Kickboxing, history, and edible insects

OK, first off, I did not eat the insects. They were huge and scary and even the Indian guy I was with who talked the big talk about eating them chickened out. But it was still interesting to see. More on that later.

I lived through my week of kickboxing camp. I did a camp where you live at the training site and the price includes training twice a day, meals, and accommodation. It was really tough and I was sore and bruised, but I'm glad I did it. Training began with running at 6:30 AM followed by morning training with pads, bags, and sparring until 8:30. Afternoon training kicked off with 15 minutes of jump rope (sounds easier than it is) and lasts until 5 PM. The place I stayed has two gyms. The live in one is in a suburb of Bangkok which was cool because Christian (the German guy who was also staying there) and I were the only Westerners I saw the whole week in that area. The other gym, which we went to a few times, is off Kho San Road in Bangkok proper and people can walk in and train as much or as little as they like. More people were at that gym. The food was amazing! We ate after each training and every meal we were served a big plate of rice and three plates of mains for the two of us. And we nearly finished it every day. Everything from green curry to Tom Kha to pork and veggie dishes to omelettes... I miss the food already.

After my camp ended I came to Kanchanaburi which is 2.5 hours away from Bangkok. Kan is most famous for the Bridge over the River Kwai which was built here in 1942 as part of the "Death Railway" built by the Japanese from Thailand to Burma during WWII. The name is from the estimated 100,000 people, many of whom were Allied POWs, who died while building it. I've now walked over the bridge and ridden a train over it and visited the musuem about the railway so if you want more information, I have you covered. I'd like to see the movie now.

Yesterday I took a bus to Erawan Falls for the day. Erawan is a 7 tiered waterfall about 2 hours away. I have some great pics and the swimming was great! Last night I ran into a guy I had met in Indonesia. He, a friend of his, and I walked down to a Hindu festival I had stumbled onto the night before. This is where the bugs for consumption were sold. Huge grasshoppers and roaches and worms.... ICK! But hey, I haven't tried it. Aside from that, there were lights everywhere and fireworks and games, rides, "regular" food, etc. It was a lot like a carnival but then there was the religious side with monks, chanting, incense burning, candles, statues, and live birds that you buy and set free for good luck. It was such a cool experience!!

Tomorrow I head back to Bangkok to meet Jaclyn and Mish. We plan to head up to Laos so I'll let you know how that goes.