Day 9

On account of my late night and hell ride I slept right through training this morning. I was still pretty stiff from yesterdays training but I thought I would grab some lunch and go see Kata Beach and then come back in time for afternoon training. Had Pad Thai from the vendor at the temple again. Addicting. Less than a dollar for a restaurant sized portion. Actually every meal here is only one or two dollars. The drive to Kata was beautiful. Driving through these hills you get some really great views of the islands and the ocean. Im taking to this place like a gull takes to the wind.

Kata beach was really serene. No swimming allowed but the water was gorgeous. This is a surfing beach, I saw a billboard that they have a surfing competition here in September. There was shopping but it was less the den of thieves that Patong was. I stopped in one seaside restaurant for some sweet and sour chicken. It was served first with some rice or corn chip type things in different shapes and colors that you dip in this sweet but spicy chili sauce. The meal was good and dessert was a huge plate of watermelon, pineapple and banana cut into fancy shapes. Since I couldn't swim here I thought I would go ahead and head back to camp.

I got back about 2:00 and thought I had just enough time to rest my eyes before training. I ended up passing out until about 1:00 am. Possibly still have jet lag. I couldn't sleep at this point so I read some Leviathan and eventually fell back to sleep.

Here are some of the other guests that I have met at the camp: Will, the owner. He has lived here 11 years and the taxi driver said he used to play pro football in Florida. The way the taxi driver talked I was expecting Marlon Brando with an army in the jungle, but he is really cool. From Ireland: Gary and Kevin. From U.K.: Julian, Gaz, Dave, Adam. Julian has been in Thailand 7 or 8 months and been at this camp 2 or 3 weeks. Gaz is one of the MMA instructors and got here the day before I did. He has had 17 pro mma fights. Adam is here with his wife, they just got married and had a couple weeks of honeymoon before coming here, they are off to Australia for a month after this. From Australia: Christian, Daniel, and Adam. Christian has a broad background in many martial arts and owns a couple of schools in Australia. Daniel is the other mma instructor and said he was born in Australia but sounds like he has been travelling the world for many years. Adam is a retired pro rugby player who now owns two personal training studios in Australia. He said he grew up in Hong Kong but mentioned that he had lived in South Africa for awhile. He listed some extensive injuries from rugby but is mostly recovered now. From Poland: Elly who is getting ready for a pro fight in a couple of weeks. From L.A.: Cesar who fights Monday night. The guy he is fighting is the champion and belt holder at Patong Stadium and beat one of the trainers before. He said Will told him his opponent has broken guys arms and legs with his kicks.

There better not be any new slang when I get back.