Wingapo Friends!
A day in the life blog is coming soon-ish (internet dependent). In the mean time, I realized I have not shared any funny stories, which are a large part of the race. Story time.
So in Thailand, while doing prayer walks, I passed a boxing ring. They had a ads for boxing lessons so one day, I stopped by the office and asked. The schedule and money worked so I decided why not. I even found a friend to go with me. So we get up super early one morning, trek to the boxing ring, and get going.
The first indication that this is not going as planned is when I’m told I cannot wear my glasses. My vision is not a little bad. The instructor is standing right next to me showing me a move over and over and I can’t see a thing. Meanwhile the instructor, clearly frustrated that a woman showed up keeps demanding in limited English, “Why you Ba-Ba? No Ba Ba. Ba Bab!” miming something I cannot see over and over. After fifteen minutes of this, we finally get a water break.
I give up on finding my water bottle and go for my glasses only to realize, there are about twenty matching tables and I have no idea which one my glasses are on. My friend helped me out, and the instructor realizes the problem. Both of us, having glasses are then treated to a lecture (half mimed) about how if we have glasses we will get punched and our glasses will break. And if your glasses break, you will get glass in your eye, so “you no can Muay Thai.” Explaining contacts did not seem like an awesome idea, so we agreed and continued our lesson.
For the rest of the hour the only feedback received was:
1) “Why you no ba ba?!”
2) “Why you karate? No Karate. Muay Thai.”
3) “You no Muay Thai.”
In case you were in doubt, I cannot Muay Thai. But, if you happen to be in Chaing Mai, I strongly recommend a boxing lesson from the boxing ring on the street behind Zion Hostel.
Have a great day!
