How To Make Healthier Bangkok Grilled Bananas (Kluay Tap)

Bangkok Grilled Bananas (Kluay Tap กล้วยปิ้ง)

Traditional roadside Thai grilled bananas, Kluay Tap

After the three hour morning training session, I was on the usual mission for my latest food addiction - young coconut water.  After the cordial fruit cart woman hacked open a coconut for me with a crooked smile and a machete, I wandered through the street market questing for healthy breakfast options.   Behold! A street stall that looked promising:

Photo Credit: eatingthaifood.com

At first I thought this stall was grilling sausages, so I almost kept on walking.  But, on closer inspection, the woman was grilling what looked like (and turned out to be) short, fat bananas on skewers.  Eureka!  Add a side of pineapple and I'm all set.  After I paid the woman, she took a skewer off the grill and flattened it between two wooden boards, lightly mushing them, and cut them into slices with scissors.  She poured what I assumed to be honey onto them from a jar, put it in a plastic baggie, and sent me on my merry fruit-filled way.  As I om-NOM-NOM'ed on my first bite of Bangkok grilled bananas, I quickly fell in love with them.

Upon researching recipes for traditional Bangkok grilled bananas, I found that the recipe could use some tweaking if I wanted to make a healthy version for myself back at home.  So, for your dietetically-sound gastronomical pleasure, I give you the following cleaned-up version.  Removing the sugar-laden sauce also cuts the prep time down.  At just under ten minutes, it's not much hassle to grill these up before work in the morning or after a brutal training session if you feel like it.

SERVES: ONE

PREP TIME: 10 minutes

INGREDIENTS

• 3 medium burro bananas (about 85g each; you can buy one bunch, as pictured, and make this for breakfast all week)
• 1 tbs pure honey (or plain/flavored sugar-free syrup if you'd like, usually found in the coffee aisle of your grocery store.  This would be excellent with any of the vanilla or cinnamon-based flavors.)
• Optional spices, measured to taste: cinnamon, a pinch of salt, Splenda.

PREPARATION

1.  Peel the bananas.  

2.  Grill them until slightly charred.  If you're using salt/Splenda/cinnamon, coat them with it before grilling.  If you don't have a regular grill or you don't feel like going through the trouble to use it, you can use a George Foreman grill or pan-fry with Pam Spray in a pinch.

3.  Put bananas on a chopping board.  Using another flat surface (plate, another chopping board, etc.) press down until 1/4-1/2 inch thick.  Chop into slices.

4.  Drizzle the honey and/or sugar-free syrup over them.  NOM TIME.

Additional ideas:

• Grill only one banana this way and add it on top of your favorite oatmeal with a few toasted almonds
• Grill only one banana this way and add it on top of non-fat Greek yogurt with one tablespoon of almond butter
• Grill two bananas this way and add the equivalent of one sliced-up banana on each half of a toasted whole-grain or sprouted bagel (found in Trader Joe's) with Trader Joe's light whipped cream cheese.

NUTRITION INFORMATION: WITH HONEY

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 276 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 304 Calories from Fat 0

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0.0g 0%

Cholesterol 0mg 0%

Sodium 1mg 0%

Total Carbohydrates 77.3g 26%

Dietary Fiber 3.0g 12%

Sugars 56.2g

Protein 3.1g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 45% Calcium 0% • Iron 1%

Nutrition Grade B

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

NUTRITION INFORMATION: WITHOUT HONEY

Nutrition Facts

Serving Size 255 g

Amount Per Serving

Calories 240 Calories from Fat 0

% Daily Value*

Total Fat 0.0g 0%

Total Carbohydrates 60.0g 20%

Dietary Fiber 3.0g 12%

Sugars 39.0g

Protein 3.0g

Vitamin A 0% • Vitamin C 45% Calcium 0% • Iron 0%

Nutrition Grade B

* Based on a 2000 calorie diet

Sunday Series: The Elephant Village of Ayutthaya

All the world was quiet on the drive to Ayutthaya.

Green fields spanned miles in each direction.  The highway reached endlessly forward, persisting beyond the horizon with the vigilance and certainty of ever forward-marching time.  Every few miles, a lonely, dilapidated stall on the side of the highway selling food or hats.  Signs hanging down with their worn faces frowning at the world, paint peeling and fabric torn, a small wrinkled woman selling those hats and looking somewhere in the distance through tired eyes from a plastic seat.  Rolling on, life hurled down the road, on motorcycles, in cars, in buses, in taxis, on two feet.

As we reached our destination after an hour long drive through the countryside of Thailand, I stopped and gazed in wonder, I stopped -

There were no words as I saw the elephants begin to saunter slowly by our taxi.  Amid the crumbling ruins of what used to be the Kingdom of Siam's capital in 1350, gentle giants wander the streets as fellow citizens and residents.  For 500 baht (about $15 USD) you can ride the elephants through the ruins of the city.  You can watch as the trainers work with the elephants to dance and put on a show.  In fact, you can sit next to a baby elephant and have lunch with him as he tries to steal your poached quail eggs.

Instead of words to express this kind of joy, I offer this photograph, which captured the moment perfectly:

So began my adventures in Ayutthaya, where I spent the day riding elephants and roaming the ruins.

The Ruins of Ayutthaya

Around 1600 B.C., the city of Phra Nakhon Si Ayutthaya was one of the most populated cities in the world with about 300,000 residents.  In 1350, the city swelled to over one million and became the capital of the Kingdom of Siam.  For hundreds of years, the city dominated Asian trade wind commerce.  Of the city, Asian myth and folklore was borne; the city offered merchants astounding views of 400 glittering temples jutting out from the green of the jungle, art, gold, and treasures beyond wildest dreams.  During its 417-year life, 33 kings ruled Ayutthaya and brought 70 wars to the kingdom.  Alas, like Rome, all cities eventually fall.  In 1767, the city was destroyed by the Burmese army.  The temples were sacked and the goods stolen.  However, due to a resurgent interest in the temples in the sixties, the site has undergone massive restoration in the past several decades.  In the seventies, officials renovated the city and it became a UNESCO world heritage site.  Today, the Ayutthaya Historical Park attracts thousands of visitors every year to see the mythic ruins of a once-ruling empire.

"Prang" or reliquary towers of the central renovated structure.

Located about one hour north of Bangkok, Ayutthaya sits comfortably away from the noise of the city and is another hour away from a few other must-see destinations, such as Lopburi to the north (monkeys!) and Kanchanaburi to the west (tigers! jungles!).  The city itself sits on an island at the head of the Gulf of Siam, surrounded by three rivers that connect to the ocean.  To ancient kings, the location made sense - it was relatively safe from floods, invited a booming merchant trading system due to its canals and waterways, and offered safety from passing warships of rival nations.  The

Ayutthaya is known as the "Venice of the East" and for good reason.  In striking similarity to the Renaissance-minded city planning of Leonardo da Vinci or the great Aztec metropolis, ancient architects laid out the city according to a systematic grid.  The citizens of Ayutthaya were innovators; they planned and built hydraulic waterways, a technical marvel unique to all the world at the time it existed.  The intricate structural outline of the city still exists today and makes for some of the most amazing photography to come out of Thailand's architecture.

The entrance fee is 50 baht (about $1.50 USD) and is open from 8am to 4pm.  Bring walking shoes, a good camera, and a guidebook to read about the temples and ruins in between enjoying the local food from street stalls and shopping in the endless, crowded fair set up just outside the ruins.

Though in ruin, the inherent geometric beauty of the city layout remains.

The Ayutthaya Elephant Village

For most people, riding elephants ranks high on the bucket list.  For a mere $15 USD (500 baht), you can scratch this one off the list.  One of the elephant trainers will seat you atop your very own elephant and walk you around the ruins.

After the ride is over, there is a souvenir shop where proceeds go directly to helping the elephants.  Walk around the village and get lost in the endless market full of every kind of food imaginable.

สำหรับประสบการณ์ที่ "For the Experience"

After seven long hours of training, I was ready for my first Saturday in Thailand to come to an end.  I was in a state of blissful exhaustion; one of those moods where all you want to do is absorb the environment around you rather than participate in it.

The Thai evening began its warm embrace of darkness and jungle sweat - from waxy green leaves rose a mysterious and enduring symphony of endless insects, vendors ran out of coconuts, and nocturnal millipedes glided gracefully across the black asphalt like shadows.  Street dogs lay on the side of the road in a coma-like sleep.  Food stalls were draped off with tarps and the lonely flourescent light of the 7-11 burned on into the coming night.

Yet on this night, the camp was far from asleep; the cars and vans of the gym owners sat waiting, loaded with Thai fighters and farang (foreigners), ready to make a two-hour trek to the rural wilds of Bangkok, Amphawa Samutsongkram.  There was not enough room for everyone to go; the owners shuffled us around, talking to each other frantically in Thai.  I lucked out; the manager offered me a seat in the car with one of the trainers and two of the fighters who would be competing that night.

I rode with two fighters, both from vastly different worlds.  One was an Italian who had been fighting in Bangkok intermittently for the past several years.  The first time I met him was on one of the morning 10k runs; he was running through the wet heat of Bangkok...in a sweat suit.  Running through the most intense heat and humidity I had ever experienced...practically wrapped in a body bag, a thick black plastic suit for weight cutting.  He smiled as he recognized me from the gym, jogging by with a cordial Hello.  I was humbled immediately; not only did fighters run in this heat, they ran in this heat in sweat suits, and did it with a smile.

The second fighter was a thirteen-year-old Idaho boy with a lisp named Hunter.  You would never suspect by looking at him that he had over forty professional Muay Thai fights under his belt, or that he had lived in Japan and in fact spoke Japanese, or that he was living in Bangkok alone.  I no doubt believed him when he stated, authoritatively and without the slightest hesitation, "I will fight in the UFC when I grow up."  This thirteen-year-old was far more fearless and wise than many adults I knew.

"I hate it when other kids think I'm just some sort of nerd, or that I can't fight." He laughed with a kind of self-assurance most men couldn't muster, musing that "I can always kick their ass, though!"

I wondered in awe at how someone could be so young and already have lived so fiercely, so fully, so fantastically.  I wondered in awe at how I could be so privileged as to meet such amazing and inspiring people.

In the midst of this reverie, we made a 7-11 stop so that the Italian could refuel.  Come to find out that not only had he been cutting weight, but that his weigh-in was only an hour --- one hour --- before his fight.  He sat in the backseat sucking down a coconut before passing out for the rest of the ride, trying to get back some iota of the energy drained away running through Bangkok in a sweat suit.

Amphawa Floating Market, Thailand

We arrived in Amphawa at almost ten at night.  The stadium was an open-air festival, a stage set up on wild grass and between decaying, ancient Thai buildings.  Amphawa is a sleepy river town known mostly for its floating market, but when the boats are docked and Saturday night sets in, the town comes alive for Muay Thai.  Hundreds of spectators stand or sit in folding chairs, sandwiched between ice cream vendors and the giant dancing stage pulsating with live music and gyrating half-naked Thai women.  Outside the archways and beyond the grass, street food vendors fill the paved parking lot, filling the air with the scent of fried meats and the sugary-sweet of Cokes from glass bottles.

Food Vendor outside the stadium fights of Amphawa

Full rules Muay Thai was already underway as we crowded backstage to prepare the fighters.  They were rubbed down head to toe in Thai oil and greased for the purpose of making it harder to land a deadly blow.  They lay on the pavement on worn grass mats, closing their eyes in focus, blocking out the world and its gyrating Thai women and screaming crowds.

We settled in to watch the fights before our Kaewsamrit fighters came on.  Hunter won his fight; the Italian lost.

As we drove home that night, the Thai coach told the Italian in broken English, "next time, you

Street food outside of the Amphawa fight arena

Entrance to Amphawa fight arena

fight for de experien."  The Italian paused for a moment, puzzled.  "If not for the experience, what then?"  The coach's English didn't stretch that far; the nuance of the abstraction was lost in translation.  Isn't all fighting for the experience, the experience of at least something, be it winning, money, or glory?  How does one fight for non-experience, other than to experience non-existence?  I thought of a quote I had just read from Siddhartha, about the way we experience life generally:

"When someone is seeking," said Siddartha, "It happens quite easily that he only sees the thing that he is seeking; that he is unable to find anything, unable to absorb anything, because he is only thinking of the thing he is seeking, because he has a goal, because he is obsessed with his goal.  Seeking means: to have a goal; but finding means: to be free, to be receptive, to have no goal.  You, O worthy one, are perhaps indeed a seeker, for in striving towards your goal, you do not see many things that are under your nose."  -Herman Hesse, Siddartha

What I took the coach to mean was this: if you focus only on winning or any other singular goal, you overwhelm yourself with tension and become blind to your opponent's maneuvers against you.  You lose the ability to "think like a fighter" and react to the situation you find yourself currently in, be it a clinch or a southpaw or a strange new style.  Many a fighting coach chants the familiar words to fighters, "relax, relax, relax."  What this means is to clear your mind of any goal, to focus only on absorbing the visceral reality of the situation, to trust utterly the instincts you have trained by merely following a flow of action and reaction based on the simple reality of what your senses perceive.  You see the punch, you block it.  You see the opening, you take it.  Bruce Lee explained it this way in his essay on gung fu:

"[the principle of gung fu] has to grow spontaneously, like a flower, in a mind free from emotions and desires.  The core principle of [this] is Tao - the spontaneity of the universe."

After explaining his initial frustrations with learning the "art of detachment" inherent in fighting, Lee explains his revelation further in his famous water analogy:

"On the sea I thought of all my past training and got mad at myself and punched the water!  Right then - at that moment - a thought suddenly struck me; was not this water the very essence of gung fu?  Hadn't this water just now illustrated to me the principle of gung fu?  I struck it but it did not suffer hurt.  Again I struck it with all of my might - yet it was not wounded!  I then tried to grasp a handful of it but this proved impossible.  This water, the softest substance in the world, which could be contained in the smallest jar, only seemed weak.  In reality, it could penetrate the hardest substance in the world.  That was it!  I wanted to be like the nature of water.
Lee continues, "Suddenly a bird flew by and cast its reflection on the water.  Right then as I was absorbing myself with the lesson of the water, another mystic sense of hidden meaning revealed itself to me; should not the thoughts and emotions I had when in front of an opponent pass like the reflection of the bird flying over the water?"

This was one possible interpretation of "for the experience."  As I contemplated what the coach's thoughts were, Hunter worked to help translate.  The coach spoke Thai and Japanese; Hunter spoke Japanese and English.  In a game of international telephone, Hunter asked the coach in Japanese what he had meant, then translating to English for the Italian.

"He means fight for the experience, as in don't focus just on winning or just on one thing.  Just relax, have fun, go with it, enjoy yourself," Hunter said.  Huh, I thought.  Not too far off the mark from what I was thinking of.

"Oh, okay, okay, I see what you mean," the Italian said.

As we drove home to the gym, mostly in silence, thunder and lightening lit up the entire skyline.  Rain loomed ahead of us, but the storm passed around us.  We drove on.  As the dark night flashed alive, I listened to the conversations in Thai and Japanese, devoid of meaning to me.  I sat empty, letting the world flow by and flow through me, absorbing as much of it as I could.

I closed my eyes and listened.  I thought of how unpredictable and at times extreme life in Bangkok could be, how wild and wonderful life in a Muay Thai camp was.  I savored it in its entirety, thinking of all the amazing things I had already done.

All amazing, if only I kept letting it be.  Fun, if only I kept letting go of fear.  An opportunity to truly grow and change, if only I kept relaxing.  All "for the experience."

Sunday Series - The Venomous Snake Farm of Bangkok

Every Sunday at Kaewsamrit is considered a rest day (i.e., no training).  Fighters typically spend the day recouping from the intensive training week by going about town to get massages, buffets, and shopping done.  Some opt to sleep the day away in the rooms, especially if he or she fought the night before.

For my first Sunday, I hit the streets of downtown Bangkok for a trip to the infamous Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute, also known as the venomous snake farm of Bangkok.  A somewhat offbeat yet popular tourist attraction, this place is a must-see for herpetologists and reptile enthusiasts visiting Bangkok.  It's a short walk away from other major tourist attractions like Lumphini Park, a place where you can also indulge a love of reptiles by viewing some of the naturally-occurring Asiatic Water Monitors swimming around like dinosaurs from some lost era.

View from the entrance, Queen Saovabha Memorial Institute

The Snake Farm is more than just a zoo or tourist attraction.  It is one of the world's leading producers of exotic venomous snake species antivenin.  The Institute itself began in 1912, when Thailand officially sponsored the Institute as a place for rabies vaccine research.  After producing several vaccines for the next decade, the institute opened as a "snake farm" in 1923, charging tourists a small fee to see the snakes in order to fund their invaluable snake antivenin research and services.  Because of Thailand's 175 species of snake, 48 of which are venomous, their work is prized by locals and foreigners alike.  Today, they house thousands of species of the world's most exotic venomous snakes (including the King Cobra and non-venomous but deadly Anaconda), specializing in snake husbandry and education.

As I set out from the camp Sunday morning, one of the trainers offered me a ride on his motorcycle into "town," or at least what's considered downtown for the small Bangkok suburb of Talingchan.  One thing I know in life is this: when a Thai trainer offers you a free motorcycle ride, you hop on, and then you say many thank-yous.   I took a taxi the rest of the way into the city.  The drive totaled about thirty minutes; this was a welcomed and rare relief from the Bangkok heat since cab drivers aren't shy about using the A.C.  You can get to this place by public transportation if you wish, but this will take about three times longer to get there.

The men at the gate kindly ushered me past the main building (pictured above) and to the ticket stand.  I spent several hours looking through the exhibits and watching the demonstrations.  Below is a summary of the information I gathered from the experience.  Overall, I would highly recommend this experience to travelers; like many things in Bangkok, it's cheap, it's exciting, and you won't find it anywhere else in the world.

I.  Basic Information:

Admission costs 200 baht (about 6 dollars) for adults, 50 baht for children.

The hours of operation:

Monday-Saturday: 9:30am to 3:30pm
Sundays and Holidays:  9:30am to 1:00pm

Show Times:
Monday-Saturday:
   Venom Extraction Demonstration, 11:00am
   Snake Handling Demonstration, 2:30pm

Sundays and Holidays:

    Snake Handling Demonstration, 11:00am

II.  The Snake Handling Demonstration

King Cobra brought out for snake handling demonstration

The audience sits behind a small wall or stands behind a chain while snake handlers bring out several venomous and some non-venomous species to show.  One main handler narrates the action in both English and Thai translations, a sort of tour guide full of information about the Institute and its serpentine residents.  

They start with the big ticket item: the King Cobra.  I stood behind the chain while several men brought out a King Cobra and plopped it on the floor in front of us, as if it were just some piece of furniture they were used to handling.  These handlers spend years working with the snakes, learning exactly how to do it without getting bit (although several do get bit each year, with occasional deaths).  Still, you have the option of standing only ten feet away from one of the world's most deadly snakes.  Because the King Cobra only senses movement, this is just like the scene in Jurassic Park where Grant faces down T-Rex: don't move, and he can't see you.  So there I stood, motionless as the cobra ten feet away stood up, flared it's hood and looked right past me.  No big movements.  No big movements.  I snapped a few pictures without moving my feet, the handlers keeping a close eye on the tourists crazy enough to get that close.

After the King Cobra, the handlers brought out several more species, my favorite being the Siamese Spitting Cobras.  As the handler taunted and aggravated the twin cobras, the narrator explained that the cobras could not see him standing still behind them.  He poked one of them jokingly in the head from behind and the snake dipped down like a toy float in a pool before looking around in front of it into the audience menacingly as if to say "WHO took my lunch money?!?"  Chuckling and gasps filled the air.

At the end of the show, the handlers bring out pythons for audience members to take pictures with, free of charge.

III.  A Few of Bangkok's Venomous Snakes

Green Tree Python

Monocellate (Albino) Cobra

Indochinese Spitting Cobra

Green Anaconda; not venomous, but still deadly due to it's size and power.

For a more detailed list of Thailand's venomous snakes, go here.

IV.  The Basics of Venomous Snake Bites: How it Works

What exactly is snake venom?  It's an evolutionary twist on saliva, modified through thousands of years of natural selection, to serve two principle purposes.  First, it demobilizes prey so that the snake can eat the prey whole.  Aside from the two fangs which function like hypodermic needles, snake have no teeth, nor do they masticate (or "chew").  The snake will actually detach its jaw bones to facilitate swallowing.  Thus, snake venom eliminates the problem of a struggling meal during this process (non-venomous snakes deal with this problem through the familiar Jiu Jitsu solution of suffocation).  Second, venom demobilization serves as a defense mechanism.

There are two main types of snake zootoxins or venom: neurotoxins and cytotoxins.  Each is a combination of proteins, enzymes, and polypeptides that typically act on different vertebrate systems of the body.

Neurotoxins:

These act on neuron receptors in the body's cells, essentially changing the signal or "message" that cells receive.  By either overstimulating or blocking the nerve signals, these proteins can manipulate the body into conditions of muscle tetanus and heart failure, or cause complete muscle paralysis.

       Fasciculins: these cause muscle tetanus by overstimulating the nerves in the muscles, which leads to heart failure.  Species include black mambas and some rattlesnakes.

        Dendrotoxins:  these cause muscle failure or paralysis by doing the exact opposite of fasciculins - allowing NO nerve impulses to transmit.  Species include cobras and sea snakes.

Cytotoxins:

These have specific effects on only certain types of cells, and are thus more specific and less generalized than neurotoxins.  These include cardiotoxins (those that stop the heart, found in King Cobras) and hemotoxins (those that destroy blood cells or cause coagulation, found in multiple species of cobras and vipers).

For more information on snake venom, go here.

Day One, Part Two - The Language of Muay Thai

I don't speak Thai.  Not a word.  In fact, before I began my first day of training, the only Thai words I knew were "Muay Thai."

Here I am, this English-speaking lawyer who spent her entire life fine-tuning the niceties of language, the subtleties of wordplay, and the rules of grammar.  I can write you a legal brief and outline an article as if it were second-nature.  I can analyze, rationalize, proselytize, orate, narrate, and speak in Lawyer as if I were speaking in tongues, if you'd like.  After a lifetime of reading, writing, poetry --- years of formal education, endless hours alone with words --- I can be a dancing one-woman show of words.  Sure, no problem.

Most of the trainers didn't understand much of what I said, aside from the most basic of information like my name and the country I'm from.  I wanted to tell them all about how much I loved their sport, how much I admired it, how much I respected everything they stood for, and how invaluable their training would be to me.  But, I was at a loss for words; there was no Thai in my brain to explain it.

But Muay Thai is a universal language in and of itself.  I came to realize this during my first day training in a different country with a formidable language barrier.  I didn't need to explain how much I loved their sport; everything I wanted to say about it translated with perfect clarity through each punch, kick, and check that I did.

For all the English I had studied, I had immersed myself in a second language for the past year without really knowing it; with each day of training, I had been learning the language of Muay Thai.   I had been building a universal physical vocabulary that would work for me whichever Muay Thai gym I should go to, no matter the spoken language.  No words can ever translate a teep or an elbow; no words are necessary.

As soon as I began to work with the trainers and hit the pads and bags, the language of Muay Thai spoke for me.  My work denoted what my experience level was, so I didn't need to tell them; they could see what I already knew, exactly what changes to make, and where I could be better.   English became irrelevant.  Spinning elbows, teeps, sweeps, jabs, rights, low kicks; these all became the words we all knew.  The combinations became the sentences with which we would speak to each other.  Sparring would be our conversations; it was the same back-and-forth flow of physical poetry I knew from Blackhouse, the very same I fell in love with what seems like the longest year ago.  And if the practitioners and teachers of Muay Thai are poets, then these men are the Shakespeares.  After all is said and done, I find myself again to be a student of language and poetry, this time spoken with the "eight limbs."  A situation new but all-too-familiar, comforting in its homeliness, strikingly reassuring.

Day One, Part One - The Sound of Bangkok

"Coooock-a-doodle-doo, motherfucker!"

My eyes snapped open instantly.  Huh, I thought, waking with the roosters.  I really only thought that happened in movies.  Guess not.  I looked over at my cell phone, an alarm set for thirty minutes later, now rendered useless by the natural process of this place.  No, Western Girl, you don't need a cell phone to wake up, not here.

At about four thirty in the morning, in the complete absence of light, in a small room in the thick heat of a small Bangkok suburb miles from the city, a merry band of roosters began to crow outside of my window.  Just outside my window.  They did so insistently, constantly; I half expected one of them to scratch through my window and peck me awake, a look in his eye saying, "time to train, get up, RUN!"

Soon after, the steady beat of body parts smacking bags streamed through my window.  Every three minutes or so, the sound of a bell (the old-school kind, rung by hand, nothing electronic) punctuated the grunts and exertions of the men training and the coaches yelling outside.  Just outside my window.  The world of Muay Thai, just a short walk outside my bedroom door.

I heard far more of Bangkok before I ever saw it.  I arrived in the middle of the night, midnight to be exact, after a seventeen hour journey by airplane; a three hour layover in Japan sandwiched between two seven-hour flights.  I hardly remember the airport in Tokyo.  I remember shuffling around in a circle, dazed, hulking luggage awkwardly, ready to shank someone for a bottle of water and a comfortable place to sit.  Soup, I thought, water.  LORD GIVE ME SOUP.  WATER.  LIQUIDS.  NOW.  I stopped my no doubt super sexy zombie walk in front of a glowing airport restaurant sign illuminated with giant, detailed pictures of authentic Japanese Soba and teriyaki chicken.  Bottles of water tucked away neatly in a tiny counter fridge, standing regimented in Romaji-written rows like soldiers ready to fight the exhaustion of travel.  Beckoning me, calling to me; drink, and you shall be restored.  Stop.  Rest.

Stop and rest I did.  I ate like a sick child, tired, slurping soup slowly and oblivious to the world around me for a few moments of blissful relief.  When I eventually stood up to leave, a few Japanese girls gasped in awe at my stuffed killer whale (named Shmu) tucked under my arm.  They approached me excitedly and asked me something in Japanese, pointing to Shmu with giant smiles.  "SeaWorld, San Diego," I said.  Nothing but blank stares.  I tried something more general.  "Uhh, California."  This got knowing nods and exclamations; "Ohhhh, California! Dolphin, yes?"  The tour guide in me couldn't help it.  I pointed to Shmu with my best tour guide smile and said, "killer whale, orca."  They were positively ecstatic at this information.  I let them pet Shmu for a few minutes.  Then, with some energy renewed and a single-mindedness to get to Bangkok, I turned over my empty bowls and headed for the next flight.

Hot Japanese Soba Noodles and Teriyaki Chicken, Narita Airport, Japan

I should mention here that these were my fist international flights, so I was also pleasantly surprised at the fact that I got served free hot food.  All of my domestic flights have never done this; usually, it's just a small, overpriced deli menu of fruit and cheese plates and wine.  You can see how thoroughly I enjoyed this little perk:

Thank you, Delta Airlines.  I also appreciated the small screen provided for each seat which allowed me to play unlimited movies, TV, and chart where the flight was at:

When I finally arrived at the airport in Suvarnabhumi, I longed for a bed and a good night's sleep.  I stepped off the plane and the heat and humidity hit me like a punch to the face.  I was squeezed onto a packed bus to the terminal, all of us tired and sweating on each other.  Drops of water fell on my shoulder.  The air conditioning unit dripped moisture down in a slow stream.  I eventually met up with and found the escort from the gym who would pick me up.  After a brief introduction, we took a taxi to the camp for about forty minutes.  I was useless during this time, half-awake, half-listening to the gym instructor-escort and taxi driver laugh and talk jovially in Thai.  I paid him, got a room and a key, and I practically fell onto the bed, lights out cold.

This morning, as I lay in the dark and listened in awe to the sounds of this new reality, I could feel the truth of that presence just outside my window with all the senses aside from sight; I could hear it, I could smell it as Thai cooking from the gym kitchen, I could touch it in the rough feel of the sheets, I could taste it in the humid air.  A dream finally made real.

Some moments, when the reality of a major decision sets in, you question if what you did was right.  If it at all made sense.

This was not one of those moments - there was absolutely no question, laying there in the dark on a typical Bangkok Thursday morning.  As I felt the day bloom around me, I felt a sense of excitement, belonging and content before I even set foot outside.  This was it.  No more planning to be done.  I had set up the door, now all I had to do was literally walk through it, go outside, and begin.

So I did.

10 Steps Before You Go to Thailand. Step Two - Finances

2.  Budgeting The Trip

DISCLAIMER.  The following is general travel advice and in no way represents legal advice, does not solicit legal advice, and does not form any attorney-client relationship with any reader whatsoever.  Reminder:  I am NOT YET A LICENSED ATTORNEY and am NOT giving legal advice in this post or on this website.

Personally, I saved the money in advance and will live off of a savings account while in Thailand.  When saving money for the trip, keep in mind how much you should actually be saving by creating a realistic budget plan.

Here is a basic overview of the categories you can use to plan your budget:

Sample Budget Sheet

Item	Cost	Total
	Travel/One-Time Expenses
Plane Tickets1	____
Visa Fees2	____
Travel Insurance3	____
Immunizations4	____	____
	Bills/Monthly Expenses
Credit Cards5	____
Phone/Data Usage6	____
Transportation 7	____
Food8 Entertainment9	____ ____
Training Camp10	____	____
Totals

1.  Plane Tickets.  The standard low-end rate for a round trip ticket runs about $1200 from California.  The cheapest way to plan it?  Make all of your arrival/departure dates on Tuesdays.  Check out Kayak for cheap airfare.

2.  Visa Fees.    Visa Fees may or may not apply.  Staying less than 30 days + have a current U.S. passport + have a return plane ticket?  U.S. citizens carrying a tourist passport and in possession of an onward or return airline ticket do not require a visa to enter Thailand. The passport must have at least six months validity remaining to be allowed entry.  Upon entry, Thai immigration officials will place an immigration stamp in the passport permitting a 30-day stay in Thailand if arriving by air or a 15-day stay if arriving by land.  Planning on staying longer than 30 days?  You'll need to pick from among various Visa options.  For more information on Thai Visas, visit the U.S. Embassy site.  Visa processing fees generally range from about $30-80 but are subject to change, so stay up to date with the Royal Thai Consulate office that will be processing your Visa application.  The Consulate has offices in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and Honolulu, among others.  The website does not offer a comprehensive list of Consulate locations, but it's a good place to start.

3.  Travel Insurance.  You typically have an option to purchase travel insurance along with your plane ticket for an additional $100 or so.  You can, of course, always shop around for different travel insurance.

4.  Immunizations.  Depending on your immunization history and whether your health insurance will cover the cost of "non-routine" shots for travel, the immunizations for Thailand can run from $150 to $900 or more (the cost of Rabies or Japanese Encephalitis shots are OBSCENELY EXPENSIVE no matter where you go).  If you are insured, start by talking to your primary physician.  If you are not insured, start by Googling local travel immunization services in your area and shop around for a competitive price.

5.  Credit Cards.  Unfortunately, credit card companies won't stop billing your debt just because you're going abroad.  You can suspend a lot of bills while you're gone, but keep in mind that credit cards will still need to be paid.

6.  Phone/Data Plans.  Most plans don't offer good international rates in my experience.  The cheapest option is to suspend your service while abroad and use the abundant free wifi of Bangkok to communicate or just buy calling cards/prepaid plans from a provider in Thailand.

7.  Transportation.  Good news.  Between buses, tuk-tuks, and taxis, public transportation in Thailand is both abundant and cheap.  The low end of getting around Bangkok should run about $5-10 per day, but plan on paying more if you're going long distances in taxis or making a lot of trips to different parts of town.  See more about the Bangkok transportation system here.

8.  Food.  Also good news.  Food ranges from the super cheap street food to five star dining.  The low end is probably $5-15 per day.  For more on this topic, see Migrationology's website.

9.  Entertainment.  This really depends on how much you plan to screw around when not training.  Plan which activities you know you can't live without (example: $250 visit to the Tiger Temple Tour outside of Bangkok) into the budget.  Between all of the free sightseeing (temples, markets, etc.) and the cheap nightlife, staying entertained on a budget really isn't much of an issue.

10.  Training Camp.  This one depends entirely on the factors discussed in step one.  Reminders: check out the camp websites, shop around, try to negotiate with the camp/gym owner for a better rate.