when the going gets...

...good, its time to leave again. training has been getting better lately, i finally can finish a day and just be tired and my muscles sore unlike the last couple weeks where it hurts to move and all my joints are in rough shape. and of course now that ive reached this point it is prime time to start learning more since i don't have to worry about being to hurt to do it right...though now i only have a few more days of training here until i leave to go back to bangkok to join up with the tour. oh well, i guess there is always next time, plus im really hoping ill be able to keep up doing some sort of training while im on the road just so it doesn't hurt so much when i come back here. of course im still eating plenty since i have no dicipline when it comes that area so i also didn't accomplish my goal of going down in wieght instead of going up...we'll leave that to the last month or so im here...or something. i out did myself again on sunday when we went to the all you can eat korean bbq again, i have no idea how many plates of food i ate and the sad part is i could have eaten more too if i didn't stop myself. it seems im getting a good talent for eating...which brings me to my breakfast this morning. well kind of, this one was actually healthy so i get points for that i think. i made the greatest muesli, fruit and yoghurt ever! i normally just have a banana and then a yoghurt and a bit of muesli but i thought id step things up a bit this morning since i went to the market last night and bought more fruit. i cut up TWO bananas this time, plus an equal amount of pineapple and probably twice the amount of watermelon. then i added TWO containers of yoghurt instead of the usual ONE since there was more fruit so i need more yoghurt to cover it all. the same rule applied to the muesli aswell so i had to up that amount and then i saw a small box of frosted flakes that my old roomate (who just left) had left behind...so on went that for a little bit of extra crunch (and sweetness). never have a been so full on fruit before, luckily i had a coffee that i could drink slow and recover from such a feast. this is also one of the reasons why i didn't go to training this morning since i was too full to move quickly, which is a good enough excuse as any to make this a spa day and go sit by the pool down the road for awhile and try and get some color (since i seem to be fading quite quickly (and i can't be pale when i meet the rest of the pale canadians next week)). im just waiting now for the "bun guy" before i go do that, since he makes the greatest bbq pork buns and dumpling type stuff...i know, more eating. well, until next time...

almost out of sweat...

...well the phuket life is just like before. sweat, sweat, sweat...eat, eat, eat. im trying to watch that a bit but the first week back they were having a festival in the tempel next door so that meant lots and lots of interesting snacks and food. of course it also meant lots of noise and traffic so after a few days it was kinda annoying trying to sleep with loud singing and fireworks and cars honking outside the door of the house. since my street is the closest one to the temple all the traffic was routed down it and they had cleared a bunch of land for parking so it was all stop and go traffic. on the last day of the festival it was really busy and it was stand still traffic for a couple hours. i had my mountain bike as normal and just happened to be on the wrong end of the street since i went to the internet cafe where i could upload some photos that evening. so for about 3 kms bikes with the random car were all stopped, not going anywhere. i couldn't even fit my bike through all the traffic so for about 5 minutes i just waited with everyone else...though like im going to let anyone get me down for long. i noticed some people were getting off the backs of bikes and out of cars and walking through the narrow opening, so...up goes the bike lifted high above my head and i started my own journey through the maze of traffic. so for about 3 kms (up and down since some parts i could ride) i was getting a round of applause and pats on the back from every thai that i past while doing so...i guess finally my brain started working again a bit. i wish i had a video camera or something to record it though cause im sure it would have been a funny sight to see this white guy holding a bike above his head weaving through a sea of thai people and there vehicles while everyone is cheering them on...it kinda felt like a movie where someone is racing and falls near the end but then gets up and is cheered on all the way to the finish. im sure if their wasn't the same reaction i would have never been able to hold the bike up for so long...my shoulders were quite soar for the rest of the evening.

nothing else really exciting has been happening though, same workout, same pains, same thousands of punches in the head...though ive learnt that a punch on the forhead and top of the head hurts much less than one on the jaw so i keep my chin tucked a lot more these days (which is what you are supposed to do anyways). there seems to be a lot of tall people here these days so most of the time for sparring im just trying desperately to reach my opponent while eating tons of punches...im not dead yet so i must be getting tougher (sink of swim right). i think ill take the rest of the weekend off though (its friday afternoon) since i over extended my arm a few times sparring on wednesday and it isn't getting better without rest. sounds like a good enough excuse to hit the beach to me...plus there is supposed to be a sweet movie in the theatres right now that is kinda like "ong bak" except with a female star instead of tony ja. im sure it will hit theatres in america by the time i get home but it will be sweet seeing the movie before everyone else again (maybe even sit in a lazyboy while doing so...and then going to the market and buying a copy to bring home). ive watched the first two seasons of lost over the last week and half of season 3 but now there arn't any more discs where i was getting them from so i might have to give in and buy the rest of it just so i know what happens. i heard they are in the fourth season right now so hopefully ill be able to buy that one too before i head home. well i need to shower so that is all for now, until next time...

to sore to do anything else...

...plus im trying not to spend money and am really hungry but trying not to eat...so blogging sounds like a good way to waste a little bit of time. last time i left you i was still in bangkok praising the warmth...and well im not in bangkok anymore but my praises still go out to mr.sunshine and his warmth. i went to railey for a couple days that a nice relaxing time for coming back to phuket to train, well it didn't have the greatest start. it all started with me trying to be lazy and a know-it-all. we got to railey in the afternoon and it was low tide so we had a ways to walk to shore. now there was a nice little path to follow to reach east beach in railey but that was going in the opposite direction i wanted to go...so me being all high and mighty and knowing better than all the suckers that were walking the "wrong" way i decided to take the straight approach. not a good idea, after walking about 50 feet i started walking in a couple inches of mud that looked like it was going to be dry land. this started annoying me since my sandels kept flicking mud up my backside, getting myself and my bags muddy. still manageable though since i was "saving" so much time. when i was about half way though i was trekking through ankle deep mud, but now i found a way to walk in which my feet never left the mud so there was no flicking of mud. a little slower but i was already half way and still walking the direct route so it was still worth it. well at least until i started getting about 20 feet off shore and it dropped to about halfway up my calfs...but i was soo close. walking really slow now since i was loaded up with my big backpack on my back and then my smaller one on my front and my duffelbag full of suits and jackets in one hand and a plastic bag with my rice hats in the other (not really the greatest of trekking set up). i got a little frustrated when i was about 15 feet away cause the "suckers" who walked the "wrong" way were walking along the beach now (there is a row of thick bush trees along the beach in this area but i can still see through in the area in which im striving for) so my attempt in taking a short cut has failed and im actually quite on the losing end of the stick (taking longer and getting muddy). though i can feel it getting shallower and by the time im like 5 feet from shore the mud has already dropped to below my ankles...almost there. with my second last step to go suddenly my left foot sinks to well above my knee (and im wearing longer black shorts that have my cell phone in the bottom pocket...plus wallet, passport and other paper things in my top pockets). out of intinct of sinking so far forward causing me to lean forward i take another step with my right...it sinks probably a couple inches farther than my left...im stuck! and this isn't normal mud, this is oil that is filled with oil since the transport tractors drive this path everyday unloading stuff off the barge. im close enough to shore though that i can toss my bags (though i must mention i also see some more people walking along the 20 feet away (so they don't actually notice me) but my pride is hurt now and i don't want to call out since i can do this on my own), so one after the other i toss all the stuff im carrying onto hard packet ground where it is safe. myself on the otherhand isn't so easily removed, though i start the necessary rocking to try and get my feet free. my lead leg (right) is coming out a lot easier even though it is deeper, so i use this opportunity to take a bigger step forward with it (getting my crotch closer to the mud though) and reach out to harder land. the harder land crumbles a bit and falls into the mudpit but only about 8 or 10 inches so it is still good (plus when it falls into the mudpit it actually makes my stance a little closer which is a better position to pull out my other foot). as i start to to pull my other foot out i notice my sandle wants to stay where it is since it is hooked on something. not wanting to part with my stinking moldy sandle that has travelled everywhere with me so patriotically i have to save it. so down goes my left arm (no i didn't think to take off my watch first) all the way to my shoulder pretty much. a little difficulty but i finally get it free and pull it up to the surface and throw it onto the ground with my bags in a heap of tarlike mud. with a little bit of shaking back and forth and actually grabbing a hold of the handle on my duffle bag (its so heavy it makes a good ankor) i manage to free myself from my muddy grave (it would have swallowed my whole im sure). leaving my bags exactly where they were (though throwing a rock on my plastic bag of hats cause it is starting to blow away) i walked to the nearish place of assistance, which is a contruction site fortunetly enough that has a barrel of clean water i can use to wash myself off with. though in doing so i had to admit my stupidy and put up with thai people pointing and laughing at me while jabbering back and foreth at each (i don't want to know what they are saying). all cleaned up i go back and grab my bags and head to the yaya resort which i inteded on staying. to make matter worse though they didn't even have room there and i had to indeed walk to the other side of the beach (where that lovely path ended from earlier ended) anyways. so ya, that goes up with stupid coats i forgot about in vietnam for dumb things that i had done this trip (all being in the same week actually) and i suppose my book incidence (also same week as this) as well from bangkok...short story so ill tell it too quickly. pretty much i spent a long time looking for a sequal to book i had just read but i couldn't remember the authors name, of course as my friend pointed out later i had the first book with the authors name on it in my pocket cause i wanted to trade it in. ya, i blame not doing anything for 6 weeks for my week of stupidity. well thats all i want to write for now, until next time...

oh how warm it is...

...warm and sweet that is. back in thailand and loving it...it was just getting a little too cold in vietnam there. it got even colder than the last time i wrote due to us going on a overnight boat trip. the boats were absolutely beautiful, called junk boats for some reason, but like i said we stayed over night and it got cold. i had to buy a toque and gloves before getting on the boat and i was still freezing most of the time. there and back in hanoi i kept contemplating buying another sweater even though i needed it for only a few days but my cheapness overcame and i just held out...though stupid me finally realised (in the airport on the way back to thailand), or should i say remembered that i had just bought TWO winter jacket and i was carrying them around everywhere without putting two and two together that i could actually wear them. i still shake my head at myself for that one. but now im in thailand spending most of the day sweating away so im happy again. i met up with rich and izzy(the friends i met for new years) and met another friend of theirs that was in thailand (that actually took a free and easy trip in the past), plus another friend that we met last time we were in bangkok, PLUS another friend that i thought was long gone that i met in phuket. so the last few days have been filled with company. here i thought i was going to have a few days all by my lonesome just getting bored all the time. i booked my bus ticket down south and i leave tommorow...so soon i will have my precious beach again. my time is almost up on the internet and since i don't have any more baht on me i must be off. untill next time...