Bangkok

So, who's seen the Hangover 2?  takes place in Bangkok.  well its a good thing i haven't seen it yet or I'd be very disappointed.  So, picture this: the hangover 2 sans both a hangover and everything relating to alcohol.  I know what you're thinking, not much of a movie, right?  well, Thailand's national elections are July 3.  BUT, turns out the elections in Bangkok were actually yesterday.  something we didn't know was that In order for people to make better decisions, selling alcohol was ILLEGAL this whole past weekend.  So, everyone knows i don't need to be drunk to have a good time, but it was a surprising twist.  

But, nothing too crazy of note in Bangkok.  matt and i hired a tuktuk one day to take us to the tourist stops:  some temples and buddahs.  We went to the royal palace, but it turned out to be closed.  well, most of it was closed.  there was some temple of the emerald buddah that was quite beautiful that was open.  Although we kept getting pushed out of the way by monks who I guess were having to do some buddah stuff for whatever holiday it was on Friday.  so yeah, things were closing early on friday because of some holiday.  

Sunday, Matt was bedridden frickin again from being sick.  "My belly hurt." Went so I went out to breakfast with a girl named Justyna we met in Hoi An, Vietnam as well as a guy we had met the night before from London, named Doug.  While we were planning our day, including going to some crazy market some girl nearby over heard us and asked if she could join us.  So, of course she could come.  Her name was Julia from Germany.  This whole Backpacker traveler lifestyle is interesting.  I mean, can you imagine just sitting at a coffee shop asking people to join them on their touring around the city?  that being said, I do have some other thoughts on backpackers that i'll prob talk about in another post when i have nothing better to talk about.  

That night matt and I just went to a nearby hotel/hostel where they were showing Inglorious Basterds.  what a great movie, although I kinda fell asleep for most of it.  we were going to go out, but i was too groggy.  

Okay, so not the most exciting post.  i got it.  it was a nice weekend, but nothing too special.

BUT

I am now in Phuket where I have begun my Muay Thai training.  there are a whole bunch of things taught here, but i guess I'll only talk about what i'm doing.  I'm starting out in the beginner class.  The class consists of basic techniques while intensely working out.  holy crap, i've never sweat so much.  With every punch or kick, I splattered sweat at whatever or whoever was in front of me.  Luckily, everyone was sweating.  And finally I get to work out in an environment where no shirt and shoes is encouraged!  by the way, it's pretty much taught outside.  There's a roof, but no walls.  I'll take some pics some other time.  I'm hoping to get up to the intermediate class before i leave in a week, but we'll see.  It's pretty clear that i have more experience than most of the people in this class.  Unfortunately, there are some very fundamentally different things with the techniques that i'm not used to.  maybe tomorrow i'll go work on my own to get better at certain stuff. (maybe i'll give specifics later for my martial arts oriented friends).  

So the one thing i felt bad about is that when it came to sparring they put me with this girl who had only trained a total of 1 week in her whole life (slightly less than my >20years).  this really wouldn't have been a problem.  I'm usually actually a good person to have good control.  It was her first time sparring ever actually and she wasn't even sure what to do.  I, and one of the little thai dudes were telling her to do certain things (jab, cross, kick etc).  i was throwing out some light punches/kicks for her.  I told her not to worry about hurting me.  Unfortunately she took this as "go really hard on me."  Honestly, i didn't care.  but she kicked my elbow really hard; when she kicked, i didn't even move just so she could get used to aiming for a target.  but for those of you who don't know what that feels like it hurts.  I think there's a slight chance she may have actually broken her foot.  I'll keep an eye on it.  I feel a little bad, but the truth is i didn't even move and she hit a hard target.  When a group of the advanced students asked what happened, she said I hurt her foot.  Immediately they said, "you kicked his elbow didn't you."  so, as long as everyone knows it wasn't my fault i don't look like that much of a butthole.

wow, okay, i'm realizing this is a boring post. but i'm exausted from lack of sleep and intense working out today.  time for bed.

okay, sorry about the long martial arts paragraph.  but well, that's going to be a big part of my next week.  wahoo!  imagine this, living right outside of a martial arts gym with access to a bunch of classes.  there's a lil food place there that is always showing MMA fights.  and there are a ton of beaches and stuff nearby.  This should be a great week if my body can hold up.