Journey

The rant of a Zombie

Janice — Thu, 02 Sep 2010 01:35:03 +0000

Feeling like a bit of a zombie today 'coz I sprang awake at 5am and couldn't get back to sleep.

This has been happening to me for awhile now and I really don't know why. I haven't been sleeping any earlier, but somehow I've been waking earlier and earlier and earlier, and it is so frustrating.

The good thing about being home, however, is that instead of waking up frustrated in an unfamiliar hotel environment, I wake up to familiar sounds and things that make me feel grateful to be alive.

Hubba's deep breathing and the silhouette of his peaceful face in the dark; Sally's snuggly fur somewhere between us... And this morning, Rosco heard me stirring and crawled up right up to my chest. I hugged him tight like a bolster, one leg wrapped over him and all. He put his head on my arm and heaved a heavy sigh.

More and more these days, I am so grateful to be home.... even if I am feeling a tad exhausted from the lack of sleep!

He knows

Janice — Tue, 31 Aug 2010 06:33:10 +0000

This is my boy, every single day.

He watches me get dressed, when all he wants to do is play.

Pilgrimage

Janice — Sun, 29 Aug 2010 03:29:11 +0000

"It is more than just a training camp; it’s a right of passage among foreign fighters that symbolizes that they have come of age in the Muay Thai world."

sityodtong camp, pattaya

I have been in Thailand for work this week and since I seem to have a little bit of time this morning, I thought I'd quickly put this post in before the colourful details of my great visit to Sityodtong in Pattaya escape me.

When I first knew that I would be coming to Thailand for work, I didn't think much of it. Not that I don't absolutely love Thailand to begin with - it's one of my favourite countries to visit - but it was just going to be another work trip to me. But when I realized I'd be coming to Pattaya - the true home of Sityodtong Muay Thai and Evolve - I got very excited indeed.

It probably made things even better that Kru Toy, one of my instructors at Evolve and the Grandmaster Kru Yodtong's son, was going to be coming back in the same week for his holidays. When he heard I would be in the area, he invited me to come for training and I quickly looked into my schedule to see if I would be able to do so.

When the day came, Kru Toy picked me up from my hotel and took me to the training camp. As soon as I walked onto its premises, I felt like I was in the presence of greatness.

"Kru Yodtong is the best and most well known teacher of Thai Boxing inside Thailand and around the world. He is and continues to be the individual most responsible for promoting Muay Thai to the world.... From Rob Kaman to Raymond Decker, anyone who is anyone in the Muay Thai world, has made the pilgrimage and have gone to Yodtong’s camp Sityodtong, to learn from the master himself."

This was where Lumpini champions were made.

This was these champions lived, trained and grown up.

I was in absolute awe.

Then of course, Kru Toy introduced me to his father.

Grandmaster Kru Yodtong

I had read about his history and what he had done for Muay Thai internationally. I had see his pictures and known his face. And here he was right in front of me, saying hello to me in a friendly manner as a wai-ed at him.

with Grandmaster Kru Yodtong

I sat around with Grandmaster Yodtong, Kru Toy and some of the family for awhile before training commenced. Kru Toy took me around the school premises and showed me some of the memorabilia around the place which was a bit of a history lesson. I saw a lot of familiar faces of champions who have taught me or ones I've just seen around Evolve. It's funny how you don't think about these things when you're walking around them back home. They're all so humble and friendly.

kru toy shows me the proud history of sityodtong

can you spot yoddecha in there somewhere?

As I prepared myself for training, Grandmaster Yodtong took it upon himself to help me wrap my hands. I was surprised and knew this was a special honour, so I sat quietly whilst the great master did his thing.

a moment of great honour

I later found out that he hardly ever wraps anyone's hands and Chatri even said that in all his years of training under the Grandmaster, he had never had his hands wrapped once! Although I did not know this at the time, I knew it was special anyway.

Training Time

When I was ready, the school assigned Kru Nuch as my teacher for the day. This was going to be a a few hours of one-on-one training, something that I have not experienced before. At Evolve, a big part of our warm-up is 5-10 minutes of skipping. Here at Sityodtong, I was asked to jump on a big lorry tyre for 10 minutes.

Seemed simple enough - But after what I'm sure was less than 5 minutes, the outer muscles of my calves started to ache. No, sting. Ouch. Whatever it was, my legs felt like they were WRECKED when I got off them tyres. The little kids there jumped on them for ages. I felt like a wussy.

Then it was training time. Kru Nuch got into the ring with the pads and did five rounds with me - I'm not sure how long a round was but I was sweating like a pig. We worked on my kicks, push-kicks, blocks and combinations. Kru Nuch had a lot of comments about my technique which I'd not heard before and I guessed it was because he was watching me with 'new' eyes. He reminded me a lot of Kru Nueng: cheeky, fun, always faking and catching me off-guard!

In between the rounds, I felt like a fighter. Kru Nuch would feed me water - more so I wouldn't have to take my gloves off - and pour water over my head and shoulders to cool me down. When the five rounds were over, I thought that would be it but it was not. I got out and did another few rounds of punch practice with him on the mats. We worked on my punches, elbows and combinations. THEN it was push-kick and attacking with the bag.

I actually don't know how long training was. Kru Toy reckons it was more than 2 hours but I think it was more like two. Whatever the case, I was absolutely knackered after. I was beat.

I thanked Kru Nuch, gave him a big sweaty hug and then sat around stretching whilst he continued to train some of the other kids around the school.

kru nuch, my trainer for the day

After some stretching, I had a shower and sat around watching the little boys clinch and spar. Now I know why they are so lethal and good when they get to an older age and they are champions by the time they are 20. They were so little but already their technique and reaction-time was so advanced!

kru tum training some of the boys

I also saw a lot of familiar faces that afternoon. Kru Tum from Evolve was training some of the younger fighters there, and Kru Noi from the Pomo gym was also there. I truly was at the home of Evolve :)

with kru tum

with kru noi

Sityodtong is truly an international camp - Just like me, there were a lot of other foreigners around me who had obviously made the pilgrimage to the camp for training. There was a girl from Hong Kong on the bags, a few guys from Japan and a number of other farang around. I really want to go back again someday... And I know Hubba would love the workout too!

After training, I bid fareful to Sityodtong.

Special Student

Kru Toy and his lovely wife took me and Edith out that evening for dinner. And Kru Nueng came in all the way from Bangkok as well. I felt very special indeed.

with nueng, my first ever muay thai teacher at evolve

with kru nueng, kru toy and his wife tan

Boy, did we feast!!! It was probably one of the best Thai meals I have ever had. I'm kinda drooling this morning just at the thought of it =P

And you know.... It's funny but I really felt like I was with family in Pattaya - They really took care of me and made me (and Edith) feel very welcome. And for this, I am forever grateful.

I did not get to say goodbye to the Grandmaster but I have a feeling I will be back again.

I know there's going to be an anniversary celebration back at Sityodtong in Pattaya in November - Something I hope we'll be able to make it to, but I have a sinking feeling we will be moving house at that time and might not be able to make it.

Whatever the case though, I know I want to come back.

And I will :)

I will miss this

Janice — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 23:30:37 +0000

If there's one thing I love about Ghim Moh, it's the good food and gentle buzz of the heartlands.

Every weekend - or anytime I have the time really - I take great pleasure in strolling to the market for breakfast and just watching the folks go by.

I'm not sure the new place will have this but I'll always treasure our memories made here.

Boing!!

Janice — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 08:48:46 +0000

I laughed at this..... Very old skool...

Reminded me of the days when I was over at the cuz's place and playing on her Atari.... blowing the dust out of the cassettes before hammering them into the console. Fun!

Have a little Grace

Janice — Thu, 19 Aug 2010 07:34:12 +0000

On describing beautiful new notebooks in fancy stationery stores:

they're like... the cereal aisle in a supermarket. i love them because they seem so full of promise

G says the darndest things sometimes but it always makes me :)

Something’s Coming

Janice — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 09:36:50 +0000

Could be!
Who knows?
There's something due any day;
I will know right away,
Soon as it shows.
It may come cannonballing down through the sky,
Gleam in its eye,
Bright as a rose!

....

Could it be? Yes, it could.
Something's coming, something good,
If I can wait!
Something's coming, I don't know what it is,
But it is
Gonna be great!

....

Shake some action’s what I need

Janice — Wed, 18 Aug 2010 02:12:06 +0000

what's in the box?

I received a box of gourment surprises from my friends Amanda & Mervyn the other day. They knew I'd love the treat, being the greedy gus that I am. My challenge? To create something out of the ingredients within.

I was so excited to look inside and to my delight, I unwrapped one of my favourite fruits in the world that I probably don't eat enough of.

fresh juicy strawberries... the sweetest i've tasted in awhile!

the list of ingredients that came in the box

everything came in the right portions too

Being the organized cookery geniuses that they are, however, they did include a recipe that I could have chosen to follow: Strawberry Panacotta.

I strapped on my apron and had the full intention of being all domestic goddess-like so I could take the dessert over to Brookvale for dinner, when I realized that I didn't have the right equipment to make the whole endeavour a success.

1. No handheld blender
2. No serving cups
FAIL

So I thought I'd be creative and come up with the next best thing - A Gourmet Smoothie!

I chopped the strawberries up, put them in the blender with milk and ice - ok I cheated and threw in a dollop or two of strawberry sherbert too to give it that extra kick - put in the vanilla essence and garnished with a dash of cream and zest of lemeon. And TADAH!!!

a gourmet strawberry smoothie

All the ingredients courtesy of Cookyn With Mervyn's new gourmet online store - Super fresh and of high quality. This is NOT an advertorial by the way, I realize it sounds a bit like one coz I'm amazed by the quality but those strawberries were amongst the sweetest and juiciest I'd ever tasted. DANG!!!!

Thankfully, Amanda wasn't pissed off when I told her I'd gone for the very-safe-and-very-me option of a gourmet shake. Hubba loved it too and it was useful before he went for his run with Rosco.

Rosco wasn't very impressed though 'coz he didn't get any....

awww look at that face

There was too much milk, cream and sugar in it, boy!

....... Super tempted to add some Hokkaido Scallops to my trolley like NOW.

It only takes a spark

Janice — Fri, 13 Aug 2010 07:44:31 +0000

here comes the torch

For someone who loves sports and the great outdoors, I must admit I haven't been all that enthusiastic about the YOG.

A few weeks ago, I read an article about how most Singaporeans were not in the least bit interested in the YOG. This saddened me somewhat. I wasn't thinking about how the government was spending hundreds of millions on hosting a global event, but of the young athletes who were probably working really hard towards realizing a dream that no one cared about.

So when I was on my way home yesterday and saw the patrol cars lining the streets for the passing of the YOG torch, I decided to camp out a little on the pavement and wait for it to go by.

And you know what?

I felt some pride in me when this enthusiastic guy ran past me with the flame. I felt like I'd witnessed a historical moment and even with my very impractical work clothes and shoes, I ran alongside him for a bit to try and catch a little bit more of the action.

all the way!

Here's wishing all athletes, officials and volunteers a successful event ahead.

You ARE making history & I salute you.

Dressing room pup

Janice — Wed, 11 Aug 2010 02:32:59 +0000

Guess who keeps me company when I'm getting ready in the morning?

Cassie by Loef