Tis Sunday today.

The last couple of days there've been problems with the internet connection at Don's cafe. Today there's an extra signal so I've hopped on it in the hope that's it's their temporary fix! Trying to explain that I need them to try turning their router off and on again didn't get me very far yesterday. There was a little American dude who was also trying to use the net and I left him to it after trying for a couple of hours. I had to get back to get ready to go to the fight anyway.

The photo of the flowers - Tim at Atsumi mentioned that it's spring, and you can tell by the looking around at everything blossoming..it's rather lovely. These flowers are in the pot outside the bungalow next to me. There's a nice Thai gentleman who comes past watering all the pots..keeping the plants looking healthy. I keep seeing all these flowers and not having time to stop and take a shot so I made a special effort with these ones.

Can't really remember what I was going to write the last couple of days...

I did want to mention my first sparring session..(best described as having a mock fight - ie kicks and punches without much power and focusing on technique). I was training with Him (his actual name :o) He was the trainer who first starting showing me the basics when I first arrived. He was wearing the large padded belt which I managed to kick in an awkward direction and got him via the belt below the belt! oops! Well yesterday while we were sparring..we'd finished a round and Tuk (one of the co-owners) got up to say there was going to be some food for everyone before the fights..but Him was trying to get me in a headlock with punches and kicks...so I knee-d him back and managed to get him in the gooleis again!! I do feel guilty but at the same time it does seems a little strange that none of the Thai guys seem to wear boxes..

David had been talking to Danny about Him and said that he was champion in Bangkok by the age of 16 and retired at 18 - and this is the guy who's training me. When I was training with Bang the day before I got very red in the face (as usual) so Him was stood at the side of the ring saying 'Nee-naw, nee-naw'...they are very funny and keep pushing you in a cheeky sort of way..it's great fun.

The fight was a much more enjoyable experience than the first one I went to. I knew a lot more people this time and the majority of the fights had someone from Rawai fighting in them. We sort of dominated the stadium a bit. We take up one of the three stands and last night we took up nearly the whole stand on the right hand side (which is the largest of the 3 stands). I think all bar one of our fighters won and the one who lost fought really well (he's only 9!). One of the girls here went for a title and it was very close but unfortunately it didn't go her way. That right at the end of the night by which time everyone was really pumped up and the whole stand was shouting, chanting and really going for it. The photo below is Lindsay just before the fight.

On the way down I met a couple more people - Steve and Bianca who recently arrived from Canada and are also here for a couple of months. I met a finnish guy who is leaving today (who's name I need to physically read before I'll be able to remember it) and a Mexican called Rodrigo who is staying for 4 or 5 months and lives a couple of bungalows down from me. He was really nice to talk to on the way to the stadium, great big smile and on a bit of an adventure. He comes across as a very happy go lucky kind of person. At the fight itself I found I was the only one who'd been to this stadium so far so managed to get everyone to move to the stand closest to the corner where our fighters would be starting from.

David and Susunnah turned up (Suse is still on her detox so they came down on the bike). It was great watching Rawai fighters that we've all seen training in the ring.

The last couple of days I've introduced curry and rice into my diet after fruit and salads - the chicken and rice haven't given me any problems and seemed to have helped raise my energy levels so I think it's the safe option at the moment. This afternoon I tried a cesar salad and I'm not sure about the anchovies...I think I should be staying away from fish and cheese at the moment..doesn't feel like it offers me anything extra..

I bought my first set of shin pads yesterday morning - nice red ones with foamy padding down the shin and top of the foot. Forgot to take a photo..will have to ask someone to help me out with that tomorrow morning. I also had to get an ankle brace as the side kicks have been mostly on the right hand side and my ankle joint was hurting a little - it's linked into the liver reflex problem I was having during the detox..which Una treated again before she left (I couldn't walk on it at Friendship beach when we were all there before people started to leave). I've not done much on the power side of training since it started to hurt and it seems to be pretty good again now. I am keeping my self treats of reiki and reflexology as regular as possible - when I'm not passed out in the heat :o)

Brain's a little fried to day...after getting back late last night I sort of dozed all through the morning (the Swedish girls last night were still up at 5am - but I only noticed for about 10 mins and slept the rest of the way through). I should point out I haven't had any alcohol since finishing the detox and probably won't before I leave here - there's a lovely 10 year old bottle of bordeaux at home which I'm really looking forward to in a couple of months..well less than 8 weeks now!

I also watched some movies this morning and stretched out my back..but haven't really done anything today - it's been a lovely lazy sunday. Sun's starting to set now and I've topped up with fruit, salad and I can smell curry...might be mine for dinner! I didn't eat properly yesterday at all, so I think I'm due for some more good food in a bit.