Sly awoke at 6am in a tremendous mood after 7 hours sleep, more than he usually got. The Chiang Mai sun burst through the gaps in the blinds and he put on a pair of bright Buddhist orange shorts and a black tshirt with Philip K. Dick’s face in the middle of it radiating green and purple spectral light and wide open eyes, it was an unusual vivid graphic which he’d purchased off the net. He put on a red bead bracelet and a black leather bracelet and brushed his teeth and left his room. The sun was coming up and he felt much elation that gradually built as he worked his calf muscles on the walk down to Santitham Breakfast place. The Thai couple who worked the joint greeted him. He had become quite the regular there, often the first person to turn up at the restaurant, and he always took the table in the corner and switched the fan on himself to get rid of any lurking mosquitoes of which there were only a few. He ordered a pad Thai. Two foreigners drove into the restaurant’s adjacent yard on scooters. They were muscular with vests on and they were younger,
“Good morning, sirs,” Sly said, “Have you just been to the gym?”
One answered, “Yup, do you work out also?”
“No sir, why would I need to do that when the world is out there on my doorstep? I’d sooner walk five kms a day with the breeze on my back and a good bottle of Leo beer, while carrying this satchel with me.”
He showed them his satchel. It was a fabric bag with lines of purple elephants on it. “In it goes,” he continued, “water, extra drinks because the 7-11 only allows credit card purchases past 200 baht, sun cream, phone, phone charger, a bag or two of nuts, AirPods, phone, wallet, why it’s quite a weight you can see, and when I carry it up like this at my waist while I walk it’s quite a work out, you understand, and if you don’t mind, in this sunshine and with the local Chiang Mai laws deeming it appropriate, I will often smoke mary jane on route and listen to heavenly music…which motivates the muscles more. I have no need for the gym really, it is a room full of men and at cost, but kind sirs, I understand that you must be practising Muay Thai, yes?”
“Yes,” replied one of them, somewhat reluctantly.
“Why, I didn’t mean to dampen your mood, for we are all thinking differently about what is appropriate and whatnot, indeed, I respect your ways, you could surely overcome me easily and steal everything from me in a less civil world with your strength and skill, and of course there is a spiritual facet to Muay Thai too, is there not?
“Yeah mate, if we sign up at a Muay Thai school, we get a free Thai visa for a year.”
“Oh yes, that must be very useful. I need to renew my paperwork after one month and then have to leave after two months, although Vietnam is very nice at this time of the year too. Well, don’t let me keep you from ordering your breakfast a second longer, the food is very good here as I’m sure you already know, good day to you gents,”
The two worked-out young foreign gents, both with muscular round shoulders and in vests, sat down at a table. Sly started reading the news off his phone. There were wars sprouting up everywhere it seemed. A new one in Europe, a new one in the Middle East, a civil war in Asia, a handful of wars in Africa. They seemed like a plague that was spreading. The pad Thai arrived. On the side of the plate were three small mounds of sugar, ground peanuts and ground chilli. He tucked in.
Muay Thai rewarding?
