13 Coins Training Footage, Sasiprapa Revisited and Chocolate Covered Bananas

As mentioned in my “Based in Bangkok” entry, I got myself an apartment right near 13 coins as I decided that it would be the gym that I’d be training at the most. Having spent about a month here, I’ve got to know the area pretty well so I’ll be putting together a detailed review of the place that profiles everything you’d need to know if you’re thinking of training here.

Until then, I’ll just hit you guys up with some footage of the training. Oh, and speaking of footage, there’s a reason why there’s a long delay between entries. Right when I got here, I went to MBK shopping mall and bought a new Sony 1080 HD cam so I could document the training and of course, my random adventures.

I got a good deal on it and was pretty stoked ..for about 1 day ..then it broke! I had it sent in for repairs and just got it back now (about 3 weeks later). Anyway, this first video – which was obviously shot using a lower end replacement camera – is of John Wayne Parr training for his fight against Yodsanklai Fairtex.

Pretty badass low kicks if you ask me. Now, in this next video, I’m trying to replicate what John Wayne Parr was doing. Recorded with a much better camera, here are some much weaker kicks ..with much smaller calves ..haha..

While I’m posting videos here, I may as well throw up a few more from 13 coins. This next one is of the Thai fighters clinching..

I wish I had some footage Saenchai – who’s the main attraction here – but unfortunately, he hasn’t been around the gym much lately. He was in Australia for a while to support John Wayne Parr and to teach a seminar. He’s back now, but I guess after winning yet another Lumpinee belt a couple weeks ago, he’s taking it easy.

Fortunately, even though I haven’t had the opportunity to train directly with Saenchai yet, I’ve had the privilege to clinch with another WMC champion, Sor Lerchai on a daily basis. Here’s a video of him smashing the pads.

Notice the active pad holding? That’s Sorn, and he’ll catch pretty much anything you throw at him. Saenchai – who’s a master of set ups and fakes – will freestyle on him and won’t be able to even trick him. Punch, kick, elbow, knee – do whatever you want and 99% of the time, he’ll move his pad to the right spot for the catch. That other 1% where he misses, well, he can take a beating.

Check out the video below as an example. At the 0:23 second mark, my foot slips off the pad and hits him in the head. It wasn’t hard or anything, but it didn’t even phase him enough to even acknowledge that it happened so I guess he’s used to it.

There’s a lot of up and coming fighters (kids) here at 13 coins, most notably, the one you see in the video below. I’m not quite sure of his name, but I usually watch his pad-work sessions since I’m warming up and wrapping my hands at the time and you can tell that he’s going to be something special. Check it out..

Sasiprapa Revisited

While training here at 13 coins has been going well, I decided to check out Sasiprapa again because I had a feeling that the first time I went there, which was a couple years ago, didn’t tell the whole story. I was right. The first time I trained there, there was hardly anyone there and my pad-holder, while really nice, was a little too old to use 100% power with.

This time however, I got the exact opposite. The holder I was paired up with was one of the biggest Thai’s I’ve ever seen. He was about my height and probably around 185 lbs or so. He told me he used to be really slim but when he went off to the army, he just lifted weights every day and got jacked. Check out the video tour of the gym below. The trainer I’m talking about can be seen getting water at the 0:15 mark.

Yesterday’s session at Sasiprapa was one of the best that I’ve had so far this trip because the trainer actually took his time to show me a lot of technique rather than just getting me to smash pads and tire myself out. He wasn’t going over the basics, but rather, he was showing my ring control, set ups and combos.

I wish I remember his name because he was an awesome trainer but he’s pretty hard to miss. Sasiprapa is a 60 baht (2 dollar) taxi ride from 13 coins so if you wanted, you could cross train between the two as their both located in the “Bangkapi” area if Bangkok.

A one-workout pass at Sasiprapa is 400 baht and the monthly rates vary depending on whether you’re training once or twice per day. For one a day training, it’s 6000 baht per month and for twice a day training, it’s 12,000 baht per month – which is a little on the expensive side compared to most other gyms. The price is right if you’re only training once a day though.

The area around Sasiprapa gym isn’t touristy at all and the only other “farang” (foreigners) around will likely be other students who are training at the gym. Since the area doesn’t cater to foreigners, the pricing on food and apartment rentals should be local standards. Food at the stalls should cost you about 35 baht per meal and an apartment rental for the month should be anywhere between 3,000 – 6,000 baht. Several of the apartment complexes near the gym seemed to be full but I’m sure if you were to walk around a bit, you’d be able to find a room.

Anyway, so that about wraps it up for the training. There’s still a lot more footage to come through since I’ll be visiting Sitsongpeenong (once again), Kaewsamrit, Jockey Gym (if it’s open), Keatkamtorn, Chuwattana and hopefully Saengmorakot gym. I was planning on heading down to Phuket in about 10 days but now I’m seriously considering staying in Bangkok for another month. Not that I particularly like Bangkok more than Phuket as it’s over-populated and polluted – which is especially bad for me since I have asthma, but there’s still more gyms to check out here.

I’m also finding the “normal” lifestyle here to be a nice change of pace from Patong – which is basically a fantasy-land for tourists. It’s cool if you’re visiting, but it gets old quick when you know that 9/10 girls in the club are hookers. When you live here, and when you’ve dealt with all sorts of girl drama in the past, that sort of thing is really the last thing you’re looking for.

My “home gym” though – which is the “Patong Boxing Gym” – will be moving to Karon Beach (right up in the mountain) within a couple of months so that’ll be exactly what I’m looking for after I’m done here in Bangkok. I’ve been dating a “good” girl here and if things are still going well by the time I’m ready to leave Bangkok, hopefully I can import her down to Phuket. That’ll be the ideal situation; clean air, awesome view of the sea, brand new training facility in a quiet area and a “good” girl that hasn’t handled more cocks than a chicken farmer.

Speaking of which (cocks that is.. haha), it seems as though this is the perfect segway into this next, very random video. This was shot at the chocolate covered banana stand at the “chatuchak weekend market” – which is the biggest market in Thailand. Anyway, this is not Muay Thai related and really has no purpose, but I figured I’d post it up anyway. Love it or hate it .. here it is..

Yeah.. we’re really classy.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

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