Day 28

I decided to cut out afternoon red bulls and use my ear plugs and was finally able to get a good nights sleep. Felt good. Did jiu jitsu in the morning with Dan and learned some cool half guard breaks and sweeps. After class Oh told us some Krabi Krabong stories. They have Thai vs Burmese fights on the border with no mouthguards and no gloves. Oh said when he used to fight they would tie the ropes around their hands and then treat the ropes to harden them. They no longer do this, but they do only use handwraps, and he said there are many fatalities from these fights. Oh said he had to lose one of his fights or he would have been killed. He said they showed him the gun. After breakfast we watched a dvd Oh had of one of these fights. The fights take place outside and the ring is as primitive as it gets. The ropes are actually ropes. The ring posts are actually wooden posts. There are no bleachers or seating, just a bunch of guys crowded around cheering. The fighters are wearing handwraps and are not exactly what I'd call technical. Pretty much its a Burmese version of the Agg-town fight videos. Gaz and I went to his place and his roomate, Tom from Australia was there. Tom recently purchased some black market BB guns and we did some target practice with his pump action BB shotgun and the M16 replica battery powered fully automatic. After that Gaz and I went to lift weights and then it was time for afternoon training. I did muay thai with Phet. Phet pretty much demands perfection from every punch, kick or elbow and is really vocal about it when you get it wrong. All of the trainers have come from different camps and have differences in their stances, striking, movements, etc. I like Phet's stance the best. Its the least like a western boxing stance and the most practical for mma in my opinion. After class we all went out to dinner and after dinner a couple of us headed to Gaz's house to watch Team America, play chess and shoot guns.