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Seth and I are sitting outside by the pool, waiting while our room is cleaned by hotel staff, so I figured I might as well use this time to write a blog post. For the first time I've forgotten to put on sunscreen before we left our room (the cleaning team arrived earlier than normal so we were caught unprepared). While Seth sits and finalizes details for the next step of our trip, I hide in the ever-shrinking spot of shade.
After about 3 ½ weeks of island living, we are preparing to move off to our next location, Krabi. We passed through the town on our way to Koh Lanta, as the island is a part of the Krabi Province. Krabi itself is on the mainland, and is home to national forests, hot springs, and some of the world's best rock climbing. Seth has repeatedly made me promise to do Muay Thai with him, and I will happily oblige as the best rockwall in the district is nicknamed Muay Thai! After a few days there we will then travel north to Khao Sok National Park, where we will spend four days hiking waterfalls, searching for wild elephants, bears, guars, tapirs, gibbons, deer, the flying foxes, and over 300 different species of birds. Needless to say, I'm very excited for this portion of the trip. Next we will travel another 3 hours north to Ranong, a small city and growing tourist destination that lies on the border to Myanmar. Known for its excellent fusion cuisine and hot springs we will spend a few days relaxing on the beach here before traveling up to Hua Hin to meet Jennifer.
We will keep you updated with plans as they develop! Now here is Seth to bore you with more ranting about Muay Thai. (jk seth i looooove you)
Muay Thai continues to suck in the best way possible! Still haven't had a single day without some sort of injury but getting regular exercise for the first time in six years feels amazing. I'm going to Phuket to watch one of the guys from the gym fight on the 21st. Hopefully the bus doesn't breakdown again.... Cute moments from the gym: a little thai kid climbed up a 200 pound heavy bag and clung to the chain at the top, 8 feet off the floor, while my trainer smashed it with knees and heavy kicks. The kid was laughing and screaming with fun and fear, and every hammering blow almost sent the kid flying. It was the thai equivalent of those awesome 80's-90's super dangerous playgrounds that they took down for destroying children, like those tables on springs that you can jump on or big see saws. One day it rained and the gym was infested with giant red toads that have huge bodies and tiny limbs. We were jogging in between them and I kept expecting to feel one pop between my toes (no glasses!). I saw a little kid climb to the top of the ropes and then do a WWE-style leg drop on another kid in the ring. The Thai men laugh when the kids cry and quickly the kids are laughing themselves. None of that American helicopter parenting here!
Decided to post a few videos of sparring with the head trainer. He's a beast with a hundred fights so he's basically styling on me while leaving small openings in his guard / footwork and seeing if I can take advantage of them. Finally he goes ham with punches and I basically get owned for a minute and a half. Lots of fun! Here are the links:
KCK
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Wow!
Sounds like you've got a great set of adventures planned! Thanks for keeping us all in the loop. We love hearing from you.