training day 5 & 6, and my day off

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first of all, yesterday (saturday) was the first time i went to TWO muay thai training sessions in one day! i have finally made it! i am becoming capable! after ample sweat, work, and agony, i am the epitome of success!

and surprisingly, two training sessions didn't feel much different than one! i was more tired at the end of the day, but not doublely tired. it was surprising.

on friday we tried boxing for the first time, in the ring, with an opponent. my opponent was an elderly gentleman named michael from brooklyn, and it was his first day. our match was a bit of a trainwreck. neither of us had ever boxed before, and we just both felt foolish.

yesterday, we learned this ceremony/introduction that fighters do when they enter the ring before they begin the fight. i forgot the name of it but i'll get it later. i'll try and bring my camera and get some pictures next time.

now TODAY. the great and wonderful SUNDAY which is famous because it is our DAY OFF: what a cool day.

the day started with an omlette down the road at a roadside restaurant. when i say restaurant, i mean plastic chairs and tables set up under a tarp or a tin roof, and a woman cooking outside. lots of flies and dogs, but no one pays either much attention.

then 3 of us decided to rent motorbikes. steffan met aviad and me at our hostel, and once we had all suited up, we took off down the road, headed for the nearest beach. mind you: this is the first time i have ever ridden a moped (it is automatic) and i was a little apprehensive. but it was great! i kept freaking myself out though, since they drive on the left side of the road here, and around every turn, when another car was coming from the other direction, for a split second, i was always sure it was going to be in my lane, about to plow me down. miraculously, it never happened!

when we got to the beach, WOW! the wind was whipping around. the waves were huge choppy shorebreakers. red flags up and down the beach flapped furiously. (red flags mean no swimming.) still, i was excited and determined. even in korea the famous haeundae beach was never a particularly alluring place, at least to go inside the water. but here, the landscape and everything reminded me of home so much more, i couldn't wait to get in.

aviad and steffan decided it wasn't really beach weather, so they decided to go explore the island. i stayed behind and hurled my ocean-starved self into the waves. what a riptide! i was amazed. i haven't felt power like that in the ocean in a very long time. this was stronger than sandy's. i am not surprised about the red flags. still, there is something invigorating about being slammed around by a powerful ocean.

just as i was thinking i'd go and do something different, i ran into 5 of the guys from camp, including brandon and nick. perfect timing. we all hurled ourselves into the water again, but no one got in further than waist-deep before, even in our youthful exuberance, we questioned the wisdom of this decision.

it is hard not to make this all sound trivial, but anyone who has experienced it knows the simple profundity of a good day at the beach.

apparently, when it is calmer, and there are more people, people set up all these chairs and matts and you can get a massage on the beach, listening to the sound of the waves. that sounds FANTASTIC.

after we were all good and tired, several of the guys decided to go home. shane and nick and i went to see the big buddha. my first day driving, and i also got to carry someone on the back of the bike. may seem foolish, but hey, my motto is:

"thai way or the highway."

of course, if i was really doing it the thai way, we would have fit all of us on the same moped.

the big buddha (once we actually found it after being gloriously lost for 20 minutes (i LOVE getting lost in a place like this, you see the coolest things)) was magnificent. but frustratingly in the process of being restored and was thus surrounded by a metal framework. it looked as if buddha, exhausted from his hundreds of years of meditation on this mountain, had opted for some kind of accupuncture treatment.

the big buddha is 45 meters tall. behind it is another buddha, this one gold and smaller. the light was fading while we were there, so i plan to go back to get some better pictures.

so that was that! an excellent day off.

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