Swallowed My Pride
February 13, 2009 by admin · 6 Comments
So last night I went to the stadium to watch some fights since a couple people from the gym were fighting and of course, because I was able to bypass the 1000 baht entry free - which is only 100 baht for Thai people. Actually, in the 10 combined months that I’ve spent in Thailand, this was the first time I went to watch live fights.
I just can’t bring myself to fork out 10-15 times the “regular” ticket cost based on my skin colour. Like I said in a couple other posts, just imagine the uproar this sort of duel pricing would cause in your home country. However, the one thing that’s actually good about it is the fact that the fighters get higher salaries as a result of the higher ticket prices - which is obviously a good thing. But still, I’d rather spend my 1000-1500 baht on 25-35 chicken/rice meals.
The fights were all pretty good and it was a cool experience, but I’ll come back to that. What I’ll get too now is what happened after the fights. I went to get some chicken soup at the same place I eat about 4 times a day once I had finished and was walking back to my room, I noticed some angry Thai guy yelling at some random shopkeeper.
At the exact moment I was passing by, he turned around and we bumped into each other. No big deal I thought. I just said sorry and did the “Wai” - which is a Thai greeting that involves putting your hands together and slightly bowing your head. According to Wikipedia, this is also a common way to apologize so it looks like I had it right..
Anyway, the guy - who was clearly drunk or high on coke - start screaming at me. It obviously got me a little upset but I figured it wasn’t worth it so I said sorry again and moved on. About a minute later (as I was walking towards my room) I heard the loud revving of a motorbike engine and I could sense it was pulling up beside me.
Great, just what I needed. The guy then proceeded to cut me off with his motorbike, step off and started screaming “you want to fight me?! ..you want to fight me!!”. Now, I’m fairly confident with my ability to defend myself - and I’m glad I have that piece of mind - but all bets are off when you’re alone in a different country.
The thing about Thailand is that when a foreigner and a Thai are fighting, every Thai within a 200 meter radius ends up jumping the “farang” - regardless of whether or not they know how the fight started. It’s bullshit, it’s extremely racist and it certainly demonstrates the fact that a lot of Thai people have some pent up rage towards foreigners - although they usually mask it with a nice smile and friendly demeanour.
As a matter of fact, here’s a video that I filmed last year that illustrates my point. I have no idea how that fight started but then again, it’s not far fetched to assume that some of the Thai people involved even know why they’re attacking either - just following along.
So there I was with this drunk idiot standing in front of me trying to start a fight. I should mention that he was about a foot shorter than me, 50 pounds lighter than me and he most likely doesn’t train (I don’t know many aggressive, coke-addicted, alcoholic Muay Thai fighters). Not to mention the fact that I’ve been to a lot of gyms on the island and I’ve never seen this guy at any of them. Also, most Thai fighters that you’ll come across are pretty respectful and don’t walk around picking random fights to prove their self worth - they can leave all that in the ring.
Anyway, I ended up trying to talk the situation down once again and walked away. He got back on his bike and followed me once again. At this point, I figured that he wasn’t going to leave me alone so I walked into a busy “family mart” and told everyone the situation. I figured that it would be a good idea to make people aware that I was not the one instigating the fight in hopes that it would reduce the chances of everyone jumping me based on the sight of a big foreigner beating up a little Thai (without knowing the story behind it).
At this point (while I was in the store), he was sitting on his motorbike outside and giving me the finger through the window. I walked outside and once again, he starts talking more shit and I once again ignore it and walk away. I walked about 50 meters to the next family mart (they’re everywhere here) and every night, there’s a guy there that sells BBQ kabobs. The place is right in front of my building so I talk to the guy quite often. Anyway, I just shook his hand (didn’t mention the situation) at all, went into family mart (bought some milk) and when I came out, the aggressive Thai dude was gone.
Why he left? I’m not really sure. Perhaps he just got bored and moved on to look for someone else to harass or it might have had something to do with the fact that he saw that I knew at least once person in the area. Either way, the whole situation was fucked up. I’ve been here for a long time and never once have I felt “alone”, but last night was different.
Aside from walking away, I really didn’t have any other options. I could have fought him and got jumped by a bunch of motorbike taxi drivers in the area, or on the slim chance that I wouldn’t have gotten jumped, the police may have gotten involved and something tells me that they wouldn’t take my side (the foreigners side) unless a bribe was involved.
I certainly question the integrity of the Thai police, especially when I hear about news stories like this..
Here are the highlights to illustrate my point..
“Norwegian Simen Knudsen was robbed and stabbed to death recently on a quiet stretch of road near Kata viewpoint. The three boys arrested for the killing were released shortly after, undermining a high-profile police investigation.
Just this week, an Australian woman riding with her friend was pushed off her motorbike and robbed at gunpoint in the same area.
Cases like this are happening more frequently. Every time, after a week of the police being certain of their investigations bearing fruit, nothing happens and the attacks are quietly forgotten.”
Now don’t get me wrong here. I still love Thailand and its people. Incidents like this are extremely rare here and it’s not like this will change my overall perception of this awesome country. I suppose if Thai people judged all us foreigners on the actions of a few, then we’d all be sloppy, drunk, loud, obnoxious sex tourists in their eyes - which clearly isn’t the case. And likewise, I can’t pass judgement based on the behaviour of the drunk guy last night either.
Anyway, back to the fights from last night.. Check this one out, it’s what Muay Thai is all about - patience and amazing technique..
FIGHT VIDEOS BEING UPLOADED (COMING SOON)
My Training
Although I had a great workout today venting my anger from last night on the heavy bag, it’s been somewhat of an “off” week. I had to get an impacted wisdom tooth removed on Sunday and since then, I’ve been on the diary queen diet. Nothing but ice cream, noodle soup and bananas. I graduated to spaghetti today so that’s a good sign. But needless to say, in my malnourished state, I haven’t had much energy lately. I went in a few times this week and just lifted weights and threw a few punches but that‘s the extent of it.
I also have to do another one of those whack visa runs in a couple days but after that, it’s back to training hard. It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been here for 7 months. I don’t have much time left so I’ll be moving on rather soon - but not before I pay a visit and review the other camps in Phuket of course. I’m not really sure where my next stop is going to be but as always, I’ll keep you updated..
Thanks for reading..
Training Update
February 3, 2009 by admin · 5 Comments
It’s been a while since I threw up an entry so I figured I should stop slacking and get on it. As I mentioned in a few other entries, I’ve been working like crazy trying to get other online businesses going so I can stay here for longer, keep this site going and who knows, maybe have the opportunity to go to Brazil next. The good news is that the other sites/books etc. are almost done so hopefully I’ll be able to shift my focus back to Fight Passport - since this site really is my “passion project”.
Anyway, I’m still training at Patong Boxing Gym and it’s going well. I feel as though I’m improving a lot here and lately, the atmosphere is changing and it’s changing for the better. The owner shut down her original location and all the trainers are now at the new camp in the hills. Most of them are still fighting professionally so not only am I getting trained by them, but I’m training with them as well. This, to me, is important since I find it very motivational.
When you’re running alone or with another foreigner, when you’re tired, you take a break. You’re not being judged so who cares, right? Well, when you’re running alongside a group of Thai fighters, you really don’t want to be the out of shape foreigner that can’t keep up so you tend to push yourself more. Running with them has been good for me since my cardio is terrible - which I really don’t understand considering how long I’ve been here. Actually, I think my problem is that when I’m doing pad-work, I focus too much on hitting the pads as hard as I can that I forget to breathe. I never thought that I’d actually have to think about breathing as it’s something that should just come naturally.
Anyway, what I’ve really been trying to work on lately is the multiple-kicks in succession. Up until about a month ago, I couldn’t do them at all. I’d try and I’d just lose my balance. Having gotten tired of seeing people being able to do it and not being able to do it myself, I told the trainer at the gym here in Patong that I wanted to focus on it and since then, I’ve been removing my gloves and dedicating a whole round to doing nothing but those kicks.
Here’s a video of me working on it. Actually, the video isn’t even that long and you’ll see that by the end of it I’m slower and I look really tired. See what I mean about the cardio? Have a look..
I’ll post another video in a couple weeks of me working on those kicks to see if there’s any improvement. And while I’m posting videos, you have to see these. Here’s some footage from a fight night that was held over at <a href=”http://fightpassport.com/muay-thai-training-journals/tiger-muay-thai-review/”>Tiger Muay Thai</a>. These particular videos feature Thai fighters - and top 10 ranked ones at that - fighting under MMA rules. I really hope MMA catches on here in Thailand because as we all already know, the Thai’s are incredible strikers. Add some wrestling and BJJ to that Muay Thai base and they could really shake up the lightweight divisions in MMA orgs.
I think it would be sick if Tiger took in a few youngsters and cross trained them in both Muay Thai and grappling. The Thai’s start training at such a young age here - and with such dedication - that they’d be incredible by the time they started competing.
Back to the training at Patong Boxing Gym. Here’s a video clip of the trainers/fighters doing some clinch work. There’s actually a gym down the road called “SingPatong” and every now and then, the owner will show up with one of his fighters and they’ll all do clinch-work together. They usually do this when one of the guys has a fight coming up (which is quite often actually) so they’ll have someone different to work with. Anyway, here’s the clip..
The guy you see in the black & white shorts is amazing. I’ve never seen anyone beat him in the clinch. He literally just throws everyone around - myself included - and I probably outweigh him by about 30 pounds. I’ll try and get some footage of the guy kicking the bag as well because it’s incredible to see. These Thai’s are so little yet so powerful. Seeing the amount of force that can be exerted by these tiny guys is really a testament to the effectiveness of Muay Thai as an art form.
On a different note, I have to leave the country (yet again) in a few weeks to apply for another tourist visa. Right now it’s a toss up between Cambodia and the Philippines although I really have to do some more research into it. Either way, both places are pretty appealing and would be cool to visit.
And as for the lady situation, I’ve actually been on my best behaviour despite the fact that I see hot Thai girls everywhere I look. I completely cut out drinking so I don’t even bother going clubbing and it’s weird but the more time I spend here, the more motivated I am to just work. I’ll go for a walk, the scene will be “bumpin”, everyone will be having fun and rather than joining in, I find that I just want to come back to my room and get some work done.
I’ve actually never been so motivated and it’s all due to the fact that I don’t ever want to have to leave this place. But I guess that’s what Thailand does to people. I’m certainly not the only foreigner that has fallen in love with this country..
That about wraps it up for now..
Oh, and about FEDOR/GSP and the STEELERS ..
I couldn’t be happier!!
And lastly, be sure to sign up for the FightPassport newsletter. I just got a new digital camera and I’m taking all sorts of random pics/videos that I’ll be sharing with readers via email. You can sign up at the top of the right sidebar..
