Traipsing about London

Some of you might be experiencing some déjà-vu seeing this post.  I had a post up last week, but some people were uncomfortable with it and asked to have it pulled.  I’ve had a lot of that this past week.  Quite frankly I’m getting a little tired of discussing the whole Jamaica event.

A dear friend of mine Romana originally introduced me to Lamsongkram (LA Show). It was a couple of weeks ago and I had planned on having a lazy summer afternoon with my wife.  I get a call from Romana,  Lamsongkram’s in town.  What? Aren’t they supposed to be in Jamaica?… ah yes the unpredictability of air travel.

I head out to the wasteland that is Gatwick to catch up with them and possibly get an interview in.  Speaking of interviews, clearly interviews in Thai aren’t my forte… I need a little practice.  Yes it was shot with that shit camera I had for my interview with David.  I didn’t really prepare for the interview and Diesel Lek isn’t the most expressive of individuals.  I need to figure out how to add subtitles because the whole English to Thai to English things is too disruptive… it doesn’t feel natural and doesn’t flow well.

Not my finest work…

So we get to the hotel and it’s clear they’re itching to get out of the hotel.  One of the trainers Fad, had never been out of the country.  He was asking me how far is it too the Manchester United Stadium?  Far I say… How far are we from Leeds…? (There was a muay thai fight that night) far… I say.  I’m starting to feel bad… clearly it’s his first time away from home and just wants to see some shit.  How far are we from Big Ben?   Hmmm… that I can do.  So we all jump onto a train and head out for our little adventure.

It turns out it’s slightly nerve racking when you’ve sworn you would take care of them and bring them back in one piece. Our first snag, it turns out President Bush is here in London that day and there are protests everywhere.  As we are walking towards parliament and Big Ben it becomes clear to me that this is the epicenter of the protest.  Riot police and horsed abound… ah shit.  We’re here but we need to get through the crowd to get to the other side.  We stick together and quickly move through.  Diesel Lek is more interested in the protest… after I get through the crowd I have this vision of me sitting in the office of Khun Anmo the big cheese of the Chuwattana Gym.  “You saw that there was a protest and you still thought it would be a good idea to take them through?”

We make it though riot and police brutality free… it was a good day. Lamsongkram says hey I remember taking pictures with a massive lion… Trafalgar square it is.  So when you get there everyone feels obligated to climb on the lions for a photo op, I need to point out Lamsongkrams footwear.  I don’t know where he got them but he’s sporting full on shit kickers.   Not faux shit kickers but Stetson hat, Marlboro smoking, big ass belt buckle, cowboy shit kickers.

As he tries to scramble down even his trainer fad, is like oh shit… as we rush to grab him.  He jumps to the ground about 5′, I feel like a worrying nitpicking mother.  All I need is for him to sprain and ankle… have that shit on my head.  To make matters worse he thinks it’s funny to pretend he’s hurt his ankle.  Real funny…

Check out those shit kickers

It’s time to get some grub… the last thing we need is food poisoning… we finally settle on the trendy Wagamama.  Many thanks to Romana for feeding us.

It’s been a long day… A few trains and taxis later I get them back unharmed. We had some good conversations… BTW they all unanimously agree with the new clinch rules.  I need to correct a quick fact,  in the past I had said the Lamsongkram means “built for war”.  The literal translation is lam (body) Songkram (war) but in this case the Lamsonkram is the name of a river near his home.  There you go.

So obviously by the time you’ve read this, these guys would have already fought.  I’m still waiting to watch the Diesel Lek, Marco Pique fight.  If you know please don’t spoil it.  Have a great weekend.