Initial Impressions of the Hard Training and Wild Nightlife
February 10, 2010 by admin · 6 Comments
Hollywood Disco: The Scene of the Story
Anyway, as I’m sure you know by now, I love it here and I rarely have anything to complain about but there is a downside. I see a lot of people come and a lot of people go. I’m pretty used to it by now but it definitely sucks when it comes time to say goodbye to some of the friends you made.
There’s been a lot of Canadians here at the camp lately and this past month, 4 of us have been hanging out a lot. There was these 2 guys named Matt and Troy from Ottawa (same city as I’m from) and another dude named Ian who’s from Toronto.
Ian is still here, and he plans on staying until he runs out of money because like myself, he doesn’t want to leave. However, as I’m writing this, Matt and Troy are most likely eating shitty airline food in silence while they’re looking at the pictures of broads and beaches that they’ve taken during the past month they’ve spent in paradise. It’s a depressing feeling. I know first hand.
Throughout their time here, Troy was documenting his experience on his facebook page. He’s relatively new to the sport of Muay Thai (with only around a year of training experience) and it was his first time in Thailand. With this place feeling like a completely different world to first time visitors, there was definitely a culture shock.
His entries were pretty long but they were also pretty funny so I’ll highlight certain parts that stuck out. It’s always interesting to see how people react to a place like this when they see it for the first time. Sort of reminds me if my own initial impressions of it when I first came here about 3 years ago.
Anyway, here’s what Troy had to say about his first days of training..
The training here is as ridiculous as the lore of it back home. Yesterday I woke up to go for my morning skip, and my trainer told me I wasn’t allowed to skip anymore for my warm up, and also that I have no choice but to start training twice a day. I have to jog instead (even in the afternoon when the heat and humidity is beyond anything you can possibly imagine). Also, the gym is located up in the mountain, so there’s ridiculously steep hills. I’m talking like an 80-90% incline.
My trainer’s name is impossible to pronounce correctly and hard to remember, but I think he said either Ming or Ning. Or maybe he said Noi, I don’t really know. He calls me Choy, and he sticks to me like flies to shit. I have a problem understanding him, but I’m pretty sure he thinks I’m a potato. My first day, for example, I was skipping and I thought I was warmed up enough so I stopped and started stretching, and he ran over and said: “Five more minutes Choy!!! HAHAHAHA” and kicked me in the ass. He corrects my stance every day, and stretches my legs I’m sure 400% beyond their flexibility.
I probably have at least 100 pounds on him, and the other day I hopped in the ring to spar with him and he beat the fucking shit out of me and thought it was hilarious, throwing his hands up in the middle of the round yelling: “ME MANNY PACQUIAO!!! ME MANNY PACQUIAO!!”….but he would show me what I was doing wrong, and he’s really trying to get me to relax, move and breathe properly when under pressure, which is exactly what I need to improve the most – especially according to how my fight went back home. Just when I feel I’m tired and ready to quit, he’ll tell me to go do 100 situps in the baking sun, or that we have to start jogging up that hill.
While that doesn’t sound appealing to most people. Troy was really enjoying it as indicated by what he wrote next..
I love the daily grind. Getting absolutely SOAKED in sweat and working harder than I’ve ever worked in my life at anything. Training here on a daily basis is almost as hard as my fight was, which is crazy when you think of it. I love the sounds of pads getting smashed as I walk down the hill from my room to the camp. I love the Thai guys yelling: “Ebbou!!” (Elbow) “KNEE!!” “WUN-CHOO” (One-Two) MO POWAH CHOY!!! (More power Troy), I love sitting down and stretching the butterfly while I wrap my hands and tape the blisters on my feet.
I love how fucking TOUGH the Thai guys are here. They fight all the time, and they hardly even train since they spend most of their time training us! They just start jogging about a week before their fights. They literally sleep next to the ring in a little mosquito net, and they use Thai pads for pillows! You know, the same Thai pads that they hold for us to punch and kick during the day.
Even in their down time, the trainers sit there and watch Muay Thai fights on the little TV at the gym. They live and breathe the sport and every time a good strike or especially a good combination gets through, they go crazy and yell: “OHHHWAAAAYYYYY!!!!!”
Thailand is more amazing, dirtier, and comforting than I ever could have hoped for! Tomorrow we go to Patong Stadium to watch our trainers fight. Chok Dee (good luck) to them.
Since I’m really behind on my entries, I just so happen to have some footage of the fights that he’s talking about ..
Anyway, back to Troy’s experience in Thailand. Like any first timer here, he racked up some interesting stories. Here is one of them…
Last Saturday was supposed to be the last time we partied hard here in Thailand, so I wanted to go out with a bang. You can take that metaphorically or literally, whatever you want, to me that night they were synonymous, and I was hot on the prowl for a Euro-chick. Or, in my drunken, perverted slobber: “I WANT SOME EUROPUSSY!!” However, fate had different plans for me. Or perhaps, in the spirit of Thailand and Buddhism, it was karma. Not only did I have the fucking WORST night out in the history of nights out, I got punched by a Thai hooker. I didn’t think it was funny at the time, but Bill, Ian and Matt obviously thought it was hilarious and have convinced me now that it was. Here’s a rough schematic of what led up to this debacle:
Two weekends previous to Saturday, I hooked up with a Thai chick named Daw [Da-oh] at a club called “Hollywood.” I had to do the walk of shame the next morning past all the trainers here at the camp as I brought her back down the mountain. Anyway, I figured she got the message when I didn’t bother to call, visit or even think of her since. I was so drunk that night that I hardly remember anything and I feel as though I didn’t even make the conscious decision to hook up with her myself. So, you can imagine my heart sinking when we walked into Hollywood Saturday (two weeks after that night), and after crushing a bottle of nail-polish-tasting vodka as well as several buckets of alcohol. When she approached me, she attempted to hold my hand and give me a kiss.
Well, with it being my last night out in Thailand, I decided to be honest and inform her of my intent of sloppy-grinding white chicks on the dance floor. She immediately started crying and her friends started consoling her. Being drunker than an Irishman on St. Patrick’s Day, I just stood there swaying to the beat of the music with a shit-eating grin on my face. I mean, I had only spent a few hours with this girl, and I hadn’t bothered to contact her at any point within the last 2 weeks. However, as the boys have correctly pointed out, this would make me an asshole anywhere in the world.
Anyway, I just left her and continued into the back room, ready to get my mack on. I saw Daw’s friends talking to each other and they spread out like wildfire. In Thailand, it’s like a role reversal when compared to our home countries and we (foreigners) get pursued the same way fit, big-titty blondes do back at home. It’s easy to feel like a pick up artist here because you can usually have anyone you want.
For instance, last weekend, Matt informed me in the morning that the night before I was standing behind a Thai girl grinding and exposing her bra/nipple in the middle of the dance-floor while she had a reach-around going. I’m pretty sure I would get thrown in jail for doing that back in Canada, but instead, some guy from Sweden just walked up and gave me a high-five. However, this time around, every Thai girl I tried to dance with, or even talk too, gave me the cold shoulder. I quickly figured out that Daw’s friends had informed every Thai girl in the club that I was a dick.
All hope wasn’t lost at this point though because my buddy Damian assured me that he’d be able to hook me up with some Australian chicks that he knew. Things we’re looking alright! So, I decided to grab another beer and tour around a bit, at which point, I ran into Bill and he was with the hottest Thai girl you could possibly imagine. We had “creeped” this girl in facebook earlier in the night and I knew it was her because she had the “scorpion boob” (a scorpion tattoo on her chest). I was stoked for him, so I left him alone and toured around some more.
Alright, here’s a brief intermission to the story. He claimed that I was with the “hottest Thai girl you could possibly imagine”, but what good is a claim like that unless it’s backed up with some pictures. Luckily, I just so happen to have some of the infamous “scorpion boob” girl. However, I regret to inform you that I wasn’t able to secure her that night. I know, fuck me, right?
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Anyway, Damian finally introduced me to the Australian chicks and they seemed nice. I was excited and I had a nice buzz going. However, that’s when shit started to turn sour. I suddenly found myself face-to-face with “Daw”, all by herself on a cleared out space on the dance floor. She looked pissed, so I asked her what was wrong. She was yelling broken English into my ear, but all I could hear was the DOOF-DOOF-DOOF of the subs in club Hollywood, and the only words I could make out were “Boom-boom”, which is what Thai people refer to sex as.
I just smiled and nodded, and told her that I didn’t understand a goddamn word she just said. She got soooo pissed! She cocked back her arm and tried to punch me in the jaw. Luckily, I was too tall and she hit me in the sternum instead, then just stormed off. I wasn’t even mad at first, which was surprising, and I just thought to myself “WTF, whatever”, and I toured around the bar again.
I ran into those Aussie chicks that Damien had introduced me too, tried to say hi, and they completely blew me off. Like, it was embarrassingly bad and super rude, I felt like a complete turd. At this point, I was pissed and I just wanted to get out of there. I left the club, got all the way down the street (Bangla Road) and then realized that I had left the key to my room with my buddy Matt (since I was wearing grappling shorts without any pockets).
So, I went back, and at the entrance to Hollywood there’s like a steep cat-walk. Anyway, some hot, white, big-breasted blonde American broad decided to go down it drunk in heels. She lost her balance and tried to stiff-arm me out of the way. I was so pissed off at that point, I just stood my ground and basically setup somewhat of a basketball pick (I weigh 235 pounds). As you can imagine, she bounced off me like a beach ball and basically did a flip, ate shit and landed face-down on the dirty, dirty concrete of Bangla road. I turned in her direction and said: “Thanks a lot, Bitch!!”, left her there in all her “glory”, and stormed up the catwalk.
Surprisingly, as I re-entered the club, all the Thai bouncers were laughing, patting me on the back and giving me the thumbs up. If I was in any other mood, it would have been awesome, but I really just wanted to get the fuck out of dodge. To clarify that I’m not a COMPLETE jerk, this girl did this in such a fashion that was obviously very arrogant and super-bitchy, like her shit didn’t stink. In other words, she got what was coming to her. She made it come down to either her or I eating shit, and I said fuck you and stuffed it right down her spoiled-rotten throat. I’m assuming that’s why the bouncers gave me props….either that or they enjoyed the view of her bare ass as she tried to pick herself off the ground.
Anyway, I got the key and grabbed a motorbike taxi home. However, right when I thought the night couldn’t get any worse, the taxi driver took me to the Muay Thai stadium instead of the gym. I was so fucking pissed and in a sarcastic tone, I said “Ya man, thanks, I really wanted to go to the fucking boxing stadium at 5 o’clock in the morning”. But they don’t understand anyway, so it didn’t matter and I didn’t get stabbed. The driver ended up charging me 300 baht for the ride though, which is insane because you can pretty much buy 3 weeks of gas here for that much money. I paid for it anyway and got the hell to bed.
So, while Troy’s night didn’t pan out exactly the way he wanted it too, at least he WE got a funny story out of it. Of course, seeing as how both him and his buddy Matt were living here for a full month, they’re both heading back to Canada right now with a bunch of other stories and experiences (that have happier endings) and most likely - a whole new outlook on things. Hopefully they’ll be back soon and as Troy put it best at the end of his journal ..
“Gentleman, let us always continue to crush pads, pussy and cheap fruit shakes”
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
Buakaw Padwork, New Years Eve and some Lady Drama
January 14, 2010 by admin · 3 Comments
It’s been a while since my last entry so first off, Merry Christmas, Happy New Year and all that good stuff. Hope all of you enjoyed the holidays because I know I did. I’ll get into all that a bit later but first, I’ll get right into some Muay Thai videos. A couple weeks ago, Buakaw Por Pramuk and Ramazan Ramazanov came through Patong and put on a demonstration at the stadium.
I’m sure all you guys know who Buakaw Por Pramuk is (2 time K-1 Max champion) but Ramazan, being the lesser known of the two, deserves an introduction. He’s the current heavyweight WPMF champion as well as the WMC Intercontinental champion.
So now that you’re caught up with who these guys are and what they’ve accomplished, you can fully appreciate what you’re about to see. These videos were filmed and posted courtesy of Tiger Muay Thai and I’m glad they did it, because their camera is a lot better than mine.
The first video shows the two living legends of the sport doing a “wai kru” - which is a traditional Thai dance performed for good luck before the Muay Thai fights. The second video shows Buakaw Por Pramuk rocking the pads with the same vicious kicks that made him famous.
The third video shows Ramazan doing his thing on the pads as well and finally, the fourth video is the actual demo fight that they put on. Baukaw’s reaction time in that video is incredible. You have to love how he throws Ramazan’s leg over the rope before he counters. So, without further ado, here they are..
Anyway, I mentioned above that I had a good (interesting) new years and if you’ve been reading this site for a while, “interesting” events that occur on holidays that involve alcohol usually involve some sort of girl drama. And of course, this was no exception.
New years started with a party here at the camp. It was awesome actually. Bow (the manager) bought an entire case of Sangsom, along with mixers, and of course, about 20 pounds of meat for BBQ kabobs. And so, we ate, we drank, we laughed and then at around 11 pm, everyone exchanged gifts. I ended up giving one of the trainers a soccer jersey, 2 big bottles of Japanese beer and a phone card.
As for my gift, I got a cool looking statue of Buddha. It’s really nice actually and I’m glad I got it. The only downside to it is the fact that when girls come over and see it, they don’t want to do anything “bad” in front of it. It’s certainly not helping my “game”. Ah well. Anyway, here’s a quick video of the party. The kids (son and daughter of a couple of the trainers) are so cute..
Alright, so to backtrack a little, I met a girl on Christmas day. At the risk of sounding whack, there was an instant connection and we ended up going to an after hours club until about 7 am. The next day, me and my buddy walk by her work and since my vision is garbage, I didn’t immediately see her and walked straight for the washroom.
When I walked back, I was greeted by a semi-jacked - yet still attractive - girl from Issan bitching me out in front of my buddy and everyone else within a 10 foot radius. She was upset that I didn’t acknowledge her right away since we spent the previous night at the after hours place and if she had been talking to her friends about me that night (who knows if she was), then she would have “lost face” as they call it in Thailand.
Anyway, I smoothed it over by explaining that my vision was terrible but I definitely took mental note that if I made this girl angry, she has absolutely no issues about causing a big scene in front of a large crowd of people.
We hung out a bit after that and then we went out drinking on new years eve. At around 4 am, I got a call from an “old friend” that I answered out on my balcony. She wanted me to be her “person” for new years (her words, not mine) but I was legitimately explaining that I couldn’t see her and that I had company. Anyway, apparently the girl didn’t like the fact that I was talking to another girl on the balcony at 4 am, so in the middle of my conversation, I just heard my door slam.
I came in to check it out and she was gone. I tossed my phone on the bed, went outside and saw her literally running away. A few of the trainers actually sleep next to the ring so in the middle of the night, all they saw was a drunken Thai girl running from my room. It must make me look like some sort of sex predator or something. It’s definitely not a good look.
Regardless, I asked my trainer to give me a ride on his motorbike so I could talk to her but since it was New Years Eve, even he had been drinking and the manager of the gym took away all their motorbike keys (smart move). So, he did the next best thing, he chased her down with me (or attempted too anyway). He was hammered and wobbling back and fourth while attempting to walk straight and me, well, I was jogging after her, in a secluded mountain, in the middle of the night, with no shoes on.
At the time, I felt like I was running pretty fast too but I just couldn’t catch up to her. It got to a point where I couldn’t even see her at all. “That’s the fastest girl alive” I said to myself as I was gasping for air. Well, not really, but it definitely reminded me of the scene in “Superbad” where the cop is chasing “Evan”. You know. This scene..
Anyway, I ended up coming back to my room and calling her. She answered. “Hey, where are you?” I ask. “I’m in my room she replies”. “How did you get down so quick?” I ask. Apparently she hopped on a motorbike taxi and made up some crazy story to get a ride down the hill since she didn’t have any cash on her. “Well, are you going to come back or what?” I say. “Do you want me to come back?” she replies. “Um, yeah, come back” ..and so she does.
She stayed here for a couple days after that too but it’s a few weeks later and we’re not talking anymore. Partly her fault but admittedly, partly mine as well. I guess it’s for the best though because the manager at the gym here knows of her and said that she does Yabba and whatnot (which could in part explain her erratic behaviour) but damn, why am I so attracted to these crazy girls? I guess I just love the drama.
On another note, my training is going really well. I’ve based myself out of Patong Boxing Gym (since I like it here so much) but I owe it to you guys to go around and check out some of the gyms that I haven’t reviewed yet. So, I’ll certainly be doing that in the near future (hopefully sometime next week). I’ll post a video of myself training soon as well and hopefully you’ll notice some improvement from the others.
And while on the topic of posting videos, I just got back from another one of the fight nights at the boxing stadium so I’ll post those up in a few days when I get around to doing another entry. In the meantime, here’s a completely unrelated, yet incredibly humorous video of some Guido doing a homo-erotic dance for some unfortunate bar girl. Note his impeccable fashion sense; tight jean shorts (which he most likely cut himself), a sleeveless dress shirt which expose the tattoos on his skinny arms and of course - while unapparent in the video - he had the hairy chest going on as well. Classy.
Fight Night At Patong Stadium
December 14, 2009 by admin · Leave a Comment
So I rolled by the stadium last night to watch the fights. Most of them were incredible so I figured I’d throw up a quick entry. Six guys from the Patong Boxing Gym were fighting - which made things a little more exciting (and gave me some additional incentive to lay some bets down). On a side note, the Muay Thai stadiums are the only acceptable place to gamble in Thailand. It’s highly illegal everywhere else.
Anyway, of the 6 fighters, 4 were Thai’s (trainers here) and 2 were foreign students. I was a little nervous before the fights got underway because I rarely see the Thai trainers working out. They’re usually busy training us students so they seem to neglect their own training routines. I’d ask my trainer every day leading up to the fight if he had done any training and occasionally, he would say that he went for a run - oftentimes he would just shake his head and say “no, not train”.
The night of fights started off with the kids. They must have been about 8 years old and without any knockout power at all, but it was still entertaining to watch. One of the kids (seen below in the black shorts) spent the majority of the time running around the ring to avoid being cornered by his much larger opponent, yet he was still landing some crazy kicks and knees as he was scrambling around. He ultimately ended up losing on points but he fought with a lot of heart and it was hilarious to watch. A good start to the night for sure. Here’s a quick video..
VIDEO OF KIDS FIGHTING (Coming soon, taking a while to upload)
The next fight featured one of the Thai’s from the gym. I’ve never actually seen this guy train - himself or anyone else for that matter. It seems as though he just does maintenance work around the gym. He’s either sweeping, watering the plants or cleaning the rooms. He’s a super nice guy but to his detriment as a fighter, he’s extremely small.
He’s 26, with a couple hundred fights, but even the announcer at the stadium announced that he was 16 years old. To my surprise though, he’s an awesome fighter. He was lacing his opponent with some big shots (mostly punches) but due to his lack of size/overall power, he wasn’t able to get the knockout and when it went to decision, the judges awarded the victory to his opponent because in Muay Thai, punches don’t count for any points at all.
A couple fights later, another one of the trainers entered the ring. His name is Yodarwut and he’s the most active fighter at the gym. He’s been fighting on nearly every event that I’ve been too. He recently got married so perhaps he’s looking to save some extra cash. Anyway, every time I watch this guy fight I’m amazed by his heart.
Most of the fights I’ve seen of his end up going to decision. I remember watching him fight a guy that they flew down from the Por Pramuk gym last year and at the time, he was really out of shape. He had just come back from a long stint back at his home and as soon as that fight started, you could tell that he was a little less precise with his striking than his opponent. That particular fight ended up going the full 5 rounds and he received heavy applause both during and at the end of the fight for the effort that he gave.
The fight last night however, was a different story. Now that he’s back in shape, he looks sharp - literally. He ended up catching his opponent with a devastating elbow and within 10 seconds of it connecting, the right side of his opponents victims face was drenched with blood. Check the video below (the elbow strike I’m talking about is at 1:03 into it).
That strike ultimately ended the fight as his opponent was bleeding heavily and Yodarwut became tentative to engage beyond a circuit point, and for good reason! The fighters at the stadium are NOT required to get any blood work done prior to stepping in the ring so for all he knows, his/your opponent COULD be HIV positive. It seems as though the thought of potentially contracting something serious rarely enters the minds of the fighters but it’s definitely something to consider before making your decision. Anyway, the doctors eventually called a stop to the fight at Yodarwut was awarded the victory!
For the next fight, we have my trainer (Mungkonkaw aka. “Nuy”) against some stiff competition - one of the trainers from the Tiger Muay Thai gym. Tiger Muay Thai is one of the most successful, most popular gyms in the country and due to their success, they’re able to hire some great fighters to train their guests.
“Nuy” was originally scheduled to fight “Ritt” but when Ritt walked into the stadium, I noticed he had a cut over his eye so rather than fighting Ritt, “Nuy” fought Tanwa - who like “Nuy”, has over 240 fights. Up until this point, I had never seen my trainer throw a punch, a kick - nothing! I had no idea what to expect but as soon as the fight started, he looked extremely comfortable, as if he hadn’t missed a beat with his training.
I guess when you’ve been training and fighting since you’re 8 years old, it becomes second nature and when it comes down to it, your instinct takes over and your reaction to everything is just automatic. Anyway, “Nuy” ended up winning the decision as a result of some great knees in the clinch. Here’s a brief video I took of one of the rounds..
Alright, the next fight featured a fighter from the Gym named Tawatchai. Tawatchai - who’s the current Bangla stadium champion here in Patong - put forth what was by far the most impressive performance of the night.
His opponent - who was much larger and much more experienced - was flown in from Bangkok specifically for the fight in order to give Tawatchai a tougher challenge. Well, Tawatchai stepped up to the challenge and ended the fight in brutal fashion. Check out this first video..
Now, although I appear to be close to the action while filming that, I really wasn’t at all. The close proximity of the video is a result of the zoom feature on my camera being fully optimized. I was a good 50 feet away and yet, it still sounds like Tawatchai is connecting with a baseball bat rather than his shin bone.
And yep, here’s the finish…
That’s definitely a rough way to earn a couple hundred bucks. Hope it’s nothing too serious.
That’s it for the Thai fighters. At this point, the gym is 3-1 on the night and the vibe is good. Up next is a fight between an American guy named William - who’s been training at the Patong Gym for about 6 weeks - and an Australian fighting out of the Rawai Muay Thai gym who I imagine has been training for about 6 weeks himself.
It wasn’t the most technical fight, but let’s be honest, in the heat of the moment, you go to what you’re comfortable with. Ten to twenty years experience of fighting with both feet on the ground usually triumphs over the 6 weeks you’ve spent kicking the pads - which of course, explains why there’s not many kicks being thrown here..
Later that night, William said that before the fight started, a few members of the primarily Australian crowd were shouting obscenities at him - which only gave him further motivation to finish the fight in convincing fashion.
After ending the fight with a knee to what appears to be his opponents chest, William said he chanted “Aussie, Aussie, Aussie” to sort of rub the victory in the faces of those who were insulting him before things got underway.
To finish things up, a veteran foreign fighter named Don took on an experienced Thai guy. Don is from England and like myself, he came here once, got hooked on the place and now he sort of splits his time between Thailand and his home.
In order to earn some additional cash while he’s here so he can stay longer, he fights quite a bit at the stadium. He was here last year and towards the end of his trip, he had 3 fights booked within a 10 day period, or something crazy like that.
Anyway, his experience ended up paying off for him here as he ended up overwhelming his opponent with barrages of overhand rights and hooks. He was pushing forward the entire fight and although punches aren’t awarded any points by the judges, the fact that he had his opponent back-pedalling for 5 straight rounds got him the victory.
So, the end result at the stadium was 5 wins, 1 loss and the end result of the evening? Well..
AFTER THE SHOW IT’S THE AFTER PARTY!
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
Settled In At Patong Gym
December 8, 2009 by admin · 3 Comments
The view from my room. Hate on, haters.
I’ve trained at the Patong Boxing Gym before. I even wrote up a review on the place, but as you could tell by the review, I really like it here so whatever, I figured I’d stop by once again. I’m staying on-site at the camp this time, which is a nice change of pace because it’s so peaceful up here.
Last year I was staying in town and there was way too many distractions (girls, nightclubs) down there so it’s easy to get sidetracked from the training. Up here, it feels like you’re a world away from all that but when you want to go into town for some shopping or to hit the clubs on a Saturday night, you just have to go down the hill - which takes a mere 5 minutes via motorbike.
And speaking of going “down the hill” on a motorbike, I had my first crash tonight. Me and another guy staying at the camp wanted to head into town. He wanted to go see his new love interest (more on that later) and I wanted to get a sub from subway to switch things up a bit (I’m really getting sick of eating rice for every meal).
We walked over to the convenience store next to the singpatong gym - which is where we usually get a taxi - only this time, the big SUV that they usually drive us in wasn’t available. As an alternative, he suggested that he give us a lift down the hill on his motorbike. Three guys; one motorbike - it didn’t seem like a good idea at the time but then again, it didn’t seem like a bad enough idea to prompt us to walk down the hill either.
So we hopped on and since I was quick to call “giving” not “receiving”, my friend was in the middle and I was sitting at the back. It was fine at the start. A little awkward sure, but we were getting from point A to point B and that was good enough. We made it to “the hill” (perhaps the steepest in Patong) and we weren’t going that slow either.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the driver pumped the breaks a bit (perhaps because we were going a little too fast) and when he did that, he completely lost control of the bike and I didn’t even have time to yell “oooooh sheiiiiiiiiiit” before I was sliding down the concrete.
Immediately after it happened, I stood up and walked over to the side of the road. My right leg was in pain, but aside from that, nothing immediately stood out as being injured.
EDIT: It’s the following day now and my right shoulder is messed up. I must have done something to my rotator cuff because it hurts when I elevate my arm upwards and I can’t throw a punch. I had to skip training today, which sucks because I could hear everyone else training from my room. When I’m healthy, there are times where I just feel like relaxing and taking the day off, but at least I like having the option to train. Hearing screams of exertion, followed by the sound of shins cracking into the pads was pretty discouraging knowing that I couldn’t throw on my gear and head down to do the same. Hopefully I’ll be back at it in a few days.
And Speaking Of The Training..
When I was able to train, things were going well. My cardio is still shit (with no signs of it getting any better either), but my trainer is awesome - and that’s really all it comes down too. The training here is all one on one so you get a lot of individual attention and since my trainer is really good, I couldn’t ask for more.
The gym is located on a really quiet, yet scenic road so I usually start my training sessions off with a run. I grabbed my camera the other day and filmed a bit so you guys can see. It was about to rain though and it looks much nicer when the sun is out - especially at the peak of one of the hills where you get a view of the Andaman Sea.
I was wearing my Ipod as I was filming that so I only noticed how hard I was breathing when I re-watched the video. Like I said, my cardio is embarrassing - which brings me to the next couple videos. My friend filmed these about a week and a half ago so I figured I’d post them up. Notice how neither of the videos elapses the .20 second mark? That’s because after that initial 20 seconds, I’m usually hunched over trying to catch my breath. Ah well, it’s a starting point.
The guy that’s holding the pads is the great trainer I was talking about above. He’s actually fighting one of the trainers from Tiger Muay Thai in a couple days so I’ll try to post up some video footage of that.
A Story in Development
Alright, so if you’ve been following these entries for a while, I’m sure you know by now that I tend to get myself into dramatic situations with some of the local girls. I mean, there was the “fatal attraction” entry where a girl named Fon threatened my life and balcony hopped into my room one night. Then of course there was the “trouble in paradise” entry, which is actually the most read entry of the entire training journal - but I won’t bother summarizing that one, you can just read it for yourself if you haven’t already.
Anyway, with this being my third trip here, I’ve finally come to understand how things work and I intend on using my knowledge to ensure that things go smoothly and I avoid the type of drama that I encountered during my first couple trips. After all, I like it here in Patong and I don’t want to be looking over my shoulder for vengeful girls whenever I leave my room.
Luckily for my readers there’s a Thailand rookie here with me who seems to be making all those highly entertaining mistakes so I won‘t have too. He’s from Canada as well (about a 2 hour drive from where I live) and he’s started what promises to be a long and meaningful relationship with a Thai bargirl (sense the sarcasm there?).
What was supposed to be a drunken one night stand on a Saturday night has, at the time of this writing, developed into a 12 day whirlwind romance - at least in his mind. What he doesn’t understand is that this girl has come to Patong from Issan to work, earn money and provide for her family. That’s where her priorities lye and those priorities aren’t going to change.
That being said, he’s not paying her and she’s not going into work. So, either she has a lot of money as it is (in which case she wouldn’t be working in the bars) or she’s “working” him in some way or another. When you first speak with the bargirls, they ask you a series of questions..
1) “What’s your name?”
2) “Where you from?”
3) “How long you stay?”
4) “You come Thailand before?”
5) “What you work in *insert country here*?”
Friendly conversation? Could be. But perhaps it’s more than that. Perhaps they’re sizing us up with these questions and what they really mean is..
1) Just asking your name, not important, but they won’t remember if you ask them 10 min. later.
2) Are you from a desirable country?
3) Is there enough time to make you fall in love OR How long can I get money out of you for?
4) Are you a newbie? Because newbie’s are easy pickings.
5) Do you have “big money”?
Now, he’s from Canada, he’s never been here before, he’s just arrived and he’s staying for half a year; that has got to be a quality score of at least 98/100 with the bargirls.
The first girl he picked up immediately tried to move herself into his room and came on pretty strong with her intentions. So strong in fact, that he had to kick her out of his room and at 4 in the morning, she was running around the camp, banging on peoples doors and causing a big scene.
His current girl pulled the same thing, and by day 3, she had moved her laptop and wardrobe up to his room. He’s kept her around, so I guess he likes her, but I just don’t see this ending well. Even on the off chance that her intentions are not in the least bit money oriented and she genuinely just wants to spend time with him without any monetary compensation, he has the intention of being a “butterfly” (term for a player here) behind her back, and I see the potential for that to blow up in his face - especially considering the fact that she has already told him straight up that if he wants to change girls she’ll cut his dick off and kill him (she said this while wielding a knife as she was cutting up some fruit).
All signs with this point to disaster and I’m not the only one to warm him about this sort of thing. He’s got all the right advice, but he just chooses not to listen. It’s like we’ve all touched a hot burner on an oven, got burnt, warned him not to touch it himself because it’s hot, and he’s ignoring our advice and reaching out for it anyway.
I guess there’s nothing else I can do now other than observe and report the seemingly inevitable, drama-filled conclusion to the story. He’s been missing a lot of training sessions as well, but while he’s been hurting his chances of making it to Lumpinee stadium, he’s been dramatically increasing his chances of becoming the welterweight champion of the USC - the ultimate snuggling championships.
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
RMB Gym Review
November 23, 2009 by admin · 2 Comments
I needed to get at least a few workouts in during our classy week in Pattaya and I wanted to try something new. I had already visited Fairtex, Scorpion and Sityodtong during my last trip so I decided to check out the RMB gym since I had heard good things.
It was a little tough to find since the website says that it’s located on soi 7 and when we went there, we found nothing but bars and bargirls. After asking around a bit, we realized that we were on the “wrong” soi 7 so we hopped onto a baht bus and the driver brought us directly to the gym, which as it turns out, is located around the big C.
Anyway, we walked in, paid the 300 baht for the day (it’s 4000 baht per month) and started to warm up by skipping and hitting the bags. I was eventually called into the ring by one of the trainers and he said his name was “Ekapol”.
I didn’t recognize him at the time, but I was familiar with the name. “Juke Ekapol” used to work at Scorpion gym and he has an insane record of 317 wins and only 19 losses. He’s a former Lumpinee stadium champion as well - at least that’s what it says here anyway.
Aside from the fact that I’m out of shape and got tired so quickly, the workout itself was great. I would have been given a full 5 rounds of padwork (if I could handle it) and I would have had the option to either spar or do clinching after that as well.
I trained at RMB twice and got a different trainer each time - both of which were awesome pad holders. Here’s a short video of me hitting the pads on my second visit there..
As you can probably tell, I’m out of shape but that’s because I wasn’t training the past 6 months while I was back in Canada. So, I’ll consider that video to be “starting point documentation” so I can monitor my progress. I’ll put up a more detailed review of the RMB gym once I spend a little more time there and get a better feel for the place. So far so good though.
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
Our Classy Week in Pattaya
November 23, 2009 by admin · 3 Comments
Armpit Sweat, Testicles, Adams Apples and a Giant Right Hand; Everything You Need For A Classy Night Out On The Town (I'm sure he will regret this picture)
We landed in Bangkok on the 11th, stayed for a couple nights, did some shopping and then headed straight to Pattaya. For those of you who don’t know, Pattaya is an extremely upscale and classy town that’s known for its architecture, museums and art galleries.
Naw, I’m just kidding. Pattaya is known for it’s bars and girls but after spending the last 6 months bored out of my mind in Ottawa, a week of booze and debauchery before I settled in and got serious about my training sounded like a good plan to us all.
Having never seen anything like it, my friends were in disbelief that a place like Pattaya actually existed. The looks on their faces when they were getting swarmed by beautiful girls was priceless. Here’s a quick video that somewhat captures what the experience was like for them..
Now, nobody spends a full week in Pattaya without racking up some interesting stories. It’s non-stop action there and you’re always on the go. There was a point where we were only getting 4 hours of sleep each night and we still felt wide awake.
Our Living Arrangements
We were staying in the apartments above club blue because I had stayed there before and I was happy with the room, the price, the location and the service. It’s right in the center of a party area so it’s definitely not a good place to stay if your planning on sleeping at a decent hour but for this week, we didn’t care about that at all. Here’s a quick tour of the place..
“Fuck White People”
On one of the nights - I believe it was the evening of the Friday the 13th - I had split away from my friends at around 4 in the morning. They were going to an after hours club called MIXX and I just wanted to do my own thing. I was walking outside of “Lucifer” and I heard someone behind me say “fuck white people”.
I looked back and it was coming from a middle eastern guy who had just come out of the bar. He was walking behind me and looking directly at me so I had no doubt who he was directing his comments towards. I’m not a big fan of getting into street fights - especially in foreign countries - so I just brushed it off and kept walking.
Then I heard his stupid “fuck white people” comment again, only this time, it was louder and when I looked back, he was walking right up to me. Clearly this guy had the intention of starting a fight and since he wasn’t Thai or Russian (don’t get in altercations with either in Pattaya) I just grabbed him and smoked him twice in the face.
The shots didn’t land clean since I was drunk but they were more than enough to scare him off. The whole situation was stupid. It was stupid on his part because lets face it, he doesn’t know me, I could have the fighting skills of GSP for all he knows (although I clearly don’t) and it was stupid on my part because I had to leave walking street right after, which put an end to what was turning out to be an awesome night.
A Round Of Applause
Clap, clap, clap - that’s exactly what one of my friends ended up getting after a night of mixing alcohol with reckless sex. He hooked up with a showgirl on one of our first nights in Pattaya and a couple days later, well, let’s just say he was experienced some undesirable effects from the exposure.
We were all just sitting around watching TV when “it hit” and he rushed to the washroom. He came out with a concerned look on his face and said that he needed to hit a pharmacy a.s.a.p. Being the dirty guy that he is, it really wasn’t anything new for him. He had it before so he knew exactly what he needed to take.
So, a quick trip to the pharmacy and 4000 baht later, he got a “cocktail” injection and he was good to go. As for the morale of the story, well, there really isn’t one. I guess it would have to be to not have unprotected sex, in any form, with Thai prostitutes - but whatever, as harsh as it sounds, it was good for some laughs. After all, him getting “clapped up” added to the classiness of the week.
The Training
The first week was mostly about letting loose and having fun but I was able to get some training in. I did a couple workouts at Scorpion Gym and then decided to switch things up a bit by going to RMB gym since I had heard good things. I only did 2 workouts at RMB but I was impressed with the place and I definitely plan on going back at some point. Here’s an RMB gym review that I wrote up based on those visits.
Training Videos
One of my friends went to the 13 coins gym in Bangkok prior to flying down to the Patong Boxing Gym (which is where I’m writing this from) and he was able to get some footage of Saenchai Sor Kingstar and Orono doing their training. Check it out..
Random, Slightly Creepy Video
Yeah, I don’t really know what to say about this one. We just thought his reaction when he was asked for money was priceless. A little rude sure, but funny nonetheless..
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
Countdown To Paradise!
October 20, 2009 by admin · 4 Comments
Sure beats the Canadian winters..
And speaking of training, I haven’t been doing any boxing since I’ve been back. It’s not the same here and I have no desire to drive all the way across the city to do group class where other students will be the ones holding the pads for me. I figure I might as well just save the money that I’d be paying in membership costs and just put that towards my next trip to Thailand. So instead, I’ve just been doing my regular strength and conditioning workouts.
Today was a good day though. I finally booked my next flight back and I’ll be departing back to the land of smiles in just 3 weeks. I got my usual routing which is Ottawa / Chicago / Tokyo / Bangkok, but what’s nice is that this time I have one of my buddies joining me. Since I’ve been back in Canada, I’ve been talking about Thailand non stop so some of my friends have finally decided to book tickets and see what all the hype is about.
Some are into MMA and going for the Muay Thai training and of course, some don’t train at all and are just going to chill and party. I have a feeling that they’ll end up getting hooked like me either way though. This time around - which will be my third trip back in 3 years - I plan on doing everything that I haven’t done yet. I’ll still be hitting the usual spots (Phuket, Bangkok, Pattaya), but this time I’ll be heading up to Chiang Mai and down to Koh Samui. I also plan to finally visit the Por Pramuk camp and train alongside Buakaw at some point as well.
So, I got my ticket and I’m just counting down the days now (20 days exactly!). Follow along once again and I’ll do my best to make updates at least a few times a week. Also, if you yourself or someone you know is planning on going to another country to train, then have a look at this page. Basically, we’re looking to get a few training journals going at once so there will be something new to read for our visitors each time they visit.
Anyway, if you have any requests, any specific camps you want me to visit, then just list them below and I’ll see what I can do. As usual, if you have any questions about training in Thailand, just hit me up via the “contact” tab above. Next entry will be from Thailand!!!
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
Suwit Muay Thai Review
June 7, 2009 by admin · 6 Comments
Thought this was cool. Rope Climbing; an awesome way to increase your strength in the clinch
Before I came back - and before I even injured myself - I went to the Suwit Muay Thai camp in Chalong for the day to check it out. Actually, I had planned to go to Sinbi that day and despite telling the motorbike taxi driver to take me to Sinbi in Rawai, he dropped me off at Suwit in Chalong. So rather than wasting more time trying to explain the difference to him, I just said fuck it and did a workout at Suwit instead.
The gym itself was nice enough considering the fact that it’s the oldest gym in Phuket and they even have their own stadium there where they host live Muay Thai fights a couple nights a week. Here’s a quick tour of the place..
The daily cost for training was 500 baht (which is overpriced in my opinion) but the monthly training costs are actually really honest. I was given a price list that I ended up losing but if I remember correctly, you could get a month of training and your accommodation for approximately 15,000 baht or so plus any additional fees for electricity and surprisingly, the cost for electricity was billed out at the local Thai rates. That’s actually a major scam here in Thailand - they’ll jack up the electricity rates because they expect that foreigners won’t know any better. It was nice to see that they didn’t do that here.
I actually went to check out the rooms as well and took some pictures and video for those who are interested. They have rooms on site which are somewhat decent but the nicer rooms (same price) are located a couple minutes down the road in an apartment complex that they own. Here’s a quick tour of the place (ran out of batteries)..
As for the training, well - it was alright. Not bad but nothing stood out as being amazing either. I got a full 5 rounds of padwork which is great and the trainers all seemed pretty friendly. After the 5 rounds of padwork, I got to do some clinching with one of the Thai’s - who completely owned me by the way - and then just finished up on the bag after that.
The gym is located in the same area as Tiger Muay Thai. Actually, there’s 3 Muay Thai gyms right near each other in Chalong - Tiger Muay Thai, Suwit and a new one that just opened up called Dragon Muay Thai. They’re so close to each other that you could try them all before deciding on which camp suits you best. It’s all about getting matched up with a good trainer anyway.
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
Scenes From Songkran
April 19, 2009 by admin · 13 Comments
Up until this past Monday, I had only heard of the day where everyone throws back booze and has a country-wide water fight. It sounded pretty wild and after experiencing it first hand, I have to admit - it was very, very fun!
I was woken up by the sounds of a Timberland beat blasting out of the two giant speakers they had set up here at the guesthouse where I’m staying. I obviously knew what Songkran was about but having just woke up and put on a fresh dry outfit, I was content to just watch the happenings from my balcony for a while.
Well, apparently one of the waitresses in the in the guesthouse restaurant saw me up there because within minutes of stepping outside my room, she ran up and hit me with a bucket of freezing cold water. From that point on, I obviously didn’t care about getting wet anymore so I just grabbed a water gun, a couple bottles of water and joined the action.
Throughout the day, I saw so many things that I would never see in Canada (and most places for that matter). For starters, along beach road I saw a few on duty Thai police officers drenched with water and covered with white powder. They had their guns wrapped up in plastic and of course, they were getting the worst of it because let’s be honest - who doesn’t want to throw a big bucket of cold water at an on-duty police officer and get away with it like they can during Songkran?
I also saw some things that were flat out reckless. Here in Thailand, most people drive motorbikes. During Songkran, a lot of people get really drunk - not unlike we do on December 31st. Drinking and driving is obviously a major problem (perhaps because the police officers are celebrating themselves and getting drenched and powdered instead of patrolling the streets) but not only that, there’s actually groups of people that stand at the side of the road and when a motorbike drives by, they’ll pour a bucket of water on them - and oftentimes they aim for the face.
I actually saw someone pour a bucket of water on a passing motorcyclist and the guy on the bike stopped, wiped his eyes, turned his motorbike around and actually ran over the guys foot. Obviously the guys reaction wasn’t justified - especially during a holiday where the tradition is to pour buckets of water on each other - but I can only imagine how annoying it must be to be driving around and regardless of where you go, you constantly have people tossing water in your eyes.
I actually got an email notification from a Thailand forum this morning and apparently the death toll for the week is at 373, the injury toll is at 4,332 and all the deaths and injuries are a result of 3,977 total road accidents. They actually call Songkran the “deadliest 7 days” (it’s only 1 day here in Phuket) so I’m assuming it’s like this every year.
But like I mentioned above, it’s extremely fun - just stay off the motorbikes and you’ll be alright. I took a few videos of the scene in the streets. Here they are..
I would have taken more but it seemed like every time I took out my camera - which I don’t think is waterproof - I had someone spraying me with a water gun.
As For The Training
My “home” gym right now is Patong boxing gym but I’ve been picking odd days and trying out some new ones. I went to the Suwit Muay Thai gym a couple days ago and I’ll have a review up on it soon. I’m also going to check out Sinbi and Rawai this week and post reviews for those as well..
THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?
I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!
The Drunk Idiot
April 6, 2009 by admin · 6 Comments
So in my last entry, I mentioned that there was a fight at the bar last weekend that I happened to catch on tape. I also mentioned that I was seen filming it and after things calmed down, I was approached by Thai security and believe it or not, they actually tried to confiscate my camera. Well that certainly wasn’t happening but to put them at ease, I told them that I would delete the footage, which I did.
Oftentimes at the gym, I’ll show one of the Thai trainers how to “press the record button” and then I’ll pass them the camera to record my padwork. Judging by how often they pass the camera back to me with the footage nowhere to be seen, it’s pretty safe to say that a lot of the Thai guys here aren’t very familiar with how digital cameras work.
In this case, that unfamiliarity turned out to be a good thing because if they were thinking, they would have asked for the memory card instead of simply requesting that the footage be erased. It took me about an hour or so of searching on Google but I ended up finding a program called Delete Fix Photo which allowed me to recover the deleted footage.
So as for the fight, the first thing I saw was a clearly intoxicated, overweight man wearing what resembled a raincoat sitting on the floor at the bar. Why he was wearing a jacket in Thailand I have no idea and why he was sitting on the floor, I’m not sure about that either but I’m assuming that he tipped over from his chair as a result of being so drunk.
At this point, there was a bit of a crowd starting to gather around and one of the Thai girls tried to help him up. When she did, his reaction was surprising to say the least. Rather than thanking her for her assistance, he remained in his seated position, said “FUCK OFF” and then reached over and struck the girl - who couldn’t have weighed more than 90lbs - with his left hand.
He then made it back up to his feet by his own accord and at this point, security was on the scene. Here’s some footage of the drunk idiot trying to attack some of the girls.
This back and fourth, pushing and shoving went on for quite a while. I’d say that it lasted for about 5-10 minutes - which is way too long. I worked at a nightclub back “home” and if someone were to physically attack one of the female bartenders, they would get thrown out immediately and in all honesty, they’d most likely have their head smacked into the door on the way out.
The Thai’s showed a surprising amount of patience with this guy. I knew what happened next was inevitable on account of how he was acting but I just thought that the Thai’s would get to it sooner. It wasn’t until the guy started swinging at the security guards that he finally got what he deserved.
Here’s the video..
Now I’m not normally one for violence and I think that 90 percent of the time it can be avoided but this is clearly an instance where it was both deserved and necessary. I just don’t understand what the guy was thinking. He’s a guest in the country, he’s alone, he’s fat, he’s old, he clearly can’t defend himself and yet he’s blatantly attacking pretty much everyone in sight, women included.
