Days 24 - 26: cock-a-doodle-d...FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, SHUT UP.



big boiler behind the rooms



sauna



Day 24: Sunday, much resting was done. Like...laying in bed and watching movies till 3pm type resting. After everyone started to wake up from their mid-day slumber, we made our way to the much anticipated saunas as everyone was plenty sore from the week's training.The saunas, run by monks, are a few concrete rooms big enough for 8 or so people, complete with tiled benches, burning blocks and heaps of bundled up greens to burn. Imagine vaporizing Vick's Vaporub and just hanging around a thick cloud of it - boy does that clear you up. They had a little hose outside to wash yourself off before, after and between sittings. It was a really nice day out, some cloud cover to block out some of the sun and a slight breeze blowing through. This time of year has been much more forgiving - weatherwise, than my last trip to Thailand which was in the months of May - June.

The cloud cover soon turned to an absolute downpour which was unfortunate for Pii A as he had to drive into Bangkok and stay overnight with Taam and a few of the guys for Taam's fight at Raja the following evening.

Oh yeah, Muu came back!

Day 25: Nothing of significance here, Apirak seems to be picking up training. He might have a fight coming up. Putting in 6 rounds with Kru Dam now, focusing a lot on elbows and getting my eye much better in the pocket. I think I'm slated to go pro upon return to the states within a month+. Hoping everything follows through and I can start elbowing/getting elbowed real soon.

Day 26: Sleep is getting tougher and tougher here. At the beginning, I was able to sleep right through all the nonsense, maybe waking up for a second and then falling back asleep no problem. There is one dog at the camp who unleashes the worst, most throaty howl every single night when the other neighborhood dogs start howling at the convenient hour of 12 am. This in turn gets those stupid roosters going...ugh. Whatever, I complained about this before.



The spread.



Our table, overlooking the Mae Klong.



Mae Klong.



Pii A and his dad suprised us with a breakfast trip to an Isaan style restaurant in Ban Pong which I think is one, maybe two towns over from Tha Maka. Isaan food, to the best of my knowledge, relies heavily on being wicked spicy (even for Thai food), including some form of fish/sea creature and having loads sticky rice at the ready. The food was great and it was cool having everyone there. P'neh had returned from his 5 days cock fighting excursion back home, he was looking much better now having put back on some weight and his injuries healed.



Snakehead fish.



P'neh has some decent english truth be told. He probably won't be having a fully fledged conversation with you but he can definitely get his point across, no matter what the subject matter. He does however have genuine talent when it comes to mimicking English words/accents. A few times now, I've been mid (English) conversation with someone, only to have P'neh repeat my last sentence out loud - not recognizing that voice wondering who else speaks English at the camp, I whip around to see P'neh standing their with a sly grin obviously enjoying every second of our confusion. I don't think me writing about it does justice to how oddly accurate his mimicking skills are, you're just gonna have to trust me on this one...or experience it yourself!

We returned to the camp and all hit the hay as a result of the Isaan food coma. I could've kept eating that food all day. Turns out, Kru Dam and I would get the chance to learn eachother's respective word for "stomach ache." I barely made it through the run and pads without having to make emergency bathroom breaks. I'll save ya the details. Your body weight in sticky rice paired with spicy food is not a good pre-training meal believe it or not.

Time is winding down and it's truly a bummer. I wish I could stay here for another 2 months at least. Everyone is starting to warm up to us and vice versa - this experience has been amazing to say the least. Even if I had to just come and live at the camp without the ability to train, I think I would love it just as much.