Farang-atangs & ling (monkey) Day 16 – 18 (June 11 – 13)

July 4, 2012 7:36 pm

tags: Culture, Dragon Muay Thai, Food, Muay Thai training, Phuket

Monday Day 16 June 11

Today begins my final week of training in Phuket and I really want to make the best of it….my knee is still tweaked so I just took some Advils & Tiger Balm…I’m not feeling too sick so decided to book a private lesson with Kru Joy again. Before training, I picked up some Top King shin guards for 1800 baht at Phuket Fight store http://www.phuket-fight-store.com/

During my private lesson, we worked on:

right and left teeps. He had me take a step forward and plant my right foot forward in a 45 degree angle before going into my left teep.
uppercut punches
stance, foot work
“No technique, no power.”
Muay Thai bounce in my stance
sparring: worked on leg check, then low-kick followed by throw-down
Cool down: 50 knees in the corner of the ring, 200 sit-ups, stretches, calf up-downs, one leg-kick stretch

I saw a guy with a camera during my session, so asked him afterwards if he could email them to me. He was friendly enough to give me the camera to copy the pics to my laptop. Found out he also video-taped me! Watch it here: http://youtu.be/kUjglWStHzI

Later that afternoon, Nick took me and his friend Ocean to Old Phuket Town…it’s a bit more “authentic” and not as “farang-afied” as regular Phuket. We drove our scooters and stopped by a local spot for appetizers. Then made our way up the mountain to see ling (monkey).

Tip: If you go visit, make sure to bring bananas or nuts to feed the monkeys. They are so cute and sometimes stick their hands out for food, haha.

On the trail up, locals are either walking or jogging up the mountain. At the top, there’s a a “gym”. There were also nice spots to take some scenic pics of Phuket.

Monkey Bizness, Part I: http://youtu.be/mG0HC5klY_E

Monkey Bizness, Part II: http://youtu.be/N9cOr6gP5FY

The day is not done yet…One of the kewl guys I met here in Phuket was Vincent Miranda from Australia…he’s about my age and been living/ training in Phuket for about a month. Tonight is his first Muay Thai fight in Patong Stadium (he’s the biggest guy and the main event). His brother Paolo flew in from Australia to watch as well. Nick, Ryan and myself take a cab out and get VIP seats to watch, around 1800 – 2000 baht, which is just as expensive as the more famous Lumpinee stadium in Bangkok…but whatever, it will be my first fight here in Thailand. Vincent wins the match with a knockout in the first round, congrats buddy! You can watch the professional footage on youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7skRfqhspVM

Tuesday Day 17 – June 12

I was definitely feeling sick today so decided not to train…just took my antibiotics and vitamins.

The last meditation class I attended was last Tuesday with Nick, Nathalie and Ryan…it down poured all of Wednesday and Thursday so we just did meditation in Nick’s room. He had some podcasts that were relaxing. However, the weather was nice today so Nathalie and I drove to see Toby at Phuket Meditation for a session. http://www.phuket-meditation.com/

Afterwards, I drove out to Nai Harn beach to work on my tan. Usually I’m much darker and tan easy, but the weather has been crap. Zaheer, Mike and Suhaila were supposed to be there, but I missed them. It all worked out though because I spotted the Miranda brothers (Vincent and Paolo) a few minutes after I got there and just hung out with them. We stayed for a few hours.

Later that night, Zaheer, Mike, Suhaila and myself went for Salsa class again. Then we ate dinner at Wine Connection, a “nicer” restaurant with good western food…the Bangers n Mash were delicious.

Wednesday Day 18 – June 13

Besides feeling sick still, my right knee and right foot (arch) were still hurting tons…foot-work and balance are very important in Muay Thai…so I decided to rest again and give my body some time to recover.

For a late breakfast, i went to some deli that sold NYC style bagels…I fiend for bagels! It was 100 baht, which is expensive for out here. It wasn’t bad.

For lunch I went to Muay Thai House with Nathalie. I definitely recommend this place because it’s right across the street from us and the food is pretty good and reasonably priced…but more importantly, it looks clean. 🙂 Meaning no food poisoning, which takes away from training time, got it?!

Afterwards we went next door to Le Charme Tattoo shop…it’s a needle-gun shop and apparently a lot of the guys from Dragon Muay Thai go here for their ink. They’ll give you a discount if you train there. I flipped through some books and the guy looks like he does nice work. But I still was unsure if I wanted traditional bamboo (sak yant) or quick-and-easy needle-gun.

Late-afternoon I decided to hit up Rawai Gym so I could at least workout my upper-body. Ended up doing a chest and back workout.

When I came back, I met Zaheer and we got a two-hour foot and sports/ oil massage from Intanna.

Since it was Wednesday, the movies at Central mall are half-price…so some of went to check out the new Ridley Scott movie in 3D, Prometheus. Of course I was hungry afterwards, so went on a mission for food…mind you it’s around 1:30 – 2:00 AM…my usual noodle soup cart is closing down….so drive down a bit….another one is washing her dishes and closed. On the 3rd cart, the lady finally replies that she’s open…score! hahaha I’m so addicted to these soup carts.