Day 4 (Wednesday)@Rawai, Phuket

Beautiful morning today! I gopt up at 6.30am to walk to the gym. Im really starting to take in the surroundings now! Extremely lovely! Just as i almost reached Rawai beach, i met Martin on his motorbike. He stopped on the opposite side of the road & called out to give me a lift. We small talked on the way there and i asked him is true that they have an IKEA in every town? (Martin is from Sweden), He laughed out loud and said Yeah, there is a LOT of IKEAs in Sweden & he agreed that the meatballs are pretty darn good too! :-)

Our morning class was very good!! Joy taught us more how to block a punch & give back with an elbow to the opponent's face! We felt Joy was warming up to me & bro's antics. He looked very amused. I tripped & fell in the ring while trying to left kick Joy! Argh! So embarrassing! Got hit by Joy left, right, centre!! He'll yell “Block! Block! Hands strong!” I kept shutting my eyes out of reflex each time he hits, he told me “ Look, Eye open , No Fear!” Me & bro sparred together again... It was a really good session. We all had a good laugh!

Met Linda today, we trained together for the afternoon session. She's a tough lady! She's a Federal Police Officer from NZ, based in Brisbane. She's in the Australian S.W.A.T. !!! COOL ! Linda was so kind to offer me a ride home after we went for our pasar malam tour near the gym... I brought her around to have a look at Goong's and she stared in awe at Goong's pet squirrel! Linda has never seen a squirrel! She asked me if we have squirrels in Malaysia, i said yup, their everywhere! Even my dad keeps a few in our garden! She was almost shocked to hear when i told her my dad leaves fruits in the garden to feed & attract squirrels to come :-)

Day 3 (Tuesday)@Rawai, Phuket

Woke up at 6.15am... whole body in great pain! :-( legs limping from kicking punch bag without a shin guard... argh! Left Goong's Bungalwo at 6.50am, tried to run but was too painful, so i slow walked instead... The flower stall lady is used to the sight of me jogging by; We'd exchange "Sawatdee ka! " and they smile & nod their heads... Reached the gym at 7.20am... Geeee...
Had our third session with Joy. He's a bit more warmed up to me & bro now. We had a fun session albeit it was a very vigorous training! Joy taught us a LOT of techniques!! He taught us how to block a front kick, catch it, sweep it away & counter with a kick at the opponent! Left kick, U sweep the block with your right hand. Cool ! We practices it with a good speed so it looked awesome!

Lunch was at Nate's.. I had the Pad Thai Glass noodles... I dint quite like it somehow... Got ready by 3pm to go for our evening session.. We practiced mostly what we learnt that afternoon. Was very very sore & out of breath :-(

Amy had VIP lessons, so i walked back home myself... I stopped at 7-Eleven along Rawai beach to get some cup noodles, then it started to rain! Sky was dark by 7pm! Was kinda unnerving to walk in the dark, chilly rain... Was so beat up by the time i reached Goong's... Bro reached 30mins later, he got beef ball noodless (Strange, it tasted just like Wantan Mee)...

Day 2 (Monday)@Rawai, Phuket

Got up ay 6.00am... My first day of training. Dunno what to expect... Geeee... Was cold & i tumbled out of the bed, forlorn... The bathroom reeks with urine stench man.. shite. I got ready quickly & me & bro jogged to the gym. I struggled to keep up & he just went on & left me behind... Some brother...

Reached the gym, exhausted and we got our hand wraps. Fad, the trainer was very nice & taught us the proper way to tie the wrap. Then Joy took over the 1st session & asked us to shadow box facing the huge mirror. He's kinda a seasoned fighter so he assessed us that way. He can tell how much training you had before by your jabs, kicks & etc... He was very cold & not so friendly. He taught us the Muay Thai way of right kick, left kick, right knee, left knee & we had to kick the freaking punching bag barefoot! Fark! That really hurt like hell.... Then we found out the shin-guard was outta stock.. Darn...

We had lunch at Nate2 Cafe just a stone's throw away from Goong's. I had a friend rice with tomato squids & onions. Was lovely! Costs RM5... Same like KL mamak price... Nates is lovely.. Lots of plants... We were even friendly greeted by nate's in-house dog.. haha

Our 2nd session at 4pm was with Bungman!!! He is a mean looking killing machine with a pot-belly!!! Ha Ha... He taught us very well & we caught very quickly. I kept apologizing everytime I hit qwrongly or too hard, but Bungman was really nice, he will say "Its ok, Its ok" :-) Was kinda freaky but exciting to train on a boxing ring. I was in pain by the time training ended at 5.30pm. I met Amy & she was very sweet to offer me a ride home, so I suggested dinner later & she said the gang was going somewhere so we were welcomed to join.

Amy came knocking around 8pm, and we were going to Da Vinci, a very contemporary Italian Restaurant. I rode with Alex and he was very funny! He laughed when i told him "Hey, dun go so fast ya!" We had a pizza and it was alrite la, I'll take Bel Pasto's pizza anytime, anyday...
Went to bed with sores all over... Dint sleep too well with all the pain :-(

Day 1-Sunday@Rawai, Phuket

I got up very early that Sunday morning.... had my coffee... and started my last minute packing and headed downstairs, parents were still sleeping. When i opened the door, the door sensor screecged and my mom rushed down, she asked me something which din't make sense so i think she must be still dreaming... hehe... Felix came at 7.55am... He dropped me off at KL Sentral... I took the bus to LCCT... almost an hour's ride. I met a friendly guy, George & we had a nice chat all the way to LCCT. George was heading to Krabi with his friends...

I checked in almost 3 hours prior to my flight so I had my breakfast at Mcds... I have to say I din't expect LCCT to be so happening! They have almost everything! I was pleasantly suprised. McDs was packed! I had a HotCakes set & sat by the corner... Shit the Hotcakes were really good! :-)

An hour before my flight time I went in and hung around.... Then just 30mins before my flight, it started to pour !! FUCK ! Everybody looked worried in the queue, then there were some announcements but i dint hear a shite it was saying & then the crowd dispersed, everybody's face looked as black as charcoal... Apparently they delayed the flight but no further info. I text-ed bro, he replied "Kaninna..." ;-)

Rain stopped 10mins after my due flight time... Hooray! I was quite front in queue so i got a nice window seat! :) I admired the cute little clouds & the little islands.... The couple sitting beside me just slept through the entire flight. I was thankful cos' I wasnt in the mood to talk... Finally! Reached Phuket in an hour and fifteen minutes... Phew! Met my bro at the Arrival Hall... He oledi had a cheeseburger, 2 sandwich, 1 beer & 1 cofee while waiting for me. We took a cab 6500baht to get to Rawai Muay Thai camp. The journey made me slightly sick, was about 45mins ride.

We managed to find the Muay Thai gym. Danny was there to greet us. He's a tough looking dude with tattoos all over but spoke with a gentle Aussie twang. He was very nice & showed us around on his Hilux. Showed us Nai Harn beach, where to eat, and took us to our lodging, at Goong's Bungalows. I din't know what to expect. We were sharing a bungalow with Jack & Joe from UK. Their ok. Just a bit reckless with the bathroom *faint*

It was mostly all farangs (gwei lou) staying at Goong's. Met Amy. A lovely & sweet gal from Sydney. Me & bro had a light nap. Both too beat from the journey. We got a knock on the door bout 7.30, the guys were all outside having a seafood BBQ... they invited us to join them. We all ate like there was no tomorow... PiLi grilled cockles & LaLa, made sotong kerabu, chilli crabs & sotong salad... Everyone was full & happy...

I had a Wine Cooler called "Spy" and it made my head spin! Shit, bloody potent stuff. Knocked out at 10pm... Alarm set for 6.00am tomorrow... We'll be running 3km to the gym...

Sawatdee ka! From Phuket with love...

As i'm sitting here in this cyber cafe tucked somewhere near where I'm staying in Phuket, typing this blog, it's already been my 7th day here in Rawai Phuket... Life is extremely good here. I'm staying at Goong's Bungalows, accomodation of the Muay Thai gym. I was really pleasantly suprised to find EVERYTHING here! Fantastic Thai restaurants that are CHEAP! Internet cafes, Pubs, Rawai beach is just 500m away from Goong's & Nai Harn beach is merely 600m away! Nai Harn is extremely, extremely gorgeous.. U have Le Meridien overlooking the sea.. I'll share the pics with you guys when i get back next week! ;-)

Well I'll write all about my adventures slowly when i get back & put some pics for u too... Right now, i'm just gonna tell everyone I'm doin ok! I twisted my left hamstring yesterday from too much kicking & got some bruises on my shin from kicking the punching bags here.
I've met tremendously a LOT of lovely people here, the locals & people from all over the world, Linda from NZ, Amy from Sydney, Alex from Venezuela, Dimitri from Greece, Alexei from UK, Christian from France (tis guy was kinda stalking me!), GG from New York, Matt from Australia... Our trainers from Rawai are just brilliant! My favourite is Joy, OT, Bungman... Of course there's also Fad, Kak, Deng, Petsila & so many more. And of course, Chang, I've got such a crush on him! He's got a really sexy Buddhist tattoo on his back (same spot wf Mike's tattoo) I'll put up the pics soon. He was such a sweetie!! He wud give me rides from the gym back to Goong's... He always seem to appear mysteriously wen i'm walking on the main road or he always watches me wen i train... hmmm... Chang has got kicks that is capable of killing! I love to watch him train with the younger fighters. I've got quite a group of admirers here, my bro was teasing me to set up a fan club here! Ha Ha

Hmm... about training, I have to say everyday is like BodyCombat just with more pain! Its great fun here at the gym. There's no air-con, so u train with all the humidity of Phuket. There are 5 big boxing rings, cardio equipment & punching bags everywhere and they have a steam room! There's music blasting & the atmosphere is a real adrenaline rush. So far, me & bro are the only Asians there to train.. 98% are all farangs (Gwei Lous) U only get a handful of female students. Sooooo... hahaha, u get my drift? I get a lot of extra attention from the trainers :P

Every morning, i have to get up at 6.15am, training starts at 7am. It wud take about 40mins for me to walk to the gym from Goong's.. at times I'm lucky if any of my neighbours passes by, they'd stop & give me a lift... Yes, I've been picked up by a few cute gwei Lous, but i know them so I dun just follow strangers ok??? After training ends at 9am, I'll head for breakfast with bro and Linda. Food is heavenly here ... I wud take a nap if im beat up or watch Thai cable TV. I've been hooked since... hehe. I set out to walk to gym again at 3pm...

By the time i get home from my evening training i'll usually be limping a bit. I'll sit in front of TV and rub Flanil all over my sore spots... It's a lot of hard work but I'm telling u, the pain is definitely worth every cent!

Check my face out at: http://www.muaythai-training-phuket-thailand.com/
With love from Phuket.... ~koru~

READY? SET ! GO!!!

Started packing last night… 50% done… I’m a bag of mixed emotions…. There will be many first times… Being away for two weeks is definitely my first… Well at least my bro is with me this round. I still remember how terrified I was on my first time in S’pore… I was just 16 and my bro taught me the route from Ang Mo Kio to the MRT station, tossed me the spare keys, MRT card & said “You kau tim-lah k?”… I woke up that morning too frightened to step out the door!

Now, I’ll be going away for 2 weeks… Just got my parent’s consent last night…. Now how bout my guppies?… Oh dear… :-( I’ve got a great help from Felix to help me baby-sit for my 2 fighting fish… I’m almost done packing my things… Just three more days… Now I wonder if my Uncle will kill my cala lilies, roses & water orchid while i'm away.... ;-(

I have no idea how I’m gonna finish my load of work in the office. Tough luck to my colleague who’ll be handling my shit! Hahahaha… I’ll be buying him a big bag of Thai keropok-lah…. Kekekeke…..

Honey was a bit concerned, he asked "You bro wants to go for combat why he drag the sister along?" I told him, "In case I dont make it back alive, I just wan you to know I love you very much! "

I am soooo gonna get whooped there... I mite come back looking like a bruised fruit... Well.. once in a lifetime lor i guess?

Muay Thai !!!!!!!!! Here i come........

I don't even know where to start describing how excited i am about this Phuket trip!!! It was quite an impromptu thingy after a series of unfortunate events in the office. Lots of yelling, phone slamming, closed door discussion and resulted in me tendering my resignation. I could swear I saw my boss did a double take when I placed my resignation letter in front of her…. All in all, it was a pretty rough week. It got me thinking… What am I good for? What kind of difference can I make to change things around here???

So when my bro suggested to join him for two weeks in Phuket I jumped at the idea! I could use some time out! I thought how amusing is wud be of blogging about my expectations before I went cos I bet it’ll be totally outrageous after I get back.

Well lets see, my only exposure of Muay Thai came from my 2 years practice of BodyCombat… apart from that I knew nuts about it. I’m not even sure if with my current body condition, I could survive 3 days if hardcore muay thai training!
I did my research after that, and my oh my…..

According to Felix, back in Kelantan where he comes from; the style is pretty much sadistic. Grinding bones against iron rods to develop a stronger & harder bone structure. Check this out; the finale of it, is to be able to fall a banana tree with a single kick! BAREFOOT! Im not even half kidding…. I have no idea what to expect in my two weeks in Rawai, Phuket…. Oh dear me….
So guys, should I arrive back to KL by then in crutches, don’t even bother to ask me “So, how was it??” I will give you a look so cold, you’d have wished you were mute…..

I didn’t know to laugh or cry when I checked out their official website http://www.rawaimuaythai.com/ , it says that our day starts with running at 7am every morning and hardcore training at least 4 hours a day.... Geeee…. :-/

Well, I have to say I look forward to go see the beaches, the flea markets, make some friends, trains & get in shape, pick up some lethal moves? Hahahahahha Get sloshed at their full moon party….. OOOOHHH… I can’t wait !!!!!!!!!

Let’s see how it went by the time I get back next mth… Will keep u guys posted! FYI, my parents is not suppose to know about it!!!!