Only a week left! Update: On the road home!

Well, just under a week. Pretty crazy to think
my adventure is almost over. I leave Pattaya Wednesday and head to
Bangkok for three days. There I plan to visit Lumpinee to get gear and
go to a fight. Maybe I'll try to be touristy and visit a temple or
something also. I gave myself two full days there so we shall see what
happens.
This week is going pretty well. My trainer Pon has been in Italy for a
convention of sorts where he is apparently a celebrity. I have been
training with Tia since Pon is not around. They have very different
styles of teaching so it has been fun to change it up for a week.
I have been somewhat lazy about running this week. The hotel where I am
staying has a pool so I have tried swimming a bit to make up for it. I
have never really swam that much so it actually kicked my butt pretty
well.

Update: I thought I was going to see Pon before I left, but
unfortunately I didn't get to train with him one last time. It was sad
to the leave gym. I gave the boys a soccer ball and a dart board that
they were very excited about. I am going to miss them tons. I know the
two that I where my buddies are going to grow a foot and turn into men
before I get to see them again. They are the two in front Dia and Beit. Everyone was chillin on the floor of one of the
rings after a long hot day of training.
So let me show you Sityodtong a little bit. Below is the statue that you
see when you first enter the camp.

When you look to the right of the statue you see
the gym. It is completely open. The breezes are so nice when its hot
and you are training really hard.

Another view as you get closer you can see the
bags lined up, then carpet and three rings behind that. There are also a
few bags behind the rings and a bunch of large tires to the left that
you can't see in the photo. I spent about 5-10min a day before training
jumping on the tires. Great calf workout!
Next is me and Ploy. She runs the place. She is
the daughter of Master Yodtong. She also trains as well.
Here is the camp mascot. His name is "Loi Lan"
Ploy says it means something along the lines of "a Million Bucks" in
Thai. He loves to play and loves having the boys around.
So my last day in Pattaya I went to get my
coffee at the local little coffee shop that I love and spotted one on
the many fruit vendors out front. I stocked up on fruit for my Journey
to Bangkok. These guys are awesome and I only wish that we has them in
the states. They are everywhere here. I think they are one of my
favorite things about Thailand. you can buy a sliced up mango for $.60
or some watermelon or pineapple for about $.30. So good!
Ok quick synopsis of Bangkok because I don't have to long till I board my last flight home.
SO I headed to Bangkok on Wednesday after I had
my last training session with Tia in the morning. It was rainy and
dreary when I left and all the boys were in school. I was a bit sad I
didn't really get to say goodbye to them properly. I left Pon a card to
say goodbye since I didn't get to see him either.
First night in Bangkok was great. I checked into a slightly nicer hotel
for my last three days just to chill and relax and have a comfy bed. I
think I lucked out really because I got a place for about $45 a night
and it was right downtown. The other hotel right down the street was
about $200 a night. The location was awesome.
First thing that I did when I woke up Thursday morning was head to the shop to pick up some gear. I found out it just so happened I was right down the
street from probably one of the best place to buy gear in Bangkok. I
spent about $180 on gear. I got 4 pairs of fancy shorts, new fancy twins
gloves, Thai pads, wraps, and ankle supports. I was like a kid in a
candy store. I spent hours there looking at everything. The ladies were
so sweet about it all. I probably saved myself $30 buying from her as
opposed to the actual retail stores at Lumpinee.
The first day I was only able to pick out some stuff and she had to order a few things I wanted from the Twins shop to come in the next day. So I decided to check out the downtown area where I was staying. I wandered into the Bangkok Arts and Culture building while downtown and it turned out to be pretty great. They had a "short film" film festival going on. Pretty cool to see what artists on the other side of the world are doing.
Next I wandered into the giant mall to look for some dinner. I found the most amazing place to eat and I am so jealous we don't have it in the states.

This Place is called "ShabuShi" It is an all you can eat Shabu Shabu and Sishi place for about $9.50. With the Shabu Shabu they give you a pot of broth and then all of the raw good come down aconveyer belt that runs to all the tables. (picture of conveyer belt above) you just pick what you want and toss it in your broth. It's the best! I went there two nights in a row. I am gonna miss that place.
Friday morning after breakfast I headed to the #1 attraction in Bangkok. The Wat Pra Kaew. Its a Palace that houses this highly esteemed Buddha that is completely carved out of Jade. The grounds have building completely covered in gold. it was crazy!
After retuning from the palace and grounds. I head to the Gear shop to pick up all my new goods. I was so excited. I spent majority of the rest of the afternoon trying to figure where to put everything in my bags. I don't know how, but some how I managed to fit everything. Phew, it literally took a few hours.
After packing I took off for Lumpinee that famous muay Thai boxing stadium. It was amazing and the fights were so good!
I can see why it's so famous.
I have tons more to say about it and lots more pictures but my flight is very close now so I'll keep it short.
Today I woke up early and took a cab to the airport. The first flight went smoothly. Now I am in Taiwan getting ready for my second flight of 15 hours. uggg
This was such a fun adventure! Hope you all have been able to enjoy my blog. I'll post all the other pics on facebook.
See you all at home!

sooo it's been a while

ahh training. In these photos is one of my biggest accomplishments. (well maybe not one of the biggest) See what I'm standing on. That's carpet. As a Farang(foreigner) it can initially be one of your worst nightmares. They don't do it like we do at home. It has taken me 3 weeks of ridiculous blisters to be able to train on that carpet. I did 5 rounds on the carpet Tuesday. My feet have never been so tough in their life. So, even if I am not as conditioned as I wish I could be before leaving, at least my feet are.

The last week has been a really tough one physically and emotionally. I spent majority of it in bed with a fever. ugg. I was only able to train Mon and Tues before it hit me. I am trying not to be too disappointed about it, but it's really difficult because I wanted to be further than where I currently am. Now I am going to have to use this entire next week to work back up to where I was. That's ok though. I'll try to work hard when I get home and use this summer to improve even more.
Yesterday I was still sick and starting to get worried, but today I woke up and am feeling a ton better. I think that I will finally get to have a really good week of training. No more sickness! Yes! I am really looking forward to focusing this last week and a half of training that I have left. Last Monday one of the boys kicked me good and I didn't block. This thing got even larger the next day. It's Sunday now and its still there! I have had it a whole week.

So, being that it's Sunday (my day off of training) and I was feeling good, I went to downtown Pattaya to check out this little cooking school I had read about on the internets. Happy Home Thai Cooking School.
The lady Sheri who runs it was super sweet. She gave me a three hour lesson on how to cook four different Thai dishes. I had so much fun. The food is definitely tasty in Thailand, but this was way better than anything I have had in the restaurants here. It was soo delicious! There were also two other people there taking lessons. They were cooking different food, so not only did I get to eat everything I made, I got to taste what they made also.
Below is all of the ingredients I cut up that I am about to crush and turn into Penang Curry paste.
Finished product: Penang Curry with Pork. It was so good
Now you know I am gonna be makin this when I get home. I am gonna have a Penang party.
I also made Tom Yum Kung spicy soup. It was amazing!
She also taught me how to make Pad Thai. It was good, but I wasn't as excited about it as I was the other two. But I will definitely still remake it at home.

Now to my favorite! I had this dish when I visited Taiwan and I have never been able to find it at any Thai places in the states. Now I know how to make it myself. I am so excited about it. It's my favorite cooked green. Stir Fried Morning Glory.

Yeah, that's me enjoying all the good eats.

Here we all are after a rough day slaving away in the kitchen. hah
The guy on the left was making all different Thai desserts so I made a bunch of notes about how to make them also. I am going to try to have a dinner party when I get home and make everyone Thai food.

Me and Sheri. She has 5 different classes so I might just try to take one more before I leave since I enjoyed the first one so much.
I'll leave you with this sign that was on the back of one of the toilets I was in earlier today.

Don't stand on the seat!