The Monthly Rundown: March 2018

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Sawadee Krap. Yup, I’m back in Thailand (it’s April 8th as I write this). Back to March though. March got off to an awesome start celebrating Holi before turning sour as my time in India came to a finish. But Thailand cures all (well me any way) and the back half of the month was good as gold.

Cities Visited

Cat in a box at Catmosphere in Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai, Thailand

Stadiums & Arenas

After a dissapointing February I made it to one stadium in March. I went to Thaepae Boxing Stadium to watch Muay Thai. Now on to the…

>>>The Highlight Reel<<<

Getting To Hang Out With Cool People (a.k.a. cool friends)

Ms Pa is like a friend. She will always serve Chiang Mai’s best fruit shakes.

This is the same heading as last month. One of my themes of the year is too hang out with friends a lot and so far this year has been epic. March involved:

Playing Holi with friends in Mumbai. We were a group of six bloggers (ish), most of who I hadn’t seen for the better part of a year. And the night before a few more came out for a dinner which was super cool too.
On April 3rd (the day after Holi), my Uni mate Tyler came to India where we spent 10 days together. Hadn’t seen him for over two years so that was cool.

After a couple of easy days in Bangkok I went to meet my friend Annah who is teaching English in Roi Et.
Chiang Mai, I tried to keep low key but did catch up with some people which was cool. Always a good thing about going back to Chiang Mai.
And to finish the month off I caught up with Annika from Midnight Blue Elephant for a beer near Khao San Road (we classy).

Eating My Favourite Meals Around Chiang Mai

But Jub, this isn’t Thai food? You’d be correct. I have this tradition where I celebrate my rugby league team winning by eating falafel. We only won once in March 🙁

For vegetarians India is heaven. For vegans, not so much. India uses a lot of ghee and butter ruling out lots of options. Thailand though, oh yea! It’s so good. In Chiang Mai I went back to my favourite places time and time again, as usual getting a bit too carried away with the green curries resulting in too much rice. In Chiang Mai it’s so easy to eat healthy there if you can avoid the rice trap and 7/11 snacks. Let me know if you are going to Chiang Mai and want restaurant recommendations.

Celebrating Holi In Mumbai

man with paint on face during holi festival

HOLI SELFIE

I was almost going to put Holi in the fumbles section. Turns out Mumbai’s Holi celebrations are on a small scale with 90% of people going about there day like they usually do. We bought some Holi colours the night before then a bunch of us met at a hostel to kick things off in the morning. It was super fun throwing the powder on each other, but it would have been cool to see the other 90% of the population celebrating with us. I guess I’ll just have to go up north another time.

Finally Seeing Muay Thai Live

This had somehow been something I kept delaying despite spending so much time in Thailand. I saw a night of fights on my last night in Chiang Mai and you should go if you get a chance. I went with my mate Andrew and he took some great photos you can see on his Instagram timeline.

>>>The Fumbles<<<

Food Poisoning In Agra

At least we managed to tick this building off the list.

Ah Delhi belly. I’m pretty sure it was something I ate in Agra but regardless of where it was caught, MY GOD, not fun. My friend came down with it a few hours earlier and I was having a laugh…karma?

YTis wasn’t a 48-hour dose either. I was on the toilet 10+ times a day for a week before things started to slowly settle. I was really looking forward to hiking in Rishikesh but that didn’t really happen as we wanted quick access to a toilet. Somehow I survived the overnight bus ride from Agra to Rishikesh by sleeping 98% of the way there.

In hindsight, I didn’t take it seriously enough. I normally get over any cough or flu right away. I should have drunk more water in the first couple of days. Next time.

Barely Running

Hiking to this waterfall in Rishikesh was pushing our limits while still suffering from Delhi Belly

Slacked big time on the running this month. I let excuses creep into my thought process when thinking about going for a run. I went for a few runs in Chiang Mai, but even there I could have done more. Maybe I need to register for a race to get some motivation going again?

What I Finished Reading In March 2018

I finally have a plan for what I’m going to do in terms of book recaps on this blog. Will have something implemented and readable by the end of the month. I’m excited about it and will make things useful for those who like sports autobiographies.

Cyrille Regis: My Story (Autobiography) – 7/10. A great book by this former English International who was also one of the first prominent black footballers in the Premier League. The crazy thing is he never really expected to become a footballer but managed to take the right opportunities when they came by to have a reasonable career (he believes he could have achieved A LOT more if he wasn’t so distracted by the lifestyle that leads some astray). Some of the stuff he wrote must have been scary to see in print.
Ego Is The Enemy by Ryan Holliday – 7.5/10. I enjoy hearing Ryan as a podcast guest so purchased one of his books. This one has had me thinking about the ego in myself and in others since I finished reading it, but I wouldn’t say it’s the best book ever. Basically, keep your ego in check. Ryan uses lots of examples from different areas of the world to illustrate his point but it was missing something that I can’t quiet work out.

New Blog Posts From March

Just the one new post in March (whoops) plus the Feb Rundown.

A Visit To The Blades Of Glory Cricket Museum In Pune

The Monthly Rundown: February 2018

What’s Coming Up In April

A sneak peak from April’s Koh Samui adventures.

April is going to be hectic! There will be a week on Koh Samui to start (couple days transit on either side). Then from the 11th to 22nd, it’s off to Malaysia for a silent meditation retreat…super nervous about that. The final week will likely just be working from Kuala Lumpur or somewhere else nearby (there’s always a lot I want to do in Malaysia).

Have the best month ever!