weeks.  Pat, a over 40 year old from the UK who's now living in Manila.   As I am typing this he had just left to go back home.  And there's Rafael from Brazil and Jeremy from France.  I don't know too much of the two other than there polite to me.

Food over here is of the traditional Thai variety.  Rice, chicken, and fish in different variations and concoctions.  I was never a big fan of it to be honest.  However, I just deal with it and realize that it's better that I eat it to fuel me for the next session.

Afternoon training started off with 30 minutes of rope jumping.  I got paired with a trainer by the name of Yot.  He took me through the paces and pushed me hard.  I was very thankful for the push.  Training seems like it's longer than the morning session but in actually it's about the same length.  Training is from 3 pm to 5 pm and there's rarely a lull in action.  I'm literally spent now and after training I head back to my room so that I can take a shower and get some rest before dinner.

Dinner was not much different than what I've had in the past.  Rice, chicken, fish, veggies, and fresh pineapples.  I'm pretty much finished with dinner at  6 pm and I really did not have anything else to do for the rest of the evening.  I ask Rob what his plans were and he was actually going to the airport to pick up Oliver from the UK.  I ask Rob if I could tag along and he was surprised that I'd go but it was ok with him.

The ride from the gym to the airport takes about 45 minutes if there's no traffic.  On this particular day there wasn't any traffic so that ride there was smooth.  Rob unfortunately anticipated traffic and we ended up getting to the airport a lot earlier than expected.

With time to kill and the fact that Rob didn't have dinner we both decided to eat at Subway.  To get to the Subway is kind of a trek.  It's two floors down from the main floor, you then have to make a right in a corridor like hallway, and to your left it's right there.    I had the spicy italian and it tasted just like it does back home.  Only difference is that you only have one kind of cheese over here whereas back home you have many choices to choose from.

After dinner it was a short wait until we finally see Oliver.  All of us get in the car and then we head back to the gym.  I sit in the back and Oliver and Rob start bonding over Muay Thai.  Apparently Oliver is here for 6 months, never fought before, but has been training in the UK.  I literally start falling asleep as a result of the day's training and therefore I forget a lot of what's been said between Rob and Oliver.

When we finally get to the gym I head to my room, get myself situated, and then start sleeping peacefully through the night.  Very eventful first day.