Thailand

I've always entertained the idea of going off somewhere and training martial arts full-time. Even when I was little, the idea of training day in/day out and becoming a warrior, so to speak, was particularly enjoyable. But I never gave it any second thought; it was something like a movie fantasy.

A few months ago, at the beginning of August, I was doing a bit of Googling and found out that there were actually a few camps scattered around the world that offered full-time martial arts. An idea that was once reserved for my imagination suddenly materialized. I actually could do something like this! I took a step back and thought about which martial arts particularly interested me. Having taken karate for the past two years, I enjoyed it but I didn't want to limit myself to just one style. Muay Thai had always interested me, so I Googled some more.

A few clicks later I had browsed a comprehensive list of Muay Thai camps in Thailand. One camp that seemed to stick out from all the rest, Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, offered a great training environment at a very reasonable cost -- and an exceptional locale. So I decided to investigate things a bit more and see what this place was all about.

I corresponded with a guy named Will at Tiger Muay Thai. Through various emails throughout the following months, I discovered that Thailand was exactly what I was looking for. I could train in an art that I was now extremely interested in, I could immerse myself in a new culture, and I could do it all in a particularly beautiful country whilst traveling the world. Really, what else could I ask for?

On January 3, 2009, I’ll be headed to Thailand for a tentative three-month stay.