Eat Train Write : A Chapter In My Bangkok Travel Diary

Eat. Shop. Laugh.

The 2 long weekends recently spent in Bangkok could not have  been more different as far as experiences were concerned.   The previous weekend was a girly trip jam-packed full of shopping, gourmet adventure and endless girly chatter and belly-hugging laughter around the clock.  We busted our shopping budget hopping from mall to mall which resulted in my  coming home with 2 extra bags and absolutely no more space in my wardrobe.  We had a foot massage everyday to salve our aching feet from all that marathon shopping spree.  We indulged in exotic Thai street food and sinfully decadent desserts that did not sit well with my personal trainers and boxing coach when I sluggishly pulled myself into the gym for a couple of training sessions before leaving Singapore for Bangkok again.

Eat. Train. Write. 

When I returned to Bangkok this recent weekend, the trip saw a schedule packed with boxing training, Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training for the hubby, and plenty of Mixed Martial Arts action.  We were on a fight journalism assignment to cover Full Metal Dojo, Thailand's largest MMA event.  So the weekend saw us hauling camera equipment across town for some exciting fight photography work, worked through the night selecting and editing photos, conducted interviews with the fighters,  and did a couple of writeups to cover the weigh-in results as well as the play-by-play account of the event during fight night. 

As I was booked for  boxing training at the Bangkok Fight Lab this weekend, I was also careful about keeping my diet clean.  I hardly indulged in decadent food and did not have a drop of alcohol nor did I have any dessert simply because I wanted to get back on track with my fitness regime. I watched everything I ate, got as much rest as I could and kept my activity levels up.

 At his BJJ training sessions with Morgan at the Bangkok Fight Lab, David picked up new skills which was a big deal for an eager newbie like him, who often felt much slower as he rolled inflexibly behind the other younger, more agile, or more advanced  team members during his BJJ classes back home.  At my boxing training sessions with Kru Songkram, I often felt that similar intensity that I get during my boxing training sessions in Singapore simply because like my own coach, Kru Songkram is finicky about technique. His sessions were mainly drills which I would grumble about but knew deep in my heart that they were critical.  

Our only indulgences during this trip was a luxurious spa treatment which I bought David as a birthday present.  We also indulged in a scrumptious Teppanyaki dinner at Benihana restaurant, at the Anantara Resort where we had an early  14th wedding anniversary cum David's 51st birthday celebration.  The team at Benihana was flawless when it came to service and did everything to make David's 51st birthday celebration a memorable one.  

When all that writing and photo editing for Full Metal Dojo were completed, we took the camera out onto the streets of Bangkok and walked everywhere, off the beaten track, to capture some  Bangkok street scenes.

Bangkok Fuels My Soul

While both long weekends were as different as chalk and cheese, for me, my experiences in Bangkok fed my soul. Whether it was the food, the shopping, the massages, the people, their smiles, my boxing training, doing all that frantic writing before and  during fight night, staying up to edit photos or simply watching the amazing transition of Thai fighters from traditional Muay Thai experts to excellent MMA fighters, Bangkok truly fueled my soul.  

I love this city,  I love spending time with my girl friends or the hubby doing totally different things in this city. I love the friends I had made in this city.  I absolutely love being in this city.   I love the smells, sights and sounds of this city.  Every moment spent in Bangkok for me in the past 2 weekends, was somewhat like Elizabeth Gilbert's Eat, Pray, Love.   For me, it was Eat, Train, Write.  

Even as I walked through the gate at the airport in Bangkok to board my flight back to Singapore, I was already making plans for my next trip back.

About The Writer

The writer of this blog post is a Marketing and PR professional for over 20 years.  Due to her love for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), she is also a freelance sports writer on the side, contributing MMA-related articles to several sports media.  She works in partnership with her husband, David Ash, who is an avid sports photographer from www.singaporemaven.com.  She is passionate about Boxing and nurtures a dream to fight competitively one day when her coach stops making fun of her.  She is also a psychic intuitive by birth and runs a consultancy that does tarot and numerology readings under her brand, Sun Goddess Tarot.  This blog is affectionately called "The Crazy AngMo" as she is married to one, although she has not yet explained to THE Ang Mo that when translated, he has been labeled  “the bloke with ginger hair”.  

Kamikaze Tuk Tuk Driver Failed To Spoil Our Selfie Fun

Trained With Kru Songkram At The Bangkok Fight Lab

Morgan Perkins Showing David Some New BJJ Moves

Some MMA Action At Full Metal Dojo 5. (courtesy of David Ash www.singaporemaven.com)

The Main Event At Full Metal Dojo 5 Was Fought Between Show Promoter Jon Nutt And The Referee Dana Blouin.  Thankfully They Are Still Good Friends, Dana's Black Eye Notwithstanding.

River Life (courtesy of David Ash www.singaporemaven.com)

Sunset At Chao Phraya River (courtesy of David Ash www.singaporemaven.com)

A Busking Schoolboy Captured On The Streets Of Bangkok. His Dancing Doll Bears An Uncanny Resemblance To Him.

David And I Enjoyed An Early Wedding Anniversary And Birthday Celebration At Benihana Restaurant, Anantara Hotel

The Benihana Team Surprised David With A Birthday Cake And A Song

I Watched My Diet And Only Had A Pot Of Green Tea At Mr Jones' Orphanage Cafe

Living My Dream

I love the month of February.  Even in tropical Singapore, I feel the season of Spring in the air. There seems to be that much more laughter, more family gatherings, and more fun dinners with friends.  In fact, these 3 months from December through to February were months of fabulous revelry.  I celebrated the close of an awesome year in December and the start of an even more awesome year in January with Christmas and New Year celebrations.  The good news is that  the celebrations continue  in February, as we celebrate love, family, and friendships with Valentine’s Day and the Chinese New Year.  People have whirlwind romances at this time, I have a whirlwind calendar of never-ending activities ranging from weddings, meet-up with friends, family parties, workshops that I conducted and then some.

 

However, it was more than just the eating, drinking and general merry-making.  These were the months I celebrated my definition of living the dream as the new year opened. 

Dad, looked much healthier than just a year before when he had suffered a stroke just before Christmas.  He managed to enjoy a glass of wine with me at our family Christmas Eve dinner and was happy to just sit there to take in the cacophony of chatter and laughter amongst our family while my 2 year old nephew attempted to put some christmas cake in his glass of wine.

 

Mum had been suffering from a painful shoulder but when we had it checked, we were assured it was just a strained rotator cuff which was quite a common ailment for people her age.  That was a relief for me.  However it also reminded me about the importance of self-care and the need to listen to my body when all that training at the gym plus the late nights of running my consultancy  after working hours, could get all too much for me.  I was reminded of this yet again, when I got sick with the stomach flu recently for almost a week.  I took to catching up on my sleep over a weekend and did absolutely nothing for 2 days just to give my body some rest.  

 

Joel, who had been a pain in the butt for months when he regressed to a stage of teenage rebelliousness at the age of 21, finally saw the light and learnt the meaning of opened communication, honesty and respect within the family. He grew up overnight and became all of 21 years old again when he reconciled with us through a rather public apology for behaving like an ass. All forgiven. 

 

David got finally inspired by my fitness journey to start taking up boxing lessons in December as well as Brazilian Jiu Jitsu classes in February.  That made  training at the gym more fun for the both of us. He has not accidentally sat on anyone's head yet, so all seems good so far.  We not only share our love for the gym, we have been each other’s moral conscience when it comes to choice of food too.  I am looking forward to a  healthier and fitter hubby by the end of this year. 

 

As much joy as these months brought us, we also had our fair share of tears.  Ozzy passed on  a couple of weeks ago and the family was inconsolable.  Ozzy had been David’s favourite fur-friend and a very important member of our family.  Although he was tiny, his loss just left such a huge and irreplaceable void in our hearts.  I believed that the other 2 mutts at home felt the same.  Zak and Bailey looked quite confused for about a week or so.  We are still grieving but we celebrate Ozzy’s life with us, the fun we had together and the unconditional love that he had given us, and with immense gratitude.

 

I think the experiences of these few months can be encapsulated into a single message, urging me to treasure each moment, no matter the circumstance. Living the dream means many things to many people.  To my friends who are professional Mixed Martial Arts fighters, living the dream means the ability to travel the world to fight on a world stage with highly skilled and experienced fighters.  To my friends who are professional Tarot readers, living the dream means quitting their day jobs to focus on a professional career of reading for their clients on a daily basis, teaching the art of Tarot to students, designing and creating their own tarot decks, writing Tarot books and traveling the world to conduct talks and workshops. To a client who was a local head of communications at a big company who got retrenched but was called back by her boss to take on a new role as global head of social media recently, she was living the dream. She packed up her belongings, lock, stock and barrel and made that brave move across the ocean to live in a new country to take up that role.  

 

To me, I am living the dream too and this is how I define mine.  I am finally getting much fitter and healthier through my new found passions of boxing and muay thai.  I am surrounded by an imperfectly perfect family filled with so much love.  I work with a bunch of crazy but fun girls who have been bringing sunshine into the office everyday no matter how difficult our days may be.  I am able to effectively run an intuitive consultancy after my work hours and continue to help numerous clients with my Tarot and Numerology skills. I am still writing and contributing articles whenever I have spare time, not out of the pressure of deadlines but out of my love for sports and MMA. I finally found my balance in life that many of my peers are still searching for.  Am I living the dream or what?

About The Writer

The writer of this blog post is a Marketing and PR professional for over 20 years.  Due to her love for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), she is also a freelance sports writer on the side, contributing MMA-related articles to several sports media.  She works in partnership with her husband, David Ash, who is an avid sports photographer from www.singaporemaven.com.  She is passionate about Muay Thai and nurtures a dream to fight competitively one day when her coach stops making fun of her.  She is also a psychic intuitive by birth and runs a consultancy that does tarot and numerology readings under her brand, Sun Goddess Tarot.  This blog is affectionately called "The Crazy AngMo" as she is married to one, although she has not yet explained to THE Ang Mo that when translated, he has been labeled  “the bloke with ginger hair”.  

 

A 16 Year Old Amateur MMA Fighter Can Teach Us So Much About Sportsmanship

I recently filed a story about one of ours, a 16 year old Singaporean schoolboy who is fast making a name for himself in the world of amateur Mixed Martial Arts (MMA).  I am truly proud of him obviously because I am a Singaporean, and I want to give the boy some recognition even when MMA as a sport is sadly lacking much- needed  support and funding from the establishment.

Sim Kai Xiong is fairly new to the amateur MMA scene.  He fought on the amateur card  at Full Metal Dojo 2 on Saturday, 23^rd August in Phuket.  Full Metal Dojo is Phuket's first professional mixed martial arts (MMA) event, put together by its CEO Jon Nutt, to build awareness for the sport in Thailand and provide a platform for an exchange of mixed martial arts skills and experiences amongst professional MMA fighters from all over the world.

Kai Xiong, is a 16 year old Nanyang Junior College student, who is an MMA and boxing protégé currently being trained by head coach Arvind Lalwani and Emalo Urratia at Juggernaut Fight Club in Singapore.    He is a national youth champion, and an amateur MMA prospect who had been training at Juggernaut Fight Club only for the last 7 months.

His last fight was at Rebel Fighting Championship in Singapore where he impressively dominated his opponent and beat him through a submission by an armbar.  At Full Metal Dojo 2, Kai Xiong was the only foreign fighter on the amateur card and his was a difficult fight as his 22 year old Thai opponent put up a series of vicious attacks with his round house kicks.  The fight had to be stopped a few times when the amateur fighters violated the amateur rules with some elbow shots.  Kai Xiong clearly dominated the cage with a very strong ground game though, a strategic move knowing that Muay Thai could potentially be his achilles' heel against his Thai opponent.   He finally won in the 3rd round by the judges' unanimous decision.  

Having watched the young protégé train during my kickboxing training sessions at Juggernaut Fight Club, I had observed this boy's strengths in boxing and grappling. However, beyond his skills, I felt an air of quiet maturity about him.   His maturity as a fighter in spite of his youth, is an edge as he approaches his fights with a lot of composure, determined to always be in control by timing his chances.  When he had to face an older and significantly more experienced Muay Thai expert, I did not see any hint of fear in his eyes.  Although he was cornered by his very experienced coach Emalo Urratia who had won his fight against Seiha Pich at Full Metal Dojo 1 in June this year, Kai Xiong did not display any hint of over-confidence.  In fact, at the Full Metal Dojo 2 weigh-in event, it was obvious that he just wanted to get the show on the road, win this, and then fly back home in time to make it for school on Monday.  When I asked him if he was ready for his fight, he said very confidently, “The team at Juggernaut Fight Club had been working on my overall game. Thanks to them, I am ready for anything."

I liked his quiet confidence founded on his training mantra of No Ego.  While I have come across true sportsmen in professional sports, I wished more athletes and even some professional MMA fighters could have that same quiet confidence and humility as this boy.  

Kai Xiong told me that he detests arrogance in sports.  Like Kai Xiong, I detest arrogance and inauthenticity in sportsmanship.  I have absolutely no respect for "Manufactured Sportsmanship". 

I know of sports organizations which "manufacture" top-tier athletes who obviously turn an event into a biggest pay-per-view just because they manipulate decisions from who should be on the judging panel to who the opponents should be.   

I get annoyed when I hear of sports organizations who pre-select a weaker opponent to be fed to a stronger fighter just because they want to garner positive media interest around the latter.   

I dislike athletes who spent a long time nurturing a base of young fans who watched everything they had said or done in awe, promising to inspire a genuine love for fitness, respect for discipline and determination in sports, only to turn around to tell the world that they want to be the biggest box office hit in Hollywood.   

Most of all, I dislike professional MMA fighters who  talk about the sport of MMA being one that is not about the glitz and glamour, yet turn up at the cage with  pomp and pageantry of a Mardi Gras.

So yes, I am extremely proud of Sim Kai Xiong.  At his tender age of 16, he had started off on the right foot with the right training and the right attitude worthy of a sportsman.  Singapore should indeed be proud of him.  

I have  immense respect for true sportsmanship and an ardent love for MMA, so  I would definitely have my eyes glued on Sim Kai Xiong whom I know will be making it as an excellent MMA fighter in the professional circuit in no time.

The photo accompanying this blog post was taken by David Ash, www.singaporemaven.com

About The Writer

The writer of this blog post is a Marketing and PR professional for over 20 years.  Due to her love for Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), she is also a freelance sports writer on the side, contributing MMA-related articles to several sports media.  She works in partnership with her husband, David Ash, who is an avid sports photographer from www.singaporemaven.com.  She is passionate about Muay Thai and nurtures a dream to fight competitively one day when her coach stops making fun of her.  She is also a psychic intuitive by birth and runs a consultancy that does tarot and numerology readings under her brand, Sun Goddess Tarot.  This blog is affectionately called "The Crazy AngMo" as she is married to one, although she has not yet explained to THE Ang Mo that when translated, he has been labeled  “the bloke with ginger hair”.  

Rolling With Clark Gracie In Sunny Singapore

David's photography adventures had taken me places and exposed me to the 

adrenaline-charged intensity of contact sports in the last couple of years. This had led me to  a clandestine love affair that I have had with Mixed Martial Arts (MMA), and an undying passion for Kickboxing.  

During my Kickboxing training at Juggernaut Fight Club,  the guys would be having their Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) training session alongside me.  I always had fun watching them roll about in a twisted heap, some caught in a head lock, some in a rear choke and others in the midst of a takedown.  While my age had not stopped me from embracing Kickboxing as a passion, I certainly felt that the art of  BJJ should be left to those within the age bracket where they could still get an occasional pre-pubescent breakout of pimples. 

My erroneous perception was put to rest one Sunday afternoon by none other than Clark Gracie, the grandson of Carlos Gracie, the Grand Master and founder of the world famous Gracie Jiu-Jitsu academy.  

Some 15 Jiu-Jitsu enthusiasts of differing ages that spanned from under 10 years old to over 50, turned up for a seminar conducted by Clark Gracie last Sunday, at the Singapore Judo Federation. I was more awed by the vast age span of this group of Jiu-Jitsu students than I was with the different colour belts they had on their gi.

Noticing my inquisitive stare at the little girl warming up at a corner of the mat, Gracie told me that having to deal with this vast age span at the seminar was no different from the training environment he managed back home.   He was particularly adamant that Jiu-Jitsu students who started their training as children should make it a priority to have fun with the sport.  His advice to Jiu-Jitsu coaches training young children, was to always keep their students motivated by appealing to their sense of curiosity and play.   Once the priority scales tipped towards the pressure to win, the training would become a chore and it might take the fun out of the sport.  This advice was applicable even to adult students of Jiu-Jitsu.  Gracie encouraged all Jiu-Jitsu students to allow their body and mind to explore the sport freely and look to increase their knowledge and education of the sport constantly.

As a child, Clark Gracie was asked, "Do u enjoy Jiu-Jitsu?"  He had to think hard before answering the question because he came from a Jiu-Jitsu family.  It was a "family business" and he was, as part of the family, very much a part of it since he was a child.  However, he was brought up with the notion that only when he had fun with Jiu-Jitsu during training and embraced the sport with genuine passion, he could excel in the sport and the will to win would then come easily.

When asked if someone older would find age to be a barrier in his performance as a Jiu-Jitsu student, Gracie said that back home, he had personally known a student who had attained a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu at the age of 70. This student had started training in Jiu-Jitsu in his 50s.   Gracie never believed in age barriers. To him, the only barrier that could possibly limit one from achieving his of her goals as a Jiu-Jitsu student, was ego.

Clark Gracie won me at that point.  He was right on the button with the very mantra I led my Kickboxing training with - No Ego, No Barriers.

The photos accompanying this blog post were taken by David Ash, www.singaporemaven.com

About The Writer

The writer of this blog post is a Marketing and PR professional by trade and a psychic intuitive by accident who balances her corporate career with running a consultancy providing Tarot and Numerology readings.  She is also passionate about Kickboxing and has no qualms landing a kick to readjust the jewels of anyone who lacks integrity.  She enjoys supporting her husband and avid sports photographer, David Ash from www.singaporemaven.com on his trips around the world as he takes photos at sports events while she does the write-ups  for the various sports media.  This blog is affectionately named "The Crazy AngMo" as she is married to one, although she has not yet explained to THE Ang Mo that when translated, he has been labeled  “the bloke with ginger hair”.  Together, they create a home made up with more nuts than a fruitcake but filled with plenty of love.