Now that I've been at Rawai Muay Thai for little over a week, I've been able to better understand camp life and formulate a few hypothesis on the people who come here. Firstly, who would come to such a camp?The Athletes As you can imagine, many people who come want to be Muay Thai fighters. It's just like enrolling in school except that the lectures involve a lot of sweaty high kicks. These guys (and a few women) stay for many months, are highly focused and are here to train. Hard.The Body Shapers Then, you have people who've come because they want to get into shape. So perhaps they...

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I had big plans to post everyday in Phuket. Obviously that didn't happen. No, I wasn't going out and getting drunk instead while pursuing women of questionable gender. I was just exhausted from doing 3.5 hours of muay thai training everyday. Yeah, I'm a badass.Monday to Friday was pretty much like this:05:00 - Wake in cold sweats wondering what the hell I'm doing 05:15 - Get out of bed and check emails, Facebook & Twitter. 05:30 - Facebook poke a few people 07:00 - Take pre-workout supplement 07:15 - Go to Rawai gym. Warm up 07:30 - Morning session. 09:30 - Shower & make a protein...

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I must admit that I've become a bit of a jaded traveler over the years. My first instinct is that businesses are going to try to rip me off, when I travel. So it was a pleasant surprise that everything started off smoothly at Rawai.Despite the last minute addition, they were able to accomodate the three of us in a shared bungalow with fan, which was the cheapest option. I was very happy with the digs and honestly expected much less. To be fair, after working on a ship for the better part of the last two years and living in the equivalent of a metal coffin, anything with an adult-sized bed is luxurious!...

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I'm writing this as I'm getting ready to leave to catch a flight to Phuket. No, this is not some spur of the moment decision. This has been in the works for a few months now.You could even say that it's been in the works for years.Many moons ago when I was living in London, I happened across an article about a man who travelled to Thailand to study Muay Thai kickboxing. It sounded amazing. Like Bruce Lee learning Kung Fu from Shaolin Monks, kind of amazing.That was seven years ago and I guess it's been on my "bucket list" ever since. (I hate that term for reasons I'll get into another...

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I've been off the ship for a week now, having completed my 4th contract. The last cruise for people tends to be quite enjoyable, as everyone gets nostalgic and extra friendly. It's like it's your birthday. (The second last cruise, however can be a bit weird because sometimes, people think that it's your last cruise and they're extra nice, then halfway through the cruise they realize that you're not leaving just yet and get all awkward on you. Like it was some sort of one-night stand of friendliness.)Anyway, after each contract, I try to look back and review how things went. Sort of like a year-end...

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Good news: I wrote an ebook. Bad news: It’s not free.Wait, let me stop you now. If the title didn’t already give it away, this post is about finding a job on a cruise ship. So if you aren’t seriously looking for a job on a cruise ship, your time would be best spent doing something else. For instance, have you poked anyone lately?Anyway, back to the point. I’ve been an affiliate for How To Work On A Cruise Ship for a while now and while I happily continue to do so, I’ve noticed that there have been requests for a cheaper, less detailed version. Something to just point them in the right...

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I'm not sure what day it is today. Sunday? I guess that depends on what time zone you are in. I've stepped foot on 3 continents over the last 24 hours and crossed 13 time zones. It sounds impressive at face value but I never want to do that again. The closest I've ever come to that was when I flew from Auckland to New York 8 years ago, which covered 8 time zones. At least in that case, I was traveling into the past. So I left at 9:30pm on a Saturday and arrived at 9:35pm on a Saturday.I feel so disoriented. Only yesterday, I was eating a bowl of chili and fries in Miami airport. And about...

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