Feel the burn

So I finally did it, I took an exercise class...in Thai. It was quite the experience, so funny that I had to write about it. In Bangkok, I'm a member of the gym "Fitness World," which is conveniently right across the street from my house and also right next to the BTS. The walls are all glass, so anyone walking out of the BTS can see you running and sweating, quite the set-up.

Every time I go to the gym, before getting to the treadmills, I always pass the little spinning studio, the small black room that is always suspiciously empty. Yesterday, I decided to venture into the little black room and spin my heart out. As it turns out, the spin room doesn't stay black and dark all day. No, it doesn't have windows, it has a multi-color disco ball. The disco ball spins round and round, flashing different colors, creating the ultimate party...I mean, spinning atmosphere.

I walked in 5 minutes before the class started, but somehow I was late. The instructor in the front, wearing a towel on his head, was barking out instructions that I did not understand; I can only imagine they were to encourage the other spinners to go faster?I felt like I was in boot camp but didn't really feel the pressure of it all since I couldn't understand a thing.

My ability to follow the class relied on my peripheral vision, doing the glance to the left and right to see what other people were doing. Do I turn the resistance knob up, down? I navigated my way through the class as best as I could, but it was a bit difficult because it was all too amusing--the Thai electro-pop, the lighting, the towel-headed instructor all made it a bit difficult to focus.

After 35 minutes of spinning, I left the class to find Kate so we could grab some dinner. Much to my surprise, I found Kate on the couch outside of the "dance" studio, totally mesmerized, transfixed by the Thai dance students. Curious, I joined her on the couch to see what it was all about--it was a "hip-hop" class, with not one farang in the mix. I'm not really sure what kind of hip-hop this instructor was familiar with, but it certainly didn't look like anything I'd seen before--there were birdlike arm gesticulations, slides out of a 1970s movie, and weird stretching.

Amused and entertained, Kate and I went to dinner, contemplating what our next Thai exercise class experience might be....