Fun with cops

Thailand, Day 17, Wednesday:
Recently I have started doing private lessons with one of the trainers here at camp. Robert has been one of the trainers that I have gotten along with the best. The first day at the advanced camp he came by and said something I couldn’t understand. “Na owlfool.” Made no sense to me either. He repeated himself several times until I realized he was saying “Not awful.” He was talking about my push kick. Most encouraging. After a couple of days working the bags and focus pads I decided to do a few privates with Robert before I leave. So far I have done two and will do one more with him on Friday. Only four more training sessions left. Which is good because the injuries, while minor, are mounting up. My middle knuckle on my left is, for lack of a better word, fucked. I have no clue what is wrong with it other than it hurts to hit things with it. Bruises are appearing in the oddest places. Muscles are starting to show fatigue. Thailand has been a ton of fun, but now I think I am ready to head to the next step of the journey.
Training in Thailand is an intense experience. Three or four weeks is a good amount of time to stay. Longer than that and it seems that most people begin to get side tracked. Nightlife in Patong, days at the beach, visa runs, and other events start to take precedence. If I get the chance to come back I think I would like to stay for 6 weeks and take a fight. The people at Tiger appear to do their best to get fair match-ups. However, there is rumor that a lot of the local fights are fixed. For the Thai’s Muay Thai is more than a martial art. It is a career. A way to provide for the family. At the same time the fights do not pay that much. Part of the reason why Thai’s have fight records in the hundreds. At each fight betting is more than allowed; it almost feels encouraged. Taking a fight against a Farang (foreigner) and losing can pay far better than winning. A win gets you something like 3,500 baht. High-level fights can pull in a lot more, along the lines of 40,000 baht ($1100) to 60,000 ($1,700). However, the fighter has to put up half the cash and if you lose, well, sucks to be you. A fight would not be for the money, but rather for the novelty. Maybe sometime in the future I will return to Thailand, after a year of teaching in China perhaps.
Today, however, was a beautiful day. The rain finally cleared and so I thought I would head to the beach. I rented a motorbike for a few hours and headed out for Kata Beach. At Chalong circle there was my first view of the local Thai police action. I had heard that every now and then they would sit in the traffic circles and write out tickets. I wasn’t wearing my helmet and so I was flagged down.
“Do you have a license?”
“No.”
“Do you have a passport?’
“No, it is at my hotel. In the safe.”
“Where are you come from?”
“Forest Bungalows, Tiger Muay Thai.”
“No, I from Thailand, where are you from?”
“Oh, sorry. I am from the USA.”
“Oh USA, very good. I am sorry, I am just doing my job.”
Everything was off to a great start. He continued to ask me several questions and then apologized, several times. After a couple of minutes I was told that I needed to go to the local police station, about 200 meters north. I walked in to the fee office and stood in line with about a half dozen other foreigners. After 15 minutes and 500 baht (about $15) I was back on my way to Kata. On my way out I passed Bruno, one of the fellow students from Tiger. He was waiting to pay his fine. On my way back to my motorbike, I passed by several other foreigners. All with a smile and a nod on their way to the Fee Office. Once you show your fine receipt to the officer at the scene, he gives your keys back and you’re on your way. All told about a 30-minute delay.
The beach was spectacular. An hour of body surfing and reading in the sun was just what the body needed. A good meal, an ice cream sundae, and it was back to camp.
One more thing to update. A new set of highs, 97 degrees and 93% humidity. That was a fun day.