The Legend Muay Thai
Throughout my time in China I had continuously heard people rave about The Legend Muay Thai & Fitness as the premier Muay Thai gym in all of China. The first opportunity I got while passing through Beijing I jumped at the chance to pop in for a session. Immediately after stepping foot through the doors I understood what all the raving was about, I was amazed by the beauty of this place. It truly is a beautiful gym, I felt terrible sweating in the place. And not just beautiful by Chinese standards, this is one of the nicest gyms I have ever stepped into.
ESL IN CHINA
Teaching English abroad can not only be an exciting and rewarding experience, but also a great way to fund your next RTW trip. There are loads of countries out there where it is possible to make a very comfortable living teaching English, amongst them there is China “The Middle Kingdom”. There are definitely no shortages of ESL jobs in China. Landing a job teaching English in China is as easy as scoring a job flipping burgers at McDonalds in America. I personally know of people in China legally teaching with nothing more than a high-school diploma. I have co-workers that I would not hire to clean my toilet. Laurie and I have an ongoing joke that in the near future Chinese schools will begin to place job ads in prisons looking for parolees. It saddens me to say this, but the most important requirement to getting employed in China seems to be white skin.
MMA DAQING STYLE
With the explosion of the UFC, mixed martial arts (MMA) is the fastest growing sport in the world. This statement most definitely holds true in China as well. China obviously has a longstanding history of martial arts and I personally don’t believe it will be long before China will be known as a MMA powerhouse. I have been fortunate over the past few months to have the opportunity to train MMA with the Daqing Fight Team. They are a small but tight-knit team of 5 members, who mostly compete in Judo and Tae Kwon Do, but also train MMA. I am the first foreigner to ever train with the team and I was forced to pay my dues to become accepted. These dudes are nutty and they go at it hard everyday. During my first month they molly-whomped my American ass daily.
THE BEGINNING
Surviving a brutal six month Siberian winter in northern China had definitely gotten the better of us and had taken a toll on both of our bodies. We were definitely sporting some “winter coat” action in our belly regions. For some reason it is hard to find the drive and motivation to get to the gym for a workout when it’s -40 outside. Not to mention the fact that the food in China, although usually delicious, is unbelievably unhealthy. Everything is drenched and swimming in oil. I seriously have no idea how all these little Chinese dudes are so damn skinny. Don’t get me wrong I enjoyed carrying those few extra lbs when it was -40, but looking ahead our 100 day South East Asia adventure was rapidly approaching. It was time to get back to the gym and begin to prepare our bodies for the rigors of traveling. Many travelers ignore this aspect of traveling completely.
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