Songkran 2010
April 19, 2010 by admin · 3 Comments
Most people who have never been to Thailand have no idea what “Songkran” is. I didn’t either until I experienced it last year and since then, it’s become the yearly holiday that I look forward too the most. “Songkran” is how the Thai people celebrate the “Thai new year” and it basically consists of a lot of a lot of alcohol consumption and a country-wide water fight.
In Chiang Mai, “Songkran” lasts for almost a week but here in Phuket, it’s only celebrated for a day and a half (the evening on the 12th and the full day of the 13th). As fun as it is, I find that a couple days is enough because you literally get soaked within 2 minutes of leaving your room. There’s really no way to avoid it. Got cash in your pocket? Nobody cares. A camera or cell phone? You’re still going to get water dumped on you. You just have to wrap everything up in plastic bags, grab a giant water fun and hit the streets – which is exactly what we did.
Here’s a video that my buddy recorded of the scene outside “Jungceylon” (which is a touristy mall here in Patong). It looks wild but there’s no isolated area where everyone went. He could have whipped out his camera at pretty much any point (and at any location) during the day and it would have looked the same.
Once the “Sangsom” (Thai whiskey) started flowing, we didn’t remember much but luckily we had some funny video footage to check out the following morning. This first video was filmed at a street here in Patong that’s infamous for “happy ending” massages (we call it the “dirty triangle”). It’s pretty self-explanatory really. We were drunk so we decided to run upstairs, cause a ruckus and as my so eloquently stated, we were going to “spray all the dick we could see”.
Now, in the comments section, there’s no need to call attention to the fact that we knew exactly where to go or that the girl at the front called me specifically by name (haha). It is what it is. Anyway, in this next video, we apparently barge into an Indian restaurant and spray down the waiter (ah, the shit you do when you’re drunk in Thailand).
And for the 3rd and final round, we ambush yet another restaurant, only this time, we get a taste of our own medicine as some seemingly unassuming girl who was sitting there eating pulled out a super-soaker of her own and started firing back. Bottom line; Thailand is amazing and so is Songkran. I can’t wait for next year!
Anyway, after spending the last half a year or so here at the Patong Boxing Gym, I’m going to head up to Chiang Mai on Thursday because everyone keeps telling me about the “laid back” vibe up there. So. I’ll check things out and post up reviews on some of the gyms. A lot of the trainers at the Patong Gym come from Siam no 1 in Chiang Mai so I imagine that the training up there is pretty decent.
And speaking of the training, here are a couple semi-recent videos of me working on my boxing with Ming (who as you can see is an amazing pad holder).
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!
Fights, Thai Markets, Randomness
March 23, 2010 by admin · Leave a Comment
So once again, it’s been a while since my last entry. Since it’s been so long since I last made an update, there’s a lot to talk about. I’m still at the Patong Boxing Gym and I’m getting ready for a fight in a few weeks – which explains why I’m writing this on a Saturday night instead of being out at the clubs. I’ve cut out drinking (obviously) and I’ve made a lot of changes to my diet in an effort to improve my endurance.
After reading about alkaline/acidic balance and how the foods we consume effect our PH chemical balance, I checked out a food chart and discovered that pretty much everything I was eating had a very acidic effect. Apparently, when our blood pH is too acidic, “the hemoglobin in our blood deteriorates and the red blood cells can’t carry oxygen to the tissues”.
Randy Couture (who’s obviously in amazing shape) advocates consuming a diet rich in alkaline forming foods so I figured I’d give it a try. I hit the pharmacy and picked up some supplements (multi-vitamins, spirulina, beta-alanine) and I’ve been eating a lot of watermelon, lemons, pineapples and “leafy green” vegetables – all of which are supposed to be “alkaline forming”.
Anyway, I was able to get through my rounds on Thursday without stopping like I usually do so it must be helping. It’s still a little early to tell though because I was just working the mitts (boxing) and I wasn’t throwing kicks or knees. Still though, seems promising. Speaking of pad work, here’s a semi-recent video of my training..
While I’m posting videos, here are a few fights I recorded at the stadium the last time I went..
The guy with the pink armbands is Wut (a trainer at the gym here) and his opponent ended up dislocating his shoulder in the fight and had to stop. This next fight was a hard fought battle between “Tawatchai” and a tough opponent. “Tawatchai” ended up losing on points.
Although that’s it for the fights, I might as well post a few more videos seeing as how it has been over a month since my last entry. I came across a video on youtube that Mike Swick put together for his video blog and in it, him and Roger Huerta hit one of the markets here and get to witness the “circle of death” – which is basically crazy Thai dudes riding their motorbikes and cars on a questionably-constructed vertical circle of plywood. Here’s the video..
On a side note, I randomly saw Roger Huerta at the stadium one night and when the fights were over and everyone was clearing out, he actually approached myself and the guys I was with because he mistook us for his own group of friends. Oftentimes, when you meet athletes/actors/musicians or whatever, it can be sort of a let down but Roger seemed like he was a super nice guy. It was genuine too seeing as how we met him in a parking lot at the other end of the world. It wasn’t like he was trying to impress anyone but regardless, he couldn’t have been friendlier and he even took the time to snap a quick photo with one of my buddies.
Anyway, when I first saw that “circle of death” clip on Mike’s video, I was a little jealous that in 3 long trips here, I had never come across the show before. Well, the following week I randomly discovered a market behind the big mall here in Patong and sure enough, they had the same thing. Here are the videos..
Admittedly, the first time the car came speeding by the top, I was a little freaked out. I mean, the natural reaction most people have when they see a 2 ton car speeding towards them is to get the fuck out of the way and that’s pretty much what I attempted to do at first. As soon as I did, I said to my buddy “I guess I’m going to have to cut that part out of the video if I decide to post it on the site or else I’m going to look like a huge pussy” but whatever, I’m too lazy to go through the trouble of editing it out.
And speaking of seeing crazy stuff at the Thai markets, I came across a vendor at the weekend market in Phuket town selling some pretty hardcore weaponry. I see similar stands here in Patong but I always figured it was just tourists that bought the stuff as a novelty. However, the market in Phuket town attracts mainly Thai shoppers and when you think about it, for a vendor like that to stay in business, the Thai people must be buying the swords, the knives, the hardcore brass knuckles with spikes on the ends, the tasers and whatever other weapons of destruction that he’s selling. Here are a couple pictures..
Anyway, I’m still here and still loving it. However, I’m thinking it’s time for a change of scenery so in about a months time, I’ll most likely roll up to Bangkok to check out some gyms (Kaewsamrit, Keatkhamtorn, Sitsongpeenong – as well as some others with some near-impossible-to-pronounce names) and then eventually make my way up to Chiang Mai. So, that means I’ll have a lot more to post about and a lot more gyms to review. Stay tuned.
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!
Initial Impressions of the Hard Training and Wild Nightlife
February 10, 2010 by admin · 8 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.
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!
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 · 4 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!
Patong Boxing Gym Review
March 22, 2009 by admin · 46 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!
Swallowed My Pride
February 13, 2009 by admin · 6 Comments
So last night I went to the stadium to watch some fights since a couple people from the gym were fighting and of course, because I was able to bypass the 1000 baht entry free – which is only 100 baht for Thai people. Actually, in the 10 combined months that I’ve spent in Thailand, this was the first time I went to watch live fights.
I just can’t bring myself to fork out 10-15 times the “regular” ticket cost based on my skin colour. Like I said in a couple other posts, just imagine the uproar this sort of duel pricing would cause in your home country. However, the one thing that’s actually good about it is the fact that the fighters get higher salaries as a result of the higher ticket prices – which is obviously a good thing. But still, I’d rather spend my 1000-1500 baht on 25-35 chicken/rice meals.
The fights were all pretty good and it was a cool experience, but I’ll come back to that. What I’ll get too now is what happened after the fights. I went to get some chicken soup at the same place I eat about 4 times a day once I had finished and was walking back to my room, I noticed some angry Thai guy yelling at some random shopkeeper.
At the exact moment I was passing by, he turned around and we bumped into each other. No big deal I thought. I just said sorry and did the “Wai” – which is a Thai greeting that involves putting your hands together and slightly bowing your head. According to Wikipedia, this is also a common way to apologize so it looks like I had it right..
Anyway, the guy – who was clearly drunk or high on coke – start screaming at me. It obviously got me a little upset but I figured it wasn’t worth it so I said sorry again and moved on. About a minute later (as I was walking towards my room) I heard the loud revving of a motorbike engine and I could sense it was pulling up beside me.
Great, just what I needed. The guy then proceeded to cut me off with his motorbike, step off and started screaming “you want to fight me?! ..you want to fight me!!”. Now, I’m fairly confident with my ability to defend myself – and I’m glad I have that piece of mind – but all bets are off when you’re alone in a different country.
The thing about Thailand is that when a foreigner and a Thai are fighting, every Thai within a 200 meter radius ends up jumping the “farang” – regardless of whether or not they know how the fight started. It’s bullshit, it’s extremely racist and it certainly demonstrates the fact that a lot of Thai people have some pent up rage towards foreigners – although they usually mask it with a nice smile and friendly demeanour.
As a matter of fact, here’s a video that I filmed last year that illustrates my point. I have no idea how that fight started but then again, it’s not far fetched to assume that some of the Thai people involved even know why they’re attacking either – just following along.
So there I was with this drunk idiot standing in front of me trying to start a fight. I should mention that he was about a foot shorter than me, 50 pounds lighter than me and he most likely doesn’t train (I don’t know many aggressive, coke-addicted, alcoholic Muay Thai fighters). Not to mention the fact that I’ve been to a lot of gyms on the island and I’ve never seen this guy at any of them. Also, most Thai fighters that you’ll come across are pretty respectful and don’t walk around picking random fights to prove their self worth – they can leave all that in the ring.
Anyway, I ended up trying to talk the situation down once again and walked away. He got back on his bike and followed me once again. At this point, I figured that he wasn’t going to leave me alone so I walked into a busy “family mart” and told everyone the situation. I figured that it would be a good idea to make people aware that I was not the one instigating the fight in hopes that it would reduce the chances of everyone jumping me based on the sight of a big foreigner beating up a little Thai (without knowing the story behind it).
At this point (while I was in the store), he was sitting on his motorbike outside and giving me the finger through the window. I walked outside and once again, he starts talking more shit and I once again ignore it and walk away. I walked about 50 meters to the next family mart (they’re everywhere here) and every night, there’s a guy there that sells BBQ kabobs. The place is right in front of my building so I talk to the guy quite often. Anyway, I just shook his hand (didn’t mention the situation) at all, went into family mart (bought some milk) and when I came out, the aggressive Thai dude was gone.
Why he left? I’m not really sure. Perhaps he just got bored and moved on to look for someone else to harass or it might have had something to do with the fact that he saw that I knew at least once person in the area. Either way, the whole situation was fucked up. I’ve been here for a long time and never once have I felt “alone”, but last night was different.
Aside from walking away, I really didn’t have any other options. I could have fought him and got jumped by a bunch of motorbike taxi drivers in the area, or on the slim chance that I wouldn’t have gotten jumped, the police may have gotten involved and something tells me that they wouldn’t take my side (the foreigners side) unless a bribe was involved.
I certainly question the integrity of the Thai police, especially when I hear about news stories like this..
Here are the highlights to illustrate my point..
“Norwegian Simen Knudsen was robbed and stabbed to death recently on a quiet stretch of road near Kata viewpoint. The three boys arrested for the killing were released shortly after, undermining a high-profile police investigation.
Just this week, an Australian woman riding with her friend was pushed off her motorbike and robbed at gunpoint in the same area.
Cases like this are happening more frequently. Every time, after a week of the police being certain of their investigations bearing fruit, nothing happens and the attacks are quietly forgotten.”
Now don’t get me wrong here. I still love Thailand and its people. Incidents like this are extremely rare here and it’s not like this will change my overall perception of this awesome country. I suppose if Thai people judged all us foreigners on the actions of a few, then we’d all be sloppy, drunk, loud, obnoxious sex tourists in their eyes – which clearly isn’t the case. And likewise, I can’t pass judgement based on the behaviour of the drunk guy last night either.
Anyway, back to the fights from last night.. Check this one out, it’s what Muay Thai is all about – patience and amazing technique..
FIGHT VIDEOS BEING UPLOADED (COMING SOON)
My Training
Although I had a great workout today venting my anger from last night on the heavy bag, it’s been somewhat of an “off” week. I had to get an impacted wisdom tooth removed on Sunday and since then, I’ve been on the diary queen diet. Nothing but ice cream, noodle soup and bananas. I graduated to spaghetti today so that’s a good sign. But needless to say, in my malnourished state, I haven’t had much energy lately. I went in a few times this week and just lifted weights and threw a few punches but that‘s the extent of it.
I also have to do another one of those whack visa runs in a couple days but after that, it’s back to training hard. It’s hard to believe that I’ve already been here for 7 months. I don’t have much time left so I’ll be moving on rather soon – but not before I pay a visit and review the other camps in Phuket of course. I’m not really sure where my next stop is going to be but as always, I’ll keep you updated..
Thanks for reading..
Training Update
February 3, 2009 by admin · 5 Comments
It’s been a while since I threw up an entry so I figured I should stop slacking and get on it. As I mentioned in a few other entries, I’ve been working like crazy trying to get other online businesses going so I can stay here for longer, keep this site going and who knows, maybe have the opportunity to go to Brazil next. The good news is that the other sites/books etc. are almost done so hopefully I’ll be able to shift my focus back to Fight Passport – since this site really is my “passion project”.
Anyway, I’m still training at Patong Boxing Gym and it’s going well. I feel as though I’m improving a lot here and lately, the atmosphere is changing and it’s changing for the better. The owner shut down her original location and all the trainers are now at the new camp in the hills. Most of them are still fighting professionally so not only am I getting trained by them, but I’m training with them as well. This, to me, is important since I find it very motivational.
When you’re running alone or with another foreigner, when you’re tired, you take a break. You’re not being judged so who cares, right? Well, when you’re running alongside a group of Thai fighters, you really don’t want to be the out of shape foreigner that can’t keep up so you tend to push yourself more. Running with them has been good for me since my cardio is terrible – which I really don’t understand considering how long I’ve been here. Actually, I think my problem is that when I’m doing pad-work, I focus too much on hitting the pads as hard as I can that I forget to breathe. I never thought that I’d actually have to think about breathing as it’s something that should just come naturally.
Anyway, what I’ve really been trying to work on lately is the multiple-kicks in succession. Up until about a month ago, I couldn’t do them at all. I’d try and I’d just lose my balance. Having gotten tired of seeing people being able to do it and not being able to do it myself, I told the trainer at the gym here in Patong that I wanted to focus on it and since then, I’ve been removing my gloves and dedicating a whole round to doing nothing but those kicks.
Here’s a video of me working on it. Actually, the video isn’t even that long and you’ll see that by the end of it I’m slower and I look really tired. See what I mean about the cardio? Have a look..
I’ll post another video in a couple weeks of me working on those kicks to see if there’s any improvement. And while I’m posting videos, you have to see these. Here’s some footage from a fight night that was held over at <a href=”http://fightpassport.com/muay-thai-training-journals/tiger-muay-thai-review/”>Tiger Muay Thai</a>. These particular videos feature Thai fighters – and top 10 ranked ones at that – fighting under MMA rules. I really hope MMA catches on here in Thailand because as we all already know, the Thai’s are incredible strikers. Add some wrestling and BJJ to that Muay Thai base and they could really shake up the lightweight divisions in MMA orgs.
I think it would be sick if Tiger took in a few youngsters and cross trained them in both Muay Thai and grappling. The Thai’s start training at such a young age here – and with such dedication – that they’d be incredible by the time they started competing.
Back to the training at Patong Boxing Gym. Here’s a video clip of the trainers/fighters doing some clinch work. There’s actually a gym down the road called “SingPatong” and every now and then, the owner will show up with one of his fighters and they’ll all do clinch-work together. They usually do this when one of the guys has a fight coming up (which is quite often actually) so they’ll have someone different to work with. Anyway, here’s the clip..
The guy you see in the black & white shorts is amazing. I’ve never seen anyone beat him in the clinch. He literally just throws everyone around – myself included – and I probably outweigh him by about 30 pounds. I’ll try and get some footage of the guy kicking the bag as well because it’s incredible to see. These Thai’s are so little yet so powerful. Seeing the amount of force that can be exerted by these tiny guys is really a testament to the effectiveness of Muay Thai as an art form.
On a different note, I have to leave the country (yet again) in a few weeks to apply for another tourist visa. Right now it’s a toss up between Cambodia and the Philippines although I really have to do some more research into it. Either way, both places are pretty appealing and would be cool to visit.
And as for the lady situation, I’ve actually been on my best behaviour despite the fact that I see hot Thai girls everywhere I look. I completely cut out drinking so I don’t even bother going clubbing and it’s weird but the more time I spend here, the more motivated I am to just work. I’ll go for a walk, the scene will be “bumpin”, everyone will be having fun and rather than joining in, I find that I just want to come back to my room and get some work done.
I’ve actually never been so motivated and it’s all due to the fact that I don’t ever want to have to leave this place. But I guess that’s what Thailand does to people. I’m certainly not the only foreigner that has fallen in love with this country..
That about wraps it up for now..
Oh, and about FEDOR/GSP and the STEELERS ..
I couldn’t be happier!!
And lastly, be sure to sign up for the FightPassport newsletter. I just got a new digital camera and I’m taking all sorts of random pics/videos that I’ll be sharing with readers via email. You can sign up at the top of the right sidebar..
Padwork Progressions
January 13, 2009 by admin · 8 Comments
So there’s been a longer than usual delay between entries and I should probably explain why. I’ve been putting 8 new sites together (7 exercise sites and 1 new Muay Thai one) in an attempt to get some money rolling in so I can stop stressing about having to leave this country that I’ve fallen in love with.
I don’t plan on leaving until May (so I still have plenty of time) but I plan on coming right back here after the summer to pick up where I left off with my training. And speaking of my training, for the first time I’m going to post up some videos of my pad work.
I haven’t posted any videos thus far for a few reasons. The main reason was because I didn’t want some of the owners to see who I was because if they know I’ll be reviewing their camps, they’re more likely to treat me differently and go above and beyond to secure themselves a good review.
The benefit of posting my progress – which in my opinion, outweighs the negatives – is that it will serve as motivation to improve even more over the next few months. I’ll feel more accountable knowing that my readers will be critiquing my technique and progress so I’ll be obligated to take the training seriously.
Prior to coming here, my experience was very limited. I came here last year for a couple months but to be honest, I was only training about 4-5 times a week. I made a lot of improvements but about a week or so after I got back to Canada, I ended up messing up my back while performing bent over barbell rows at the gym. And yea, that actually links to one of the exercise sites I’m working on – just trying to get Google to index it..
In addition to coming here the first time, I had done some submission grappling (for about 4-5 months) but never any striking whatsoever. The extent of my striking experience was hitting one of those “wave master” punching bags in my basement. Anyway, here’s a video of myself training near the end of my first trip..
Not so bad, right? Well, due to the back injury, and about 8 months of no training any martial arts at all, here’s what my pad work looked like during one of my first sessions this year at Scorpion Gym.
So that’s the “before” video. As you can see, I’m completely awkward in my stance, I’m slow, my technique is terrible (especially the kicks) and I can’t even stay balanced. Believe it or not, at the time I actually thought I was awesome. You go through the motions and it actually feels good. Then you check yourself on video tape and it’s really an eye-opener.
So that video was filmed about five months ago. Since then, I’ve been training 6 days a week – with the exception of some time off due to a sprained ankle and pink eye, which sucked! I’ve trained at a lot of different gyms, but the three gyms that have helped me the most are Scorpion Gym, Tiger Muay Thai and most recently – where I’m at right now – Patong Boxing Gym. These two videos were shot last week ..and yes, I know – I need a tan!
Comparing the “midpoint” videos – which is what those are – to the first video, it shows a lot of improvement and I’m pretty happy with it. I’m still far from where I’d like to be though but I still have 4 full months of training to go. I really want to get those rapid-fire kicks down perfectly so lately, during every pad-work session, I take off my gloves and do nothing but work on my repetitive kicking for a full round.
And I’ve sure you’ve noticed that I haven’t had much lady-drama to talk about lately. That’s because when I was staying at Tiger Muay Thai, I didn’t really bother going out much since it’s so far away from the nightlife district and even now that I’m living in Patong, all I really do is focus on my work and training. I think now that I’ve completely cut out drinking, I’ll make even better improvements over the next four months.
I did however go out and party on new years eve – but who didn’t, right? The scene here was pretty crazy. I wanted to start by drinking a couple beers while getting a foot massage – which only costs about 6 bucks an hour here. When I got to the massage place, all the massage girls were having their own new years party with free food and drinks out for everyone.
They kept giving me belvedere mixed with orange juice – which I’m sure was bought by one of their rich, foreign boyfriends – and to be honest, the rest of the night is a bit of a blur. I did however check my camera the next morning and found this short video. It’s not overly exciting by any means but it’ll give you an idea as to how they celebrated new years here.
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!
