New Everything

So after about 2 months of living and training at Tiger Muay Thai, I decided to switch things up and move on to a new camp. This is my second trip to Thailand and during my first trip, I trained at a few different camps – one of which stood out from the others and surprisingly, it was Patong Boxing Gym. Of course, during my first trip, I didn’t train at that many camps so I didn’t have much to compare it too.

What I liked about it was the fact that I could show up anytime during operating hours and that the instructor I was paired up with was really technical – which is what I needed at the time since I was a beginner. Before I had found Patong Boxing Gym, I was training at an all-Thai gym in the hills called “SingPatong”.

While SingPatong had a lot of awesome fighters and a real Muay Thai atmosphere, the instructors I was working with half the time didn’t really know how to relate the techniques to a beginner such as myself. Now that I’m a little more advanced, I’ll probably head back to SingPatong for a few sessions but in the meantime, I’m training at a new “Patong Boxing Gym” that just opened up in the hills – about 5 minutes from where SingPatong is.

The owner still has her original gym which is located near the beach surrounded by “happy ending” massage parlours which she is using for her beginner students. For the more advanced students, she’s sending them up to the new camp which just opened about a month ago.

It’s actually a lot nicer than I thought it was going to be. There’s about 15 rooms onsite – some of which have a sick view of the ocean. At the moment, there’s actually more trainers than students and it’s all one-on-one training. I’ll be doing padwork with one trainer and in between rounds, I’ll have another trainer pouring water into my mouth and giving me a massage.

It’s also in a nice, quiet location with a great running path. Check it out ..

I moved into a new apartment which I ended up getting a great deal on. When I first got here and went looking around for rooms, everybody would jack up the price since I’m white and I guess they think foreigners don’t know any better. Well, since I’m staying here for so long, I’m the guy you’d see arguing with the cleaners about getting the jacked up foreigner rate on my laundry. So, getting charged 17,000 baht for a basic room didn’t fly with me either.

I ended up randomly meeting a friend at an internet café that I had met the year before and she walked around with me for a bit and found me a nice big room for 5000 baht a month. See, there really is a “Thai price” on things – which really pisses me off actually. I can only imagine the drama that would ensue if minorities in western societies were being charged 2-3 times the regular cost of things.

Anyway, as it turns out, I’m pretty sure I’m the only foreigner living in this building. It’s all Thai people and from what I’ve seen, it’s all Thai girls – hot ones too, like 3-4 per room. So needless to say, I’m liking my new living quarters. It’s certainly a nice change of pace to living at a Muay Thai camp with about 100 other dudes.

The building – which is only a couple floors – is right near the boxing stadium and the location is perfect. There’s convenient stores, Thai food stands and fruit markets all over the place. When it’s time to go to training, I just run to the gym – which takes me about half an hour. It’s all uphill too so it’s just what I need since surprisingly, my cardio still sucks. You’d think that after training 6 days a week for 5 months straight, eating right and having only 1 beer in the last 3 months, my cardio would be amazing but apparently not. It’s pretty frustrating actually.

Anyway, on another note, Christmas just past and it was a little weird being away from home. I didn’t really do much. I just trained during the day and went for a walk at night to check out the scene. It was pretty wild actually. It was just a giant party with fireworks, plenty of alcohol and plenty of guys looking to get laid.

To be honest, Christmas for me has always been about family and church, not booze and prostitutes (lol), so I was on my best behaviour. For some reason, I figured it’d be bad karma or something if I was to give into temptation so I ended up just coming back to my room. I ended up taking a video of the scene though for you guys to see. The video quality sucks – I think it’s time for a new camera. As you can tell, I was feelin’ the girl by the dancing by the Bacardi sign, check it out..

Anyway guys, thanks for following along up to this point (still lots to go) and all the best in 2009.

Happy Holidays!

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!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Scorpion Muay Thai Gym Review

When I first arrived in Pattaya, Scorpion Muay Thai gym was the first camp that I visited. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, it was tough to find at first but now that I know my way around, it’s actually very convenient to get to since it’s on the baht bus route – which is a major reason why I’ve been going everyday.

Further adding to the convenience factor is the fact that Scorpion Muay Thai doesn’t have “set” training times. Rather, you can just show up (anytime between operating hours) when you want to train. This is Thailand and a famous motto here is “Sabai Sabai” – which basically means relax and take it easy. Shit happens – it’s easy to get side tracked here and I like the fact that I don’t have to rush to training.

Another thing that I like about Scorpion Muay Thai, aside from the convenience, is the fact that it’s not overcrowded. When I’m doing my pad-work, I don’t feel as though the trainer is rushing through the rounds and trying to get as many students in and out as possible. I trained at one gym here in Pattaya and I got 2 rounds of pad-work. In between the 2nd and 3rd round, the trainer called the next student into the ring and I was left standing there (with my gloves still on) wondering what the hell was going on. Needless to say, I never went back.

At Scorpion Muay Thai, I get a minimum of 5 rounds of pad-work. Three of those rounds focus on Muay Thai techniques (kicks, knees, elbows) while the other 2 rounds focus strictly on boxing with the focus mitts. When I first arrived, I was talking to Rosalie (the owner/professional fighter) and she said that as long as you still have “power”, you can continue on beyond the 5th round if you’d like. Five rounds is enough for me since I’m still trying to work on my cardio but if your conditioning rivals the likes of Urijah Faber or Sean Sherk – you can do all the rounds that you need to do. Here’s some footage I took of 2 of the trainers working with 1 of the students (keep in mind, they don’t have to do that).

Since Scorpion Muay Thai doesn’t have “set” training times, the workouts differ somewhat from a lot of the other camps. You’ll notice that when you look at other Muay Thai camp websites, they have a typical day of training laid out for you to view. The training usually involves a run, skipping, shadowboxing, heavy bag work and then simulated rounds with the trainer.

Well, at Scorpion, if you’re not in the ring doing pad-work, you’re sort of left to do your own thing. I don’t mind this at all because I can skip, stretch, shadowbox and hit the heavy bag on my own. I just throw on my iPod and go through the motions. My routine at Scorpion Muay Thai is currently as follows..

Skipping (3-5 rounds)
Shadow Boxing (2-3 rounds)
Boxing on the Heavy Bag (3 rounds) – although cut short if I get called into the ring -
Stretching
Simulated Pad-work with the trainer (5 rounds)
And as of late.. I’ll finish up with about 2-3 rounds of sparring.

I personally enjoy the freedom of not having to run 10K everyday and do countless push-ups when I’m still sore from my workout at the gym the night before. And it’s not because I’m some fatass that can’t handle the workout. It’s because, honestly – I believe those training methodologies are outdated.

Back at home, I earned a living via a day job as a personal trainer (in addition to working at a nightclub), so I enjoy designing my own workout programs. The typical workout I outlined above consists of between 15-24 rounds (all of which are done at varied intensities). 24 rounds of cardio – I’d say that’s quite enough to prepare yourself for a 5 round Muay Thai/MMA fight. So rather than run an additional 10K, I find it to be more beneficial to go to a traditional gym and perform “fight functional” exercises to develop power.

By “fight functional”, I don’t mean bicep curls and leg extensions either. I’m talking about compound, multi joint exercises such as dead-lifts and the bench press. And of course, as any fighter will tell you, you need to develop the rotary strength of the core – and that’s just not something that regular sit ups accomplish. I usually implement some of the exercises from a manual I got a while ago – check it out if you want. Unfortunately, it’s not free though.

Anyway, back to the Scorpion Muay Thai gym. Overall, it’s pretty good. Nice facility, friendly atmosphere, it’s not overcrowded and most importantly – the trainers know what they’re doing. In addition to all that, it’s actually one of the cheapest Muay Thai camps that I’ve seen. A single session is 250 baht (which is on par with most of the other camps around here) and if you pay monthly, you can get once-daily training for 3800 baht. If you want to do two-a-days, it’ll cost you 7300 baht. Most of the camps only offer the two-a-day price regardless of how often you train.

Now for the “Fon” update

Well, she called me a few days and asked if she could come over. I don’t know why, but I said she could. Actually, I do know why – when a hot girl calls you and wants to come over at 3am, it’s tough to say no (crazy or not). Anyway, when she showed up, I got a weird vibe from her. Before I let her in, I talked to her for a bit to feel things out and I came to the conclusion that she was obviously drunk or high.

I told her that I changed my mind and that she had to bounce because I didn’t feel comfortable with her staying at my apartment while she was like that. She refused to leave. Since she wouldn’t leave, I figured I’d just walk back upstairs to my room and just lock the door. When I tried to do so, she kept blocking off my path so I couldn’t get by.

I really didn’t what to do at this point so I just stood and tried to explain to her, over and over again, why she couldn’t come up. Nothing was really getting through to her and I honestly just wanted to go to bed at this point so I literally had to grab her and try to escort her out the door. In the process of doing so, she flipped out and started slapping me..

Anyway, I got her out, locked the door and luckily – I haven’t seen her since. I told her best friend via msn that I went to Bangkok. I even went to an internet cafe and got her on webcam so the Bangkok story was a little more believable (I have WIFI in my room and usually use my laptop).

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!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

How I’m Livin’: Pattaya CRIBS

Alright, so the display photo for this post isn’t actually my room – it’s sort of a common area for the residence. Anyone staying here can use the room to chill. I’m actually sitting in that room right now as I’m typing this. Ooh… there we go – one of the gogo girls just walked by. She wants to play pool but “maybe later” I said, “have to work”. Yeah, life is rough Anyway, it seems that the most common questions I’m getting about living and training in Thailand are regarding the expenses. I figured I’d do a post strictly about what sort of monthly expenses you can expect and of course, how to cut costs. Believe it or not, I’m on a pretty tight budget myself.

I’ll start off by saying that the average Thai person in this area works full time and earns around $200-300 a month (sometimes not even that). The people in other regions of Thailand earn a lot less but this is somewhat of a touristy area so there’s more opportunity. I should note that just because a Thai person can get by on $300 a month, it doesn’t mean you can. As a foreigner, you pay a premium to visit this country.

When you go shopping here, very rarely will you see a set price on the items. The Thai’s pay one price, the foreigners pay another. It’s possible for us “falangs” (foreigners) to get the Thai price, but you have to be able to speak a little bit of Thai and convince them that you actually live here.

Accommodation Costs

Like anywhere else in the world, accommodation costs vary depending on how nice your residence is. The Thai people will often find a room that costs 4000-6000baht a month and 2..3..sometimes 4 of them will share, and split the cost of the room. For 4000 baht a month, you can find a basic, yet decent fan-room that’s liveable. Add about 2000 baht to that upping it to 6000 and you can find something with an air conditioner and a TV.

Now, as a foreigner, it’s tough to find such deals. They’re out there though if you look hard enough and negotiate a long term rent (especially during “low season”). Low season months are humid & rainy and high season months are sunny and clear. The weather is at it’s best here when it’s at it’s worse in the western cities that experience the cold winters (for me, it’s Canada).

When paying such low rents (4000-6000baht), you’ll need to keep in mind that your electric and water costs are not included. What a lot of places do (especially to foreigners), is advertise the low monthly rent to get you to sign, then charge you inflated electricity costs. I was checking out this one apartment here in Pattaya (R-Conn Residence) and they advertised a monthly rent of 10,900 baht per month, but they billed the electric costs at 8baht per unit. The real cost for electric is more around 5 baht per unit so you have to be careful with that. It’s a scam!

Right now I’m paying 12,000 baht per month (all inclusive) for a great place with everything I need and more. Everything is brand new and my room has a comfortable bed, TV, DVD player, hot water, safe and most importantly, WIFI internet so I can keep these logs up to date. Here’s a video tour I took for you guys to see..

As I mentioned in another post, the selling point for me wasn’t JUST the room. The fact that there’s about 20-30 hot coyote dancers around here every night didn’t hurt my decision. Here’s a quick clip I took of lower level of the building. Disregard the girl with the big ass that’s dancing like a duck though.. haha. Oh, and the girl on the far left (the one that’s giving me the look of death at the start), she’s the “stage 5 clinger” I was talking about in my last post.

Food Costs

Another thing I love about Thailand is the food (as if the beautiful women, nice weather, great training and friendly people weren’t enough). Here, if you want “western food”, you’re going to pay western prices. It’s Thailand, so I stick to the Thai food. “When in Rome” .. right?

Finding cheap meals in Thailand is an easy task. There’s roadside stalls set up pretty much everywhere selling everything from BBQ chicken skewers to .. well .. bugs! They eat some unusual things here but I suppose it’s the norm to them.

The skewers sell for 10 baht each (which is about 33 cents) and you have a choice of chicken, beef, pork and even hot dogs.

Cost of Training

This is pretty straight forward. Different gyms charge different rates. Just check the gyms website to see how much they charge. The average is between 6000-8000 baht per month. Anything less than 6000 baht is cheap and anything over 8000 is pretty expensive. Keep in mind though, this will usually get you two-a-days and included in every session is personal pad-time with your trainer. Just think of how much that would cost back at home? It’s worth it, trust me.

Cost of Entertainment

You just came for the training (sure you did). Even if that’s so, this is Thailand. There’s a lot of temptation to go out and party. I say, train hard during the week, party hard during the weekend. Even the Thai’s take Sunday off, so you can go out and have a good time on Saturday nights. It’s part of the experience of living in a different country. And I have to say, the experience of having hundreds of hot Thai girls screaming “sexy man”, “handsome man” at you from all angles is pretty cool (even if they’re just after your money).

A night out can be done cheaply here with ease. They sell alcohol everywhere in Thailand and it’s legal to explore the streets with a beer in your hand. I just hit 7-11 and grab a San Miguel light for about a dollar. Or, if I’m out early enough, you can just hit happy hour and get dollar drinks at one of the bars. The local stuff is cheap (Singha, Tiger, Sangsom).

What’ll get you though is when an unbelievably hot Thai girl comes to sit with you and requests a “lady drink”. Think of it like buying a girl a drink at the club in your home country only the cost of “lady drinks” here are jacked up so the girls can earn a commission off them. If you only go out once a week or two (like I do), then whatever, buy the damn lady-drinks and support the economy.. they’re still only around 4-5 dollars (about the same or even less than you’d pay back at home).

Cost of Transportation

The longer you stay here, the less you’ll end up paying for transportation. By western standards, the transport in Thailand is unbelievably cheap so you’ll overpay and still be amazed at what a good deal you think you’re getting. If you’re staying in Phuket, you’ll want to avoid the “Tuk Tuk’s” because a) they’re overpriced and b) the drivers are Thai mafia. That was the first piece of advise that was offered to me during my first visit to Thailand “be nice to the Tuk Tuk drivers” because yes, they can make you “disappear”.

I find that the best (but not the safest) mode of transport is motorbike taxi. You can get pretty much anywhere you want for less than 100 baht. I pay 100 baht to get to Sityodtong from where I am and it’s a LONG way out. Here in Pattaya, they also have what I like to call “baht busses”.

These busses just drive all over (usually at random) and when you see one, you just wave it down and hop on the back. When you get to where you’re going, you just ring the bell, hop off and pass the driver 10 baht. The only downside to these “baht busses” are that the stops aren’t announced so you really have to know the area (which I don’t .. yet).

Cost of Relaxation

I have to mention the massages because they’re one of my favourite things about coming to Thailand. After a hard day of training, your muscles ache and you feel like you’re about to die. Well, after a nice foot or oil massage, you’ll feel as good as new. There’s more massage parlours around here than convenience stores so you’ll be able to find one of every block. The average cost of a 1 hour foot massage is about 200 baht and for an oil massage, about 300 baht. Don’t worry, that’s only about 7-10 dollars. I got a foot massage the other day and she even went so far as to cut my toe-nails. They really take care of you here. And if you opt for the oil massage (which I highly recommend), you may just get an offer for an “additional service” which of course, like everything else in Thailand, is “up to you”.

If there’s anything I left out, just leave a comment below and let me know.

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!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE