The First Week Ends

Training

In my first week at Chorenrit, I've been training once a day.  I'm trying to acclimatize to the weather and get my body use to the movements before doing 2 a day.  I think I should be ready next week.  So far I'm the only person who shows up to the gym every day, with 1 random tourist coming by to check out the gym.  Dunno if they are going to come back though.  Even though the training is good, the gym looks like a run down traditional thai gym which could turn people off, especially if they decide to check out the other gyms.  Right now I'm trying to perfect my roundhouse kick and learn new moves, like the roundhouse front kick combo.

So far I've planned my next two months of training out, with training until the Full Moon Party, then going to Sinbi Muay Thai in Phuket and training for another month.  Afterwards I plan to travel around, starting with Chiang Mai.

Food

Thongsala has quite a few food options, and I'm still in the process of trying out many different places.  The cheapest place to get food hands down is the Street Market by the 7-11 in town.  Food ranges from 10-50 baht.  But of course, fried cheap food isn't exactly the healthiest way to maintain a training diet.  This has led me elsewhere.

Khunpen: Restaurant owned by thai people, but serve thai and western food for good prices.  Decent food for decent prices, restaurant is ok.

Mason's Arms: A nice British looking venue just right outside the main city.  Serves authentic delicious British food.  Price on the high end 200-300 baht.

Bangers and mash, yes it's not thai but sometimes you need comfort food.

Santorini: Restaurant run by a former executive chef, whose name is, "Chef God".  Don't laugh, his food lives up to his name!  Gourmet food for around 200-600 baht, it's worth every penny, forget going out to eat an expensive meal at home.

I pretty much rotate my restaurants so I don't get bored of my food.

Day trip around the island

After being bored of driving around the island, I decided to take a tour on my day off, Sunday.  I chose to do a tour going around the island.  We took a ride in a pickup truck to Chalok Lum and took a longtailed boat to go snorkeling.  There were plenty of fish in the waters so it was a nice experience.  Unfortunately I don't have my underwater camera with me.  One woman was wearing a thong which was very nice.  Next we stopped by Bottle Beach and relaxed for 45 minutes.  The beach is really nice and scenic.  Our guide Bao tried to teach me how to spin the fireballs on ropes, but I had no luck.  On the boat ride back, everyone got sprayed with water.  If you ride a boat, expect to get wet.

Next we had a nice buffet lunch.  We had rice, curry, crocodile tail with vegetables, noodles, and fruits.  Afterwards we got to ride the elephants.  They were pretty small, but amusing to watch.  I got my own elephant.  She was old and slow:P  They basically took us around the area through various terrain.  It wasn't too bad, I wouldn't mind riding one again.

Since the waterfall was dry this time of the year, we went to the Wat Pho temple to get a good view.  Afterwards we went kayaking to a small island across from Thongsala.  There was a nice small lagoon to cool off in.  That was pretty much my Sunday.

Next up: More training and my new accomodation.