Thursday night 5/30

I was planning to leave Fairtex Bangplee for Pattaya tonight. It is Friday night and the other fighters invited me to go out to some local bars but I had to decline.

Later that night a huge storm came. It was too dangerous to make the 2 hr cab ride in that weather. The laundry that I had put out to dry was soaked again. I was out of fresh water in my room, but when I stepped out to go to the water fountain my foot sank into like 6 inches of water. I had to take a prescription medication so I thought ‘I’ll just take it with like 1oz of tap water’. Big mistake! As soon as I tasted that tap water I knew I’d be sick. Tasted like creek water. I watched some of the other campers stumble in throughout the night drunk.

Saturday
Woke up around 630am for my morning training. I was so proud of the improvement I’d made in such a short time. My movements felt instinctive and fluid. My injuries were recovering rapidly. My blocks were intuitive. The day before I had gone 10 rounds with my trainer. Endurance is not a problem. Technique, injury, and trauma to the joints are what slows me down. I had felt my tummy aching since I woke up (from the sewage water I drank) and I knew it would only be a matter of time til I got sick. At round 9 I had to run to the bathroom and call it quits with the morning workout.

I went to my room and prepared to leave to Pattaya. I went to every fighter’s room to give a personal goodbye and give them my contact info. It takes a certain type of person to travel to a foreign country and live at a camp where you train for such a brutal sport. I am very adventurous; I like to take risks and try new things. I feel that I had found a rare group of kindred spirits there at the camp. I’ll miss them.

Next I went to say bye to the leopards. I poked at them through their cage and they purred and we played little games with our hands.

Next the monkeys; my favorites. They were especially playful that day. But those little f*ckers are sneaky- lemme tell ya. One of them was hugging me through the cage and another grabbed my hair with both fists. Obviously I was distracted so I didn’t notice when a third monkey managed to unzip my fanny pack and grab my keys!!!!! I didn’t even know until I saw him chewing on my key chain and saw my keys on the floor inside their cage. I got an employee to skillfully retrieve the keys with a long stick.

Lastly I bid farewell to both my trainers. I left them tips and big hugs and thank yous.

I loaded my luggage in a cab and head off for the 2 hr drive to meet my parents in Pattaya; an exotic beach resort town kinda like Hawaii- but way crazier. As soon as I got in the cab I was overwhelmed by fatigue. I guess my body realized the constant punching and kicking had stopped for the moment and it saw it’s opportunity to rest! I arrived at the 5 star resort and reunited with my parents. The resort was grand and luxurious! A far cry from the camp where we didn’t even have bed sheets. But my heart sank a bit. I missed the tough life at the camp. Anyway, when I got there I was barely conscience; I was sooooo tired. I tried to make myself stay up bc I only had 1 1/2 days to explore Pattaya. I decided to get a pedicure in the resort to relax for a bit. I couldn’t even sit up during the pedicure! Fortunately the pedicurist let me lay down while she did my toes. I went to my room to take a ‘nap’ and wound up sleeping about 15 hrs til the next morning. That night I literally dreamt of fighting. I went over the form in my mind- kicking with a pointed toe while pivoting on the other toe, catching my opponents kicks and knocking him down, keeping my wrist straight during my punches. There is nothing like the adrenaline rush you get from fighting. I’ve been infected with the bug…. The fighting bug. I’m a very long way from actually competing; you need to train for a minimum of 8 months to actually compete, and the fear of serious injury and permanent scaring makes me hesitate. Moreover, the nearest Fairtex is in San Francisco….. I’m trying to find somewhere closer to my home. Training to compete requires about two hours a day. I’m already in the gym all day; I already have two gym memberships; so if I seriously decided to compete I’d have to drive to a third gym to train for another 2 hrs. I don’t know. I need to think about it.

Sunday

Woke up around 730am and felt rejuvenated. My had body desperately needed the break. Went down to the resort breakfast buffet. I ate 7 (yes, 7) fried eggs, 3 pieces of toast with jam, and a glass of OJ. Eggs tasted abnormally delicious to me all week. I guess my body needed the protein.

Threw on my shiny gold bikini and went across the street to the breath takingly gorgeous beach. It was a tropical paradise; beached umbrellas, white sand, and clear blue water.

There were a few European tourists but the vast majority were Asian. Apparently long blond hair, big eyes, and fair skin are a very rare sight for them. Everyone was staring at me. Then, people began coming up and asking to take pictures with me. Pretty soon there was a line of Asian tourists and families waiting to take pictures with me. I was shocked, humbled, and amazed. All this for little old me? Why? I don’t know how many pictures I took but it was A LOT. I felt like a celebrity.

The locals were selling everything on the beach….from food to drinks to tattoos to tours. I decided to go para sailing. This was my third or forth time para sailing (FYI, para sailing is where you are attached to a parachute and a boat takes you flying over the ocean). I love para sailing. It is so peaceful and beautiful. The view is spectacular. It is the closest I’ll ever come to flying.

Next I wandered the streets of Pattaya. I was so happy with my hair extensions I decided to get more. (when I got them in Bangkok the hairdresser ran out of hair before she finished). To I went into a salon and had them finish the job. I found out that the hair actually comes from Cambodia (they just dye it blond to match my color). The women there sell their hair (if it is long and high quality) for about $35. Hair extensions are a tedious process. I spent about 5 hrs in the salon and was getting really antsy. It was TOTALLY worth it though. I spent about $60 that day and $100 the first time. The same real hair extensions in the US would have costed over a grand. I bought a bunch or hair to bring home too. I got both curly and straight so I can keep up the extensions if I choose.

Around 830pm I went to downtown Pattaya with my parents. There is a street called “The Walking Street’ (that’s what the sign said) that is lined with bars, shops, strip clubs, street performers, restaurants, and fighting rings. Some of the things I saw were too graphic for me to write about. I knew that Thailand was famous for prostitution, but I was flabbergasted by to magnitude and severity of it. Hundreds and hundreds of half naked beautiful young Thai girls (some looked as young as 13) filled the bars and streets. Some where dressed as sexy school girls, some as stewardesses, and some as tigers (yes, I said tigers). I was disgusted and disturbed by how widespread the prostitution is and how young some of the girls were. It also seemed very socially acceptable. Why does the Thai government allow it? Well, I guess it is a major source of income for the economy.

Many of the bars have fighting rings where amateur Muay Thai fighters fight for tips. Brutal. I think it was even more brutal then the professional fights. I saw some horrible kicks to the head and knockouts.

There were a lot of kids and families out there… Some of the kids preform on the street (in the middle of the red light district) for money. Some are acrobats and some sing or dance. At one of the bars people were ordering bowls of huge fried insects as snacks; the same way we Americans would munch on popcorn. They were even serving huge fried scorpions! There were worms, beetles, grasshoppers…. I dared my dad to eat one but he wouldn’t.

One of the bars had a mechanical bull. You know me…. I had to try it! That thing is tough! My my screamed when my head almost slammed into the bull. It was really fun and challenging.

We headed back to the resort and I decided to get a full body 90 minute massage. I was in heaven. It costed about $9 and it was a great way to finish of the trip.

Around 3am we left Pattaya for the airport. I was heartbroken. I love Thailand. I learned and grew so much. I will never be the same.

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