We love Thailand! The food, the beaches, decent transportation–this place is paradise.

Phuket Island, Ko Lanta, Ko Rok, Ko Nah, Ko Phi Phi: ‘KO’ means island and we have been hopping from one to another on the Andaman sea.

White sand beaches with turquoise water make these the prettiest beaches I have ever seen. We took a snorkel cruise to visit a few more islands and swam through a couple of dying coral reefs.

Ko Phi Phi is known as a party island. We thought we would feel old, but people of all ages were dancing on the beach and watching the fire shows. I have seen four fire shows in the past few days. Krabi had one at their night market, and each beach bar in Ko Phi Phi had a stage full of fire dancers. They were fun to watch, but still working on their accuracy (they managed to catch the flaming batons 3/4 times).

Our hotel window faced a bar with an amateur kickboxing ring where patrons could fight each other. They charged admittance, but we had free views of the ring and we couldn’t sleep until the bar closed for the night anyway. The fights were amusing, but the volunteer fighters had terrible technique.

This week we are in Phuket training at a Muay Thai kickboxing camp. Our days are kickboxing, eat, nap, kickboxing, eat, sleep. Repeat. That is four hours of kickboxing a day and everything hurts. In good way, though. It is great to be training again.