What I’ve Been Up To…

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Not a whole lot. I’ve been pretty grounded this past week just staying in and watching way to much Netflix or working. I do like to make it out to the park for some nice runs and workouts, though. I did make a couple trips for visas, and I had one good adventure to a rooftop.

My first visa related trip was to this massive government complex. It was huge with offices for about any government related endeavor you might be after. It took me a while to even figure out where to go to get my Thai visa extended. Then there was some photocopies of my passport and current visa that I need done and they told me that photocopies were done on the first floor. So I went to the first floor and asked a security guard who didn’t speak much English, but he told me to follow him to the 7th floor. On the 7th floor they told me that I could get copies done on the first floor…

After some more wasted time I finally did get my copies done and then I waited for an hour and a half and then got my passport returned with my extended visa. I can now stay another 30 days in Thailand, even though I only plan on being here two more weeks.

My other visa expedition took me to the Russian Embassy. I stopped by earlier in the week to ask a few questions. I was under the impression that citizens of other countries must apply for a Russian visa in their own country of residence only unless they had a work, retirement, or some special permission to stay in Thailand over 90 days. I don’t have any of that so I just wanted to check. I was told that I could apply there to get my visa!

With that surprise I had to put together my visa application. First, you have to pay $15 or so to some Russian tourism company to “sponsor” your travels to Russia. I did that and then filled out an online application. Then I “figured out” my flight in and my flight out of Russia as I have done for my Thai and Chinese visas. However, this time I also had to come up with a medical insurance document. They want you to have at least $10,000 of coverage or something like that when traveling in their country.

I do have coverage under my health insurance in the US, but they don’t have a nice tidy little form that shows coverage in Russia. Through my insurance you have to look for in network care or pay out of pocket and then submit a claim to be reimbursed. I have a $10,000 credit limit on my credit card so its practically the same amount of coverage, but I didn’t think the Russian’s would but that explanation. So I did the best I could to come up with some supporting documents from the insurance company and I hoped the lady at the consulate would be pretty lax about that policy.

Fortunately, things went smoothly and I’ll be picking up my visa on Friday! When I submitted it, the lady just looked like didn’t care at all. She didn’t ask a single question. She also only charged me $75 for my visa. The minimum price for a Russian visa of any type for a US Citizen is supposed to be $160. I think, since there are way more British people applying there than Americans, I got charged the British visa price. I’ll take that nice little discount!

“How much do you bench?” – “I’m up to 34 inch rims now!”

Working out at the park is always fun, especially since you always see something different. They have all these weight rooms, well I guess it isn’t a room, that are just out in the open air in the middle of the park. They feel pretty old school and there is everything from free weights and barbells to machines and weird contraptions and benches with tires for weights. It costs 20 baht (63 cents) for a day pass. So I enjoyed lifting weights there especially with the older Thai guys because they love joking around.

Most often I just go to an area with a lot of pull up bars and gymnastics like stations. There are often younger Thai guys built like Olympic gymnasts doing flips and tricks off of the pull up bars. That is always really fun to watch as they try to out do each other with their tricks.

Another fun thing about the park is the hundreds of old people doing Zumba type classes. There are also hundreds of people running laps around the 2.5km trail around the outside edge of the park. That’s always a run run to, just because there are so many people there running with you.

On Sunday, since I don’t have a church in Bangkok, I went and sat at the the spot pictured above overlooking the pond and listened to some church sermons for my Sunday worship. It;s nice just to relax and enjoy the atmosphere there.

On Saturday night, I went exploring with a friend I made to some rooftops overlooking the city. It was pretty adventurous, and for a while it looked like it might rain which was trouble since there were lightning rods all over that roof! But things tamed down and it was all good!

We stayed and watched the sun go down. It was cool to watch the city change from it’s day time form to a sparking city skyline right before your eyes as the sun dropped. Honestly, I’ve always had a healthy respect for heights, but challenging that fear really makes me feel alive. My heart was pounding most of the time, but I couldn’t help but smiling!

Next blog update should be about me narrowing down and figuring out some travel plans. I just got my taxes filed and my return isn’t as big as I anticipated so I’ll have to work with the budget I got. Until next time, God bless!

What I’ve Been Up To…

Life in Bangkok

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I have officially been in Bangkok for a week. For those who don’t know I somehow managed a job as an English teacher of sorts in Bangkok for a month. The work is for a Thai online learning platform and they are adding an English curriculum. Somehow I landed the job of filming about 120 small video lessons to supplement the curriculum. Can’t talk much about since I signed a non-disclosure agreement, not that the info is useful to any of my readers…

Either way I got flow in for free by the company and I am up at a decent apartment for a month. I finally have Thai TV. I make sure to tune in for the Muay Thai fights which is like the equivalent of football in America. I also have a fridge here which is a nice step up. I live on the sixth floor and have some nice skyscrapers out the window. I’m apparently in the downtown area. The picture above shows the apartment cat who likes to chill at the bottom of the stairs, so don’t go flying down the stairs to fast! They also have two small dogs who chill in the lobby.

It took me a while to find my local “spots,” but I found this nice food market place. You can get great meals during lunch for 40 baht ($1.27), and their is a lady who has an unreal amount of choice of meats and she is open late. I can chose 3 portions of meats from the picture above for take out and it costs me about a $1.60. With the rice back at the apartment, I am living good. However, I have run into some extra spicy dishes, but I like the challenge.

Outside of work I like going to the park. Perks of being in the “downtown” mean I am close to Bangkok’s equivalent of central park. I’ve seen some hilarious fitness classes were there are probably 300-500 Thais doing some Zumba moves. They also have some pretty awesome outdoor gyms with nice rusty free weights and dumb bells. I’m definitely excited to give that a go. To start I’ve been running around the park and doing a lot of body weight exercises at a pull up station. There are always a group of people there and today there was a guy doing one armed pull ups. Some of these guys are pretty serious about their body weight fitness and gymnastics moves.

On Sunday I happened to be in the park while a random Bangkok Royal Symphony concert was starting. So I stuck around for a couple songs of that. Apparently it is Italy and Thailand’s 150th anniversary of diplomatic relations, so the Italian ambassador was there to give a short speech. Then we stood for the Thai and Italian national anthems. A song sample is posted below.

And that is the life I have been living… I will try and snap some pictures at work so you can see what the environment is like. My plans for Bangkok still are getting my Russian visa. It is going to be a tough one, but I did succeed with my Chinese visa. The hopes for the trans Siberian railroad are still on! I ended up with a 10 year multi entry Chinese visa since its the same price as a 30 day single entry visa. So I can always go back if friends are planning a trip to China.

Other than that they do have a big stadium that hosts televised Muay Thai fights and admission is free. That is in the plans since the other premium stadiums cost 1000 baht (close to $32). I also think I found a neat free skyscraper look out spot that I will get to in my free time. I still have to crush my taxes, that Russian visa, and I have another gig proofreading some Thai medical students English research paper. Between working and doing that I’ve kept pretty busy.

Until next time where hopefully I do some fun stuff instead of just sitting in my apartment…

Life in Bangkok

Post Fight

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So I was going to do a post going over my stitches and everything, but even though so many people took pictures of the stitches getting put in I didn’t manage to get any. I wanted matching picture with my first hospital visit.

Instead there is a picture of me with one of my trainers. He is wearing a Boy Scout’s uniform because he is the leader for his son’s  group and he was heading there after class. I just thought it looked hilarious. Either way, in this picture you can see my nice eye patch and I still have my cornrows in!

There you can see what the stitched look like without a bandage on. 7 in total.

There you can see what it looked like during the fight when it first opened.

In later rounds my corner kept it well covered in vasoline.

There are two more of the pictures that I got a little later from one of my trainers photographer friend at the stadium.

Overall, I think that fight might be one of the coolest things I’ve ever done. Stepping into a ring forces you to be in the moment like nothing else can. It was truly an incredible experience. Honestly, the adrenaline rush and the high you get from doing it makes it kind of addicting. I know I don’t want to do it professionally and sustain long term brain damage, but I can’t help wondering “what if.”

I am now moved on to Bangkok where I am working for an online learning startup doing some English videos. It’s only been two days since I left Chiang Mai, the church, and the gym and I miss it so much already. I want to continue training. There it was so easy to have purpose and push myself. I guess I just have to buckle down and make these English videos the best they can be.

While that fight is something I will never forget and it has created memories that will last forever, I still have this feeling that my involvement in fighting and combat sports isn’t quite over. Maybe I’ll just join a class when I get back home or maybe more. Who knows?

Post Fight