Thai Fighting

 

At a café in Chiang Mai, we met Peter Pan the Polish man. (Yes.) We shared the brownie that we both thought looked delicious (and it was), and as we chatted it emerged that he was in Thailand as a professional Muay Thai fighter.
Muay Thai is a particularly violent form of boxing that emphasizes elbow and knee strikes rather than punches, which are considered the weakest type of strike. It is hugely popular in Thailand. You can tell when a boxing match is going on because all of the usually-insistent taxi touts are clustered around the TV instead.

Anyway, we told Peter Pan that we were thinking about taking a Muay Thai class. Apparently, our bonding over the brownie was enough for Peter Pan to offer to take us to his training gym for a 2-hour private training session for both of us with some of the teachers at the gym. When we arrived, we were taken for a run, then led through the basic movements. Punch combinations, throwing elbows, and high spinning kicks.

Once my teacher was satisfied, we moved into the ring, where we spent a good 45 minutes of almost non-stop training, kicking, kneeing, and punching the bags my teacher held. Every so often, we were allowed to gasp over to the side of the ring to the water station, which consisted of a young Thai guy handing you a pink plastic ladle of ice-cold water from the barrel next to him. For good measure, we did 20 more minutes of push-ups and footwork/jumping training.

 

It was the most I had sweat since my last volleyball season! (The black workout clothes in the photo help to obscure this, but they are in fact soaked.) It felt great.

That night, we treated ourselves to foot massages, and spoke with the massage ladies about the upcoming Thai election.

Food!

Taking advantage of all four flavors (sweet, spicy, sour and bitter,) Thai food is one of the most complex types out there. Karen and I took a 9-dish cooking class in Chiang Mai to learn 9 of our favorite dishes. We took it at Taste from Heaven, a great vegetarian restaurant and cooking school. The total cost of the class was 900 baht, or $23, and included a recipe book for all the dishes, handy for when I'm home and can’t remember the exact ingredients for green chili powder. By chance, no one else signed up that morning, so we got a private lesson from the chef and his assistant. The kitchen was an outdoor covered patio on the second floor of the building, so we had a great breeze and view of the monsooning sky. Below are some photo highlights:
















The finished product:

From Make Me One With Everything

The ubiquitous pad thai

From Make Me One With Everything

Traditional thai coconut curry with lime...in a coconut!

From Make Me One With Everything

Mango and coconut sticky rice - Quite possibly better than chocolate cake. For those of you who know me well, that is something indeed.

From Make Me One With Everything

The only dish that gives mango-coconut sticky rice a run for its money - khow soi, a mix of indian, panang and masala curries with veggies and noodles inside and fried noodles on top.

From Make Me One With Everything

Hard at work pounding the green curry paste.

From Make Me One With Everything

From Make Me One With Everything

Volleyball and Lady Boys

A highlight of my time in Railay was playing beach volleyball with team of “lady boys.” Lady boys are males who identify as females, either before or after a surgery that makes them anatomically female. Lady boys occupy a very interesting place in Thai society. In marked contrast to Americans and many others, Thais are accepting of this “third gender.” The term “lady boy” is still sometimes used as a teasing insult, but it is also generally acknowledged there are men, there are women, and then there are lady boys. Sex tourism is huge is Thailand, and from what I have seen, many lady boys are involved. I have not heard of any “gentlemen women,” though I imagine they are out there.







Anyway, it felt great to play volleyball again. The ladies were really good, and could jump as high as men! :) The game was especially entertaining because during the long scrambling rallies where every touch is somewhat panicked, everyone started screeching. "Aaiii! Aaaaiiii!!" I lost a few points for us because I was laughing so hard.

Railay

As good as Kata beach was, Railay was better. While it is technically part of the mainland, the area’s topography renders roads useless, effectively making Railay an island. White sand beaches rest at the feet of giant limestone cliffs that jut straight up from the water for hundreds of meters . Constant water filtering down through the stone creates giant stalactites, some of them 20 meters long, and countless caves that make this place a rock climber’s dream.




















The stalactites, in particular, make the earth look like it is melting. One of the beaches in Railay, Pranang, was named of the ten most beautiful beaches in the world largely because it is bounded on either side by cliffs like this one:




















As I swam along the foot of these cliffs, I discovered that it was possible to climb out of the water into a huge cave that was cool and quiet. The main noises were the waves and the rhythmic rise and fall of Thai cicadas, like hundreds of rattle snakes. I found a tunnel large enough to stand up in and followed it for a bit until it led to a smaller cave. I didn’t keep going because it was pitch black and I had forgotten to pack my headlamp, but each time the cicada noise subsided, I could hear bats rustling and chattering. It was cool to feel so deep inside the Earth.













(not the cave)

One of the best parts of the week was exchanging stories with the various people we met. My friend Danton from Southern California met us in Railay, which was great. He brought with him Ryan, a hilarious 28-year-old who has been teaching biology and English in a new place each year for the past four years (Next up – Shanghai). To help cement stereotypes about backpackers, we also met Sam and Zoe, an unlikely couple from London and Baltimore who spend each summer in Humboldt County trimming pot and making just enough money in two months to spend the remaining ten traveling around the world. But don't worry, parents, I'm not getting any ideas. :)

Deserted Beauty

Though Kata Beach was beautiful, it is crammed with tourists. Searching for something less paved-over, we settled on Koh Yao Noi, which was billed in our guidebook as "Phuket, 20 years ago and undeveloped." Undeveloped it was, with a single road that looped the island and spectacular views. However, it is low season in Thailand (hot and rainy), and low means "semi-deserted" on Koh Yao Noi. It was lonely, and the accommodation options were two: arm and a leg luxury resorts, or extremely buggy. We soon left for Krabi and nearby Railay, which is just as beautiful but less expensive and more populated.

Stunning scenery and deserted beaches are Koh Yao Noi's biggest attractions.

Surfing Thai Style

Kata Beach is supposedly one of the best beaches in Phuket and in Thailand for surfing. The waves were indeed bigger here than at the others beaches we saw, but the monsoon winds presented a challenge. We gave it a shot anyway, renting boards from a group of rastafarian dudes. The second picture is the entire "board shop!" It was fun to get in the water, and we both caught a few!


Grommits live everywhere:

Beach food on the cheap

On Kata beach in Phuket, I had the best pad thai I've ever had, prepared to order with tofu, egg and extra carrot. It cost me $1.40. Karen and I ate ours on the sand. The sand almost ate mine instead, but thankfully I have reflexes like a cat.