Yesterday night I finally got home after a 9hr flight from Bangkok to Melbourne, a 6hr overlay where I caught up with an old high school friend and another couple hours flight to Brisbane. It was a loooong day but I felt glad to be home if not a little bittersweet.
It’s always bittersweet when you have to go home after staying in a place for a while, you feel like you’re becoming a part of that place and then you have to leave. I’m happy to be at home with family and familiarity but sad to have left all the new friends I’ve made and the culture and lifestyle I briefly got the joy of living while over there.
Last training day at Sitmonchai
My last day training at Sitmonchai was pretty relaxed. I didn’t push as hard through the sessions as I wanted but I’ll blame that on my bad case of diahorea the day before. A few other people at the camp weren’t feeling to well either including Kru Damm who didn’t show up and who I usually went on the pads with, but that gave me the opportunity to work with Kru Jaa.
I skipped the morning jog and just did some technical sparring with Kru Bun and a Russian kid that’s training for a title in Uzbekistan (I think that was the story), I wasn’t 100% but I didn’t feel sh*t after the session. So I made myself do the afternoon jog and felt alright, my stomach did feel every bounce on the run though but it held through.
Then I managed a few rounds on the pad with Kru Jaa – even though it felt like a slow pace he has a way of making you work throughout that gets you pretty tired. Followed by some clinching technique where Apilek (spelling?) was dancing around in between laughing while throwing me around like a rag doll. Not the hardest session I’ve done, but I still learned as much in 1 session than I would in a week back home. That’s the spoils of training Muay Thai in Thailand.
The day was rounded off with Mama’s cooking (I’m really gonna miss her pad thai) and a final Tesco run for some ice cream, Coke and Leo beer.
On the way back we stopped by Kru Mii’s to sit for a bit where some of the guys were enjoying some beer and barbeque. In pure Thai style Ew (spelling?) kept refilling my cup of beer when it was near half empty and I kept trying to finish it so he wouldn’t have to refill it.
After a few drinks, some nicely barbequed beef and a few laughs at Asanee’s expense – the guys put on some of his music videos from Beautiful Boxer – we walked back home and had a random food party where everyone shared their snacks on the table. It was a Saturday night and as there’s not much to do in Tha Maka I stayed up chatting with Ashima and Mangaia, while a few of the boys headed out to a local bar.
Goodbye Sitmonchai
My final day at Sitmonchai was brief and I woke up to the sounds of someone training.. on a Sunday??? It was the Russian kid doing some rounds on the pads with Kru Mii, I felt a bit sorry for the guy – because it was a Sunday and you’re meant to reast – and cause I wasn’t sure if training was at his own will or his father’s whom seems to always be keeping a close eye on him.
After a final breakfast from Mama I packed my bags into the car and said some brief goodbye’s. I’m not very good at goodbye’s because I’m more of a “I’ll see you again” type of guy. But it was a bit sad, especially once I was packed into the back of the car and a Kru Jaa, Nakano and a few others said goodbye again; then while waiting for the minivan to Bangkok, Simone and Peetu (who I’ve known since I arrived at Sitmonchai) went first because we missed a couple vans because they were too full and couldn’t fit all of us.
I spent the last couple of hours at Mah Boo Krong (MBK) with Mangaia doing some last minute present shopping for family and friends back home.
If you’ve only got a day or a few hours in Bangkok and want to do some shopping then I recommend MBK. They have 8 floors of shopping goodness, with each floor dedicated to something e.g. clothing, electronics, jewellery etc. There’s also a bunch of restaurants on the 7th floor and cinemas and on the 6th floor a bag drop off (for free!!) so if you got luggage with you, you can leave it there for the day.You can get there easily by Skytrain hopping off at National Stadium (the last station on that line).
I even managed to briefly catch up with Boyd and his mum at MBK before catching the Skytrain (full backpacks and all) to Suvarnabhumi airport, checking in and squeezing in one last foot massage before boarding the long flight home. Not a bad last day in a country I’m definitely going to be visiting more in future.
