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.
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.
Guess Who Stopped By?
March 31, 2009 by admin · 9 Comments
Notice it doesn't say Greatest FIGHT Of The Year? .. Sneeky, Sneeky
Imagine my surprise when I walked out of my room about 3 days ago and saw the giant event poster promoting a fight between Buakaw Por Pramuk and Namsaknoi. If you weren’t aware, Namsaknoi is a 4 time Lumpinee champion himself and is widely considered to be one of the greatest Muay Thai fighters in the history of the sport.
Almost seems too good to be true, doesn’t it? I suppose the MMA equivalent would be if you were to walk outside tomorrow and see that a super fight between George St Pierre and Anderson Silva was set to place this weekend and it was all going to happen 3 minutes away from where you live.
Well, the saying “if it seems to good to be true, it usually is” held true tonight because what was marketed as a “fight” turned out to be nothing more than a 2 round demonstration. I actually paid the admission fee for this event too because it was a packed house (I’m usually able to get myself waved in without actually buying a ticket).
As for the actual demonstration itself, it left a lot to be desired. Buakaw and Namsaknoi just lightly sparred (without punches) for two short rounds. Actually, the wai kru they performed at the start lasted longer than the actual demo. Here are some of the highlights..
It’s not all that surprising when you think about it though. Buakaw is used to fighting in front of tens of thousands of people for a lot of money. He’s under contract with K-1 and he’s actually set to fight Andre Dida towards the end of the month. I sort of figured that the chances of this fight being real were slim to none but I also figured that it would make for an interesting post nonetheless.
Of all the fight nights I’ve been too, this one was by far the best - and not necessarily due to the fights either. What made it so good was the atmosphere. The place was packed and the crowd was going crazy! I watched a video before I came here - and I even had it posted on the site for a while - and it described the scene perfectly.
The gamblers - and especially the corner men - were going nuts and surprisingly, the most popular fights were the fights that I personally found boring. In these fights, the fighters would be tied up in the clinch most of the time and would be scoring with knees to the body - although the knees didn’t look like they were landing that clean.
Every single time a knee was landed - even if it was those weak, modified knee strikes that are strictly thrown for points since they land with the inner leg rather than the knee itself - the corner-men and entire Thai crowd would raise their arms in the air and yell in “ayyyyyy” in excitement.
To me, the hyped up reactions of the Thai’s were more exciting than the actual fight itself. Check it out..
As for Buakaw, I noticed that his management team were going through great lengths to monetize his popularity any way they could. They had a stand set up outside the stadium where they were selling extremely overpriced T-shirts and fight shorts.
At the end of the night, Buakaw was sitting out there at the merchandise stand for photo ops. However, if you wanted your picture taken with him, they were charging 300 baht for the privilege. They even went as far as to auction off the very shorts that he was wearing during the demonstration.
Usually when that sort of thing goes up for auction, it’s announced that the proceeds will be given to charity but in this case, no charitable donation was mentioned. I’m pretty sure they were selling the used shorts off his waist strictly to line their own pockets. As for how someone can have a man-crush on an athlete big enough to pay for their used, sweaty gym shorts - well, that’s a mystery to me.
I do have to say though that Buakaw seemed like a nice guy. Before the fights started, me and my buddy were standing outside the stadium when he first walked by and we saw him for the first time. Their weren’t that many people around at the time and the few people that were around didn’t seem to recognize him.
My friend took the opportunity to approach him and ask him for a picture. Buakaw happily obliged and of course, he didn’t ask for any money in exchange for taking the time to do so. He genuinely seemed like a nice guy which leads me to believe that the whole idea of charging for pictures and selling used shorts are just schemes cooked up by his management team to capitalize on his success.
Now, in an unrelated incident - I witnessed a huge fight the other night. I filmed the whole thing but unfortunately, I was approach by a bunch of Thai security guards and they asked me to delete the footage. Actually, the asked for my camera but I certainly wasn’t willing to hand it over so deleting the footage was somewhat of a compromise.
At the time, I knew that there were ways to retrieve deleted clips from a memory card so I didn’t bother arguing. So within the next couple days, I’ll find a good program to use to get the footage back and I’ll post the video and back-story here for you to see.
Patong Boxing Gym Review
March 22, 2009 by admin · 44 Comments
I came to this gym with the intention of staying for about a month but a month has now turned into two and it looks like I’m going to be staying for another. Of course, with this being my last month in Phuket, I’ll be training and reviewing at some of the camps I’ve missed - Sinbi, Rawai, J Prappa etc. So if you were considering training at one of the camps I’ve neglected, don’t worry - you’ll get your review.
The main reason why I don’t go live at one of the other camps - aside from the fact that I’m getting great training at the Patong gym - is the fact that the other camps are situated in isolated locations which gives the gym owners and nearby businesses a monopoly since they can jack up the rents as much as they want and still get foreigners that don’t know any better to pay.
For example, if you check out the Sinbi website, you’ll see that they’re renting out their private room for 22,000 baht a month. To put that into perspective, I’m currently paying 8000 baht per month where I’m staying now and I have air conditioning, satellite TV, wireless internet, king size bed, large washroom with hot water and to top it all off - I get my room cleaned for me on a daily basis.
At Sinbi - and most likely a lot of other camps - 8000 baht will get you a shared room without air conditioning and a bunk bed to sleep on. Now, if you’re only in Thailand for a short period of time - or if you have a loaded bank account and money isn’t really an issue for you - then overpaying for your room to stay on-site at a good gym might be worth it for you as long as the training is good.
But for me, seeing as how I’ve been here for about 9 months already, I have need to save money wherever I can. So staying right where I am in my nice, affordable room seems like the best thing to do at the moment. Not to mention the fact that the owner of the guesthouse I’m at is extremely nice and just the other night, she cooked me a huge dinner for free : )
So as for the training at Patong Boxing Gym, there a few things that make it a little different from a lot of other gyms. The sessions aren’t run at set times and in a group format. Rather, you can show up whenever you want between operating hours and from the moment you enter the gym until the moment you leave, you’ll be under the supervision of one of the trainers.
In other words, the whole thing is personal training - which is something that a lot of other camps in Phuket charge extra for. Also worth mentioning is the fact that the minimum amount of pad-time I get per session is 5 rounds - usually 3 rounds of Muay Thai and 2 rounds of boxing - although how you chose to split up your rounds is entirely up to you.
People don’t come to Thailand to kick the heavy bag for 8 rounds alongside a bunch of foreigners while waiting for a trainer to call you into the ring for a couple rounds of pad-work. If anything, the bulk of your time should be spent one on one with a trainer. If you want to kick the heavy bag on your own, you can save your money, stay home and just train in your basement.
As for sparring and clinching, you’ll get plenty of that too as long as you make it known that you’re interested in doing it. The training sessions are based around exactly what you want to do and you can break things down however you like.
Normally I get my 5 rounds of pad-work in but earlier this week I mentioned that I wanted to focus on sparring more so that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. A couple of the Thai trainers are fighting next week so I’ve been sparring with them to help get them ready. And speaking of the trainers, here’s some footage I took of a couple of them working their kicks on the pads..
The location of the camp is awesome as well. It used to be located in a congested area near the beach surrounded by a bunch of suit shops and “happy ending” massage parlours - which meant you got harassed and basically molested every time you walked to and from the gym.
Looking to expand, the owner bought some land and moved the camp up into the hills. It’s perfect actually. It’s a nice quiet area with clean air, a beautiful view, a cool breeze and a nice running path. It’s a distraction free environment but if you also have the convenience that accompanies living and training in Patong - which is the most developed beach in Phuket.
Here are some photos of the camp and the camp surroundings..
 The Running Path |
 Patong Boxing Gym |
Prices and Accommodation
A single training session at Patong Boxing Gym will cost you 400 baht - which is more than what the camps in Pattaya charge but it’s right on par with the cost of the gyms here in Phuket. A month of training (twice a day) will run you 8000 baht and if you wanted to live on-site at the gym as well, a month of training AND accommodation costs 18,000 baht - which is approximately $17.50 USD per day.
The rooms aren’t what you’d expect from a Muay Thai camp either. They basically resemble standard hotel rooms. They have a fridge, wireless internet access, cable TV, private washroom with hot water, two beds and most importantly - air conditioning! Here a little tour of the room before the fridges were put in..
My Overall Impression
I’m sure it’s pretty clear that I recommend this gym. The facility is brand new and well equipped. The training is great (oftentimes more trainers than students) and you have the freedom to structure your workouts as you’d like. The prices are fair and the on-site accommodation is great.
And of course, the location gives you the best of both worlds. You’re in a nice quiet area for your training but you’re never inconvenienced since down the hill (just a short motorbike ride away), you have access to everything you could possibly need such as convenience stores, markets, shopping malls, restaurants, nightlife - basically anything and everything.
The entire staff is really nice as well. I train late in the day and I’m usually one of the last students to leave since after my session, I’ll usually stick around for a bit to kick the bag or lift weights. This is around the time when all the trainers sit down to eat and they always insist that I join them - even though I don’t pay for the food.
More often than not, one of the trainers gives me a lift down the hill and even if I try to pay him for the ride, he’ll just smile and say “no problem”, then drive off. Actually, now that I mention it, the trainer that usually drives me back to my room has had a lot of major fights.
He’s fought on TV from lumpinee stadium on several occasions I believe and he once won a million baht for his efforts. There’s a picture of him holding the big stack of 1000 baht bills up at the gym. I guess that’s why he doesn’t bother taking my money - he probably has more than I do anyway!
All in all, I can’t say enough positive things about the gym and my experience here. The only negative thing I have to say is that they’re not always on top of their emails so if you have any specific questions - and if you’re unable to get a quick response from them - just hit the contact button and send your questions to me. I’ve spent enough time here that I’ll more than likely be able to answer them for you.
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!