Sawadee (Goodbye) Pattaya

Pattaya Thailand; this is one place that every man should experience at least once in their lifetime. It’s hard to even believe that a place like this actually exists. I’ve never seen so many beautiful women in such a concentrated area anywhere else and I spent 3 months living in Las Vegas. Vegas was cool, but it was tough to meet women when me and my buddy would be talking to a couple good looking ladies on LV Blvd. and high rollers would drive up and holler at the girls from the window of their Bentley GT. That’s a tough decision for the girls – hop into the Bentley with the millionaires or stick around and kick it with the guys on foot who would rather sit at the 10 cent slot machines and pretend to play in order to get a few free rum and cokes than stay in the bar and pay 9 bucks a drink. Although the first option (our approach) is much more financially sufficient, it doesn’t exactly impress the ladies in Vegas.

Aside from the seemingly thousands of insanely beautiful women, Pattaya also offers great training. Sityodtong was awesome, as was Scorpion. I’ve spent the last month training exclusively at Scorpion as it offers a laid back, un-crowded environment with great trainers who are eager to help. Both camps are situated away from the nightlife and both camps are surrounded by affordable accommodations. Not only are the nearby rooms affordable, but so is the training itself. A single session at both camps will run you a mere 250 baht (about 7 dollars). Just think, how much would a personal training session with a former champion Muay Thai fighter run you in your home country? I actually just found a new, well decorated room within 100 meters of Scorpion gym atop a convenience store with a large fridge, queen size bed, private washroom and air conditioning for 5000 baht per month (5000 baht is about 150US dollars).

I will certainly be keeping that room in mind for the future. Both the room and training costs will come in at less than 9000 baht per month. I’ve yet to see a more affordable combination that throughout both my time in Thailand and the time I’ve spent researching countless Muay Thai camps online. For someone like myself who a) doesn’t want to go home to Canada and b) wants to develop phenomenal stand-up skills, it’s important that I make things affordable so I’m able to stay as long as possible.

However, tomorrow at 12:45pm I’ll be boarding a plane to Phuket where I’ll be living and training at the ever-so-popular Tiger Muay Thai gym. I get more questions about Tiger Muay Thai than I do about any other camp in Thailand so the interest is certainly there. I’m curious myself to see how the training at Tiger will compare to the training I’ve received so far at some of the other Muay Thai camps I’ve visited.

The “Twist”

In my last entry, I mentioned a “twist”. Well, it’s possible that the “twist” has made me a marked man. Well, that’s a little overdramatic but I’ll explain. If you read the “trouble in paradise” entry, you’re then aware that I was living with a showgirl for a while. I lent her money, we had a falling out, haven’t gotten the money back yet etc. In my write up, I told a story of how she went nuts, started throwing electronics, sat in an empty bathtub for a while and there was also mention of drug usage.

About 85% of my readership comes from North America so it’s highly unlikely that people in Pattaya even know this site exists as I do absolutely no advertising here. Well, a local news website picked up on my Thai girl adventures and started profiling some of my entries. That’s all well and good as every bit of extra traffic helps the site grow. However, the latest entry, which can be viewed here, runs photos of her, mentions her name, mentions my name, and at one point, it even labels her as a “known yaba addict”.

Thailand is an extremely anti-drug country and it’s not entirely uncommon for “known yaba addicts” to be executed by the police. As you’d expect, with such harsh penalties for drug usage comes harsh consequences for those who draw attention to people using drugs. In all fairness, the girl does not use yaba (that I know about) and I met up with the author of the site in an effort to clear that up.

We exchanged text messages and met up at one of the more popular bars here in Pattaya for a drink (I had orange juice of course). Turns out that he was a really cool guy and he understood that the drug mention wasn’t critical to the story so he agreed to take it out. On a side note, it was pretty cool hanging out with a Thailand “local” (he’s originally from Jersey) as he was able to immediately pinpoint the best deals across town on a given night. It happened to be a Friday so he showed me a place with 50 baht beers ($1.75) and with every drink purchase, they gave you a free slice of pizza. Not that I eat much pizza, or even drink much beer for that matter (training), but that’s an incredible deal. I could never see an establishment in Canada offering prices like that.

Scenes From Walking Street

Walking street is an area situated along the beach that gets blocked off at night so cars can’t drive through. Hence the name, walking street. It’s basically a concentrated area that’s jam-packed with all sorts of go-go bars, nightclubs, shops and restaurants. It’s also possibly the most fun street I’ve ever spent time on. The gym I train at (traditional gym) is situated just off walking street so I see all sorts of crazy things being done by all sorts of crazy people. Here are just a few random videos/photos that I’ve taken of some of the scenes..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Trouble In Paradise

Trouble in paradise ..literally. This place is awesome but the girls are fucking crazy! In a recent entry, I mentioned how I moved in with one of the local showgirls. I’d like to say that it seemed like a good idea at the time but it didn’t. I pretty much knew this was coming, hence the title of the entry – “living with a showgirl, a recipe for drama?” Well, it took a little over 2 weeks but last night that “recipe” manifested itself into a big plate of bullshit.

I’ll backtrack a little. The girl I was staying with goes back and fourth from Pattaya to Issan quite frequently as she has to take her dad to the hospital in her hometown. It’s the typical Thai sob-story. The girl is a “victim of circumstance” as she’s forced to provide for her family via sketchy, unconventional methods (use your imagination) since working at the local 7-11 doesn’t pay near enough.

She has this guy and apparently he thinks that he’s her boyfriend. He sends her money all the time and in return, he gets about 10 minutes of generic (what you eat? how was your day?) conversation via collect call from her every night. Meanwhile, there’s usually some guy in the bed next to her that’s told to “be quiet” until she’s off the phone. Sounds like a good investment on his part, doesn’t it?

Anyway, it was the 18th of September and she was talking to her “boyfriend”. A brief break in the conversation arose and she pounced on the opportunity to ask the ever-so-sly question – “can you send me money?” A question that – judging by her collection of western union branded apparel – has been asked many times. However, this time he shot down her request. After all, he had just sent her 10,000 baht (about 300 US) a week before. Once he denied the request, the call ended pretty quick. I mean, how dare he not send her money. Who does this guy think he is? *sarcasm*

Here’s where it gets embarrassing, for me! Once he refused to send her the cash, I knew I was the next target since she had planned to rent a car and go to her home the next day. I snuck out onto the balcony to get some air and I psyched myself up to shoot her down. “Fuck that shit, I’m not giving her any money” .. I told myself. I went back in and about an hour past before the speech started.

“I only have 1 dad” “ I have many friends here but nobody will help me” .. “I think you know what I’m going to ask”. “NOOOO!” I said (as rehearsed on the balcony). Surprisingly, she was very accepting of my refusal. I laid on the bed pissed off that she would put me in that situation and she started to get ready to go out. While she was pulling a low-cut shirt over her silicone “money makers”, she started coughing uncontrollably.

So, here this girl was ..tired, sick and about to go wonder the streets to find a “customer” for the night so she could take her sick dad to the hospital the following day. Maybe I’m too nice or maybe I’m just stupid – but it got to me. As she was about to leave, I walked to the front door, grabbed her, told her to take off her shoes and go back to bed. The next morning I found myself at the ATM pulling out 15,000 baht (almost 500US) for her dads hospital bills.

As I handed her the stack of 1000 baht bills, I emphasised the fact that this was nothing more than a loan and that I expected to be fully compensated for the money. “I’ll pay you back, I promise” she said. I had a bad feeling about it right from the start and I know now that I should have trusted my initial instinct (as you always should).

So here I am today, on October 2nd and I still haven’t seen 20 baht of the 15,000 that I lent to her. And to make matters worse, this chick storms around the small apartment bitching about every little thing. Forget Quinton Jackson, this girl is the real “Rampage”. Last night I was sick of getting bitched at for seemingly breathing so I basically told her that I just wanted my money so I could bounce. After all, this is Pattaya. A city where a man doesn’t have to put up with the bitching and nagging. It’s much easier to switch-up-girls than it is to get into dragged out arguments over stupid shit.

When I requested the cash, all hell broke loose. Apparently, by her logic, requesting money that’s owed to you is out of line and that “I only care about myself”. Was this girl fucking serious? We argued back and fourth and what happened next made me convinced that this girl has some psychological issues that would rival even “Fon” in a “win a straight-jacket” competition.

She took the remote control for the television, said “now your money is all I think about”, smacked the remote against her forehead about 3 times, then whipped it against the wall. She then proceeded to run to the bathroom and sit in the bathtub for about 2 hours. I mean, that’s a normal stress reliever, isn’t it? Having a nice long bath, I’m sure it’s very relaxing. Only in this case, the tub remained empty and she remained fully clothed.

Needless today, as soon as the rental office opened today, I found my own room. I got my new key and went back to pack up my shit. As I was doing so, we got into another argument over the money and for a second, she tried to pull the “I’m not paying you back” routine.

Can’t Hustle A Hustler

Sure it was stupid to lend her my money but I’m not dumb enough to do so without getting any sort of reassurance that I’ll get it back. When she tried to test the waters by saying she wasn’t going to pay me back, I gave her a few options. Let me rephrase, I gave her 1 option and a few reasons why she should take it.

The Option
Pay me back in 1 week.

The Reasons
1) I had the foresight to predict this situation so I pulled her “boyfriends” number out of her cell phone while she was in the shower. You know, the same “boyfriend” that sends her money all the time. I told her that if I didn’t get my money, I’d call him up and tell him everything. Not only that, I have all sorts of photos that she sent me (taken by another man) that I could always forward to him if he needed proof.

2) I just used this one as a scare tactic, I wouldn’t actually do it. On Saturday night she stumbled into the room all drunk and high. The next day she asked me to urinate into an empty water bottle in case the police came to her bar to randomly make the girls take a drug test. Thailand is different from the States or Canada in the sense that you don’t have to have possession of the drugs to get charged for drug use. The cops can just randomly make you take a urine test as they see fit and if you get busted, the penalties can be pretty serious (if you don’t have money to pay your way out of it). Anyway, I told her that if she didn’t pay me then I would call the cops, tell them that she jacked my money and spent it on drugs. Thus, she would be tested and as she believes, she’d get busted. Truth is, ecstasy is only detectable for 4-6 days after usage but I highly doubt she’ll think to hit up Google for that information.

3) I made sure to get her admitting that she owes me the money through SMS (text message) conversation. I have the whole conversation saved so at least I’ll have some sort of “proof” that the money was indeed a loan.

So, what’s the morale of the story?

As a wise man once said..

Don’t lend $500 dollars of your hard earned money to a drug-addicted prostitute.

So, leave some comments and let me know if you think I’ll get the money back or not. We’ll make it a little poll. And of course, I’ll keep you updated..

Coming Soon

In about a week or so, there’s a fight night here in Pattaya and the fight card features about 3-4 cast members of the Contender Asia. I’ll be going with Rosalie (the owner of Scorpion Gym) as she’s fighting on the card as well. Hopefully I’ll get some cool footage and perhaps a couple of exclusive interviews with the fighters.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Thailand Trickery

Make you look! The most common response I got when I told people I was coming to Thailand to train was simply “dawg, be careful, make sure you don’t fuck a tranny”. Transsexuals, or “ladyboys” as they’re commonly referred too here, are all over Thailand. They’re in the bars, they’re in the malls, they’re in restaurants, and as a matter of fact, my last haircut was courtesy of a ladyboy at the salon.

I was watching a newscast the other day and they were talking about a school up north that recently constructed a ladyboy-specific washroom to accommodate their transgender students. Throughout the country, there’s over 200,000 of these ladyboys walking around. How’s that for incentive not to over drink? A case of “beer goggles” in your home country may lead you to be waking up next to some fat broad but here, in Thailand, a lot of guys get a whole lot more than they bargained for.

During my first trip to Thailand last year, I remember seeing a couple “growing up gotti” wannabe’s walking hand in hand with a couple not-so-obvious ladyboys back to the hotel. They were walking with a “gangster-lean” thinking they were badass but if they only knew… As a matter of fact, they never found out! I asked the one of the ladyboys the following afternoon and she (or should I say, he) never told them.

Unfortunately, incidents like that are a common occurrence here. I’ve come to view ladyboys almost like reverse bodybuilders. Bodybuilders go to great lengths to look masculine and often times, take anabolic hormones as a means of speeding up the process. Ladyboys in the other hand, are just dudes that try to look as feminine as possible and like bodybuilders, they take hormones as well. Of course, they take estrogens instead of testosterone and oftentimes, they start doing so before they even hit puberty.

A lot of them are easy to spot. They just look like Thai guys in dresses with breast implants. However, just because you can spot the obvious ones, don’t let your guard down. Some of them a nearly impossible for a first time visitor with a couple of beers in him to detect. Check out the “girl” that makes an appearance at the 1:48 mark of this random youtube video..

I’ve had my fair share of moments where I’ve seen a seemingly hot girl from a distance, checked her out and later realized that I was gawking over a dude in a dress. Some of them are so convincing that you’ll be left shaking your head and saying “what the fuck?!”. Luckily, I’ve polished my ladyboy detection skills having spent nearly half a year combined in this country but of course, I still find it entertaining to sit back and watch the unsuspecting tourists unknowingly venture over to the “dark side”.

So, aside from cupping their crotch in the nightclub, how can you tell if it’s a guy in disguise? Well, here’s a little 7-step checklist for you..

1) Ask to see their National Thai ID card.

Simply say “hey, I’ve never seen what a Thai ID card looks like, can you show me?”. The card will either say Mr. or Miss. If it’s a ladyboy, the card will of course still say – “Mr.”. However, as you can see from a photo I took of a fake document stand I took while in KhaoSan road in Bangkok – fake documentation isn’t hard to obtain here in Thailand. In which case, you can implement some of these other methods..

2) Check for an Adams apple.

You’d think this would be obvious but a lot of guys completely forget about this. It’s called an “ADAMS apple” for a reason. Adam & Eve. Adam ate the apple, hence, guys have it and most girls don’t. However, with plastic surgery being more popular in Thailand than it is in Beverly Hills, a lot of the ladyboys get their Adams apple shaved down.

EDIT: So apparently, Eve ate the apple and not Adam? My lack of biblical knowledge aside, if they have a bump in their throat, stay away..

3) Tickle Them.

Ladyboys go through great efforts do disguise their voice but when tickled, their natural, manly voice will no longer be masked.

4) Check How Their Arm Bends.

When a woman straightens her arm, it usually hyper-extends a bit at the elbow and the forearm appears to drift slightly to the right. When a mans arm is straightened, it doesn’t hyperextend as much and the upper arm and forearm are more aligned.

5) Over-exaggerated body movements.

Ladyboys are men and because of that, they don’t have the natural grace that a woman has. Sure they try, but often times, they try too hard and it’s quite obvious.

6) You go through 2 bottles of KY jelly

Post-op ladyboys have fake vaginas or more realistically – inverted penises. Sounds wonderful doesn’t it? Well, these “fake vaginas” don’t produce vaginal fluid the same way the real ones do so if you get down to the “boom boom” and you go through a couple litres of lubricant, it’s pretty safe to say you’ve bagged a dude. If you’ve only made the discovery at this late stage, well ..you had just better hope that your buddies didn’t snap and photos of you and your “girlfriend” at the club.

7) If they have a bigger cock than you!

Self explanatory. 8=========D

So, brush up on your ladyboy detection skills because in a future post, I’ll throw up photos of 5 Thai girls and 5 random ladyboys and we’ll see how you do. I guess I have to hit the street and get the photos – I don’t know how easy that’s going to be. I tried taking a short video of them for the purpose of this post and about 5 seconds into filming, one of them looked like she wanted to attack me. The last thing I need is a trannie causing a huge scene in a very public area. People would most likely crowd around and assume that I refused to pay for my “services” or something. Anyway, here’s the very short vid.. and remember, your ladyboy test is coming, so study hard..

And guys, although I figured this would be entertaining, I know checking out dudes in dresses isn’t really your thing so I’ll make up for it in the near future with a Thailand Temptations article that will showcase all sorts of beautiful Thai WOMEN..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Living With A Showgirl. A Recipe for Drama?

So, in a past entry I mentioned that I went to Issan with a girl that I met on my birthday. Well, after training at a few of the Muay Thai camps in Bangkok (reviews will come soon), I decided to come back to Pattaya to stay another month. I guess this is how it starts. There’s so many ex-pats here that visit once on a holiday, go back to their home countries, liquidate their assets and move back here permanently – it’s really THAT good. Not only that, but everything here is just so convenient once you’ve stayed a while and figured things out. Transportation and food can be cheap and if you look hard enough, so are the accommodations. The trick is just staying away from the drinking and the nightlife. But of course, for most people – that’s easier said than done.

Well, it looks as though I’ve managed to bring a slice of walking street to my home life via living with a Thailand showgirl. Throughout my bus-ride from Bangkok, me and the girl I met on my birthday were sending text messages back and fourth. When I told her I was on my way back to Pattaya, she extended an invite for me to stay with her at her apartment. I decided to take the plunge and move in. She seems cool; her apartment is in a perfect location as it’s just a 2 minute bus ride from Scorpion gym; the rent is only 200 US a month and of course, let’s not overlook the fact that she’s so hot that if while I was a chubby, horny, 16 year old, someone somehow showed me what my 26th birthday hook-up looked like through a crystal ball, well ..let’s just say I’d probably be willing to skip an entire decade of my life just to rush to this point.

So it’s been about 30 hours of so since I officially unpacked my suitcase and with the exception of a couple minor arguments, things have been going pretty good. Actually, come to think of it, I suppose arguing prior to even completing day 2 isn’t a good sign of things to come. Either way, regardless of what happens – living with a showgirl surely make for some interesting entries for you to read and of course, it‘ll make for some interesting evenings for me to enjoy : )

Seeing as how the only other 2 girls I’ve officially “lived with” are my mom and my sister, this should make for a unique experience. As for the camps I trained at while in Bangkok, I’ll get the reviews up very soon. I went to Sor Vorapin and Sasiprapa. One was good and the other was absolute shit. Stay tuned for the reviews and camp tours.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Back to Bangkok

So I’ve went from a modest, all-Thai village in Issan to the huge, mega-city that is Bangkok. I arrived here yesterday via a bus from Pattaya that cost me a mere 128 baht (about $4.50) – not bad for a 2 hour ride. To be honest, I really dislike Bangkok. Sure, it has it’s positives. The shopping is incredible and the girls that you see on the sky train in their university uniforms are really, really hot but .. The air here is very dirty and like any big city, the traffic is insane. I spent about an hour in the back seat of a taxi last night to get from Lumpinee stadium back to my hotel near the MBK shopping centre (a ride that without heavy traffic would have taken about 5 minutes).

I went to Lumpinee simply to check out the stadium (I didn’t have the 2300 baht to shell out for a ticket). It just so happened that there was a fight-night and the atmosphere was really live. There’s a bunch of cool Muay Thai shops all around the place and I picked up a pair of “King” MMA shorts for about $15 (I’m not really a big fan of the traditional Muay Thai short-shorts that ride up your leg while you’re doing your hamstring stretches, thus almost putting your nut-sack in display for everyone in the gym to see). Okay, that’s an exaggeration I know, but I just don’t like short-short shorts. I think I’ll get a pair of the longer Thai shorts custom made. I know Scorpion gym will let you customize your order.

Anyway, back to the topic at hand (I got a little side tracked there) – I’m going to Kaewsamrit gym this afternoon. I have no idea to get there but I have the address so I’ll just give it to the taxi driver and a) hope that he doesn’t rip me off and b) hope that he doesn’t simply disregard my desired destination and take me to see a variety of “ping pong shows” and “soapy massage” venues so he can collect a commission. I’m excited about it though. Kaewsamrit won the “gym of the year” award twice (see video to the right) and it’s where former Lumpinee champion Anawut Kaewsamrit still currently trains as well.

As always, I’ll be bringing my camera along so I’ll get a video tour of the place and hopefully, some good footage of the fighters training as well. My plan is to visit Kaewsamrit gym today and perhaps Sasiprapa gym tomorrow. Sasiprapa also has a very good reputation amongst the Muay Thai community for delivering quality training. After Sasiprapa gym tomorrow, I really have no idea where I’ll be going. I might check out Fairtex in Bangplee or I might check out Ingram or Eminent Air here in Bangkok. I might even fly down to Phuket or I might hop a bus back to Pattaya. I honestly have no idea at all.

Anyway, check back within a day or two for the pictures, videos and camp review for Kaewsamrit and in the meantime, check out this video I took of one of the car stores in the Siam Paragon shopping centre. Siam Paragon is certainly the biggest, cleanest and most expensive malls I’ve ever seen in my life..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Off The Beaten Path

My 26th birthday was on the 5th of this month so I obviously went out to celebrate. I’m not going to sit here and claim that I went to the bowling alley or out for ice cream either. Fuck that! I was celebrating my birthday in Pattaya, Thailand so I went right to the gogo bars. For those of you who are unfamiliar with Pattaya, I’ll tell you this – this place is known as a “Disneyland for adults” and askmen.com has it ranked as the top “sin city” in the entire world. I train hard and don’t let the temptation get to me but on my birthday – I wanted to let loose.

Throughout the night, I checked out about 15 of the seemingly countless of gogo bars on walking street. My final destination was a bar called “new living dolls showcase”. The girls in this place were all incredibly beautiful but there was one girl specifically who caught my eye. Not just because she was beautiful, but because I actually recognized her from a video on youtube I had seen about 3 months ago and I’m not going to lie – pretty much everyday since I initially viewed it. As a matter of fact, I used to send the video link to my friends while I was in Canada to a) make them jealous that I was going and b) encourage them to book a damn ticket and join me. Here’s the video ..

Anyway, she sat down next to me but started talking to the dude on her right hand side. That went on for about 10 minutes or so but when he got up and walked off (I figured to go to the washroom) I took advantage of the opening to start a conversation. “Hey, how are you?” I said (I’m not very creative when it comes to pick up lines). In true Thailand showgirl fashion, she went right for the wallet – “I’m ok, but I’d be better if you bought me a shot of tequila” she replied. The girls here get a percentage of all the “lady drinks” they sell. I bought the tequila to keep the conversation rolling…

After talking to her for about 5 minutes, the guy who she had been previously talking too walked back but she sort of brushed him off. Awesome! I thought. I drank with her for about another hour or so then we went over to a couple after-hour nightclubs. Unlike a lot of the other girls I’ve met, she actually speaks very good English but not only that, she has a good sense of humour and will joke around with you as well.

Since then, we’ve chilled quite a bit and since she had to come home for a few days to take her dad to the hospital, she invited me to come along since it was an 8 hour drive and she didn’t want to be bored. I took her up on the offer simply because I’m here for an experience, so coming to a place where no other foreigners come too is exactly that – an experience. I seem to get a lot of attention here. As I was driving to her house, we were tailing a mini bus of young Thai army trainees and they got excited and started waving and pointing while saying “farang farang”! The term farang, as mentioned on other entries, is just a non-derogatory term for a foreigner here.

So right now, as I’m typing this, I’m at an internet café that’s located about an hour from “Khan Kaen”. This is the real Thailand (village style). As a matter of fact, the majority of her neighbours built their houses themselves with wood they collected from up in the mountains. The toilets don’t flush (you have to manually pour in a bucket of water). Most people don’t have showers (again, they just use a bucket of water) and her neighbours have a bunch of live chickens in their backyard and when it’s time to eat, I guess they just go out there, grab one, slit its throat and boil it up. It’s definitely been a culture shock for me.

I’ll be taking some plenty of photos and videos while I’m here (I’ve got some good ones already) and I’ll be uploading them for you guys once I get access to a faster internet connection. I should be in Bangkok within the next few days so I should be able to throw up another update then..

Oh wow, just as I was typing this .. My friends sister showed up with 2 chicken/rice meals for me. When you hear people say that they fall in love with “the people” of Thailand – that’s the sort of thing they’re talking about..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Scorpion Muay Thai Gym Review

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Now for the “Fon” update

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

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

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

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

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

This Is Sad

We’ve all heard it many times throughout our childhood. We’d complain about what we were being served for dinner and our parents would give us the old “you should be grateful, there’s kids in (insert 3rd world country here) that don’t have any food at all”. That comment never really had an effect on me because after all, I was in Canada, and I didn’t want to eat the fucking meatloaf or whatever it was that I was being served that I didn’t like. Yeah, I know there’s kids in poor countries that had it worse than me but, “out of sight, out of mind”. I didn’t really think about it.

Well, there are things that I see on a daily basis here in Thailand that really put things into perspective. For example, last night was Saturday and if you’ve been following my entries, you know that I go out drinking on Saturday nights. And yes, I know it’s not good for me but I view it as a reward for training hard all week. Anyway, I was about 11 or 12 drinks into the evening and it was about 4:30am while I was walking to a club appropriately called “Insomnia”. I was with a really hot girl too. Money hungry, yes .. but hot nonetheless.

While we were walking towards the entrance, a little boy (he was about 8 years old) ran up, grabbed my leg and tried to get me to buy a pack of gum. “Mai Me Sataing” I said. Mai Me Sataing is Thai for “I have no money”. It’s become an automatic response along with “Mae Ow Khap” (no thank you) because as a foreigner, I’m constantly being hit up to buy shirts, suits, bootleg movies, watches and as I mentioned in an earlier post – vaginas.

As I was walking towards the club entrance, the journalist in me (I guess that’s what I am now) kicked in. Why is this 8 year old kid selling packs of gum at 4:30 in the morning? Where are his parents? What is the money going towards? So, I had a decision to make. I could either go into the bar with the girl I was with and spend a ton of cash on overpriced drinks for her and her sister or I could go and talk to the kids. I chose the latter. After all, I was too drunk to “boom boom” anyway.

There was actually a lot of them out there. I’d say about 10 or so. The first girl I talked too was 14 – which is about the same age as my little sister. She was selling glow-sticks which, when you think about it, is pretty smart. She’s selling glow-sticks in between 2 after-hour nightclubs that are full of E-Heads (ecstasy users). She said she was using the money to pay for school (2000 baht per month) and her apartment (3000 baht per month). When I asked her where her parents were, she simply replied with “no hab” (no have).

The little 8 year old boy that tried selling me a pack of gum earlier walked by again so I waved him over. I gave him some money and let him keep the gum. After I gave him the money, he slapped my hand, turned it into a handshake, gave me 3 “daps” (“daps” are just a fist-to-fist greeting) and ended the combo with a peace sign. It was really cute actually. I guess he was selling enough packs of gum to afford a TV to watch hip hop videos on. I really wish I had got the handshake on video.

Some random girl then walked by wearing knee high boots and little jean shorts and started hitting on me. She was clearly a prostitute but I ignored her advances and decided to ask her about why the kids were up all night, alone, selling gum and glow-sticks to the club goers. She said that most of the kids are doing it because their parents are making them and that they’re not allowed to sleep until they make a certain amount of money.

I’ve mentioned that in Thailand, often times the kids are expected to provide for their parents but when they’re 8,9,10,11 years old – that’s a little extreme. After talking to the girl for about 20 minutes, I went looking for the cute kid that did the ghetto handshake so I could give him some money and also, so I could get the handshake on film. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find him again. I did however, come across this little girl…

I’d estimate that she’s about 7 years old and just like the others, she was working all night, alone, without any adult supervision. She told me that she wasn’t allowed to go home until she made 100 more baht and that her dad beats her mom etc.

Stuff like this really makes you think. I’ve seen so many orphan kids since I’ve been here. After seeing these kids last night, it makes me have an even greater appreciation for what they do over at Sityodtong (story here). Then of course, there’s the kids that I came across in Bangkok who were forced to sell flowers to the tourists and if they didn’t sell enough, older Thai men would basically beat them down (story here).

Anyway, I felt this was worthy of an entry. Since it’s sort of sad, I figured I might as well leave you with something funny. So, check out this old dude that was on walking street last night. As if the bright white hair and outfit wasn’t enough of an attention grabber. And yes, those 2 gigantic “ladies” he’s strolling hand-in-hand with are actually men. You’ll also noticed that he gets approached by one of the kids trying to sell stuff.

In my next entry, I’ll be doing a camp profile on Scorpion Gym. I also have a “Fon” update (yes, the crazy girl!) and now I’m even more convinced that she’s a psycho.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

A Potentially Fatal Attraction

While this is a Muay Thai Blog, I figure things will get pretty boring if all I write about in my entries is skipping and hitting the heavy bag. My vision with this is to not only to document the training, but also, the entire experience of coming to foreign countries to train. As a single 25 year old guy, part of that experience is of course – the ladies that you meet throughout the journey.

Which brings me to a girl named “Fon”. I met Fon about 10 days ago through a mutual friend and of the 10 days that I’ve known her, she’s probably stayed over at my apartment for 8 of those nights. At first, things were great. The thing about most Thai girls I’ve met is that they really take care of you.

She would bring me food, clean my room, fold my clothes, give me massages (she’s a masseuse) and even cut my nails. I’ve met a few girls in Canada that were similar, but I’d say that Fon tops the list in terms of how she takes care of a man.

She’s actually very beautiful too. Sort of like a Thai Barbie doll. She has blonde highlights, implants, tongue ring, belly ring and she’s incredibly fit (most girls here are). Here’s a photo of her and her friend at the salon (Fon is to the left in the black dress). Honestly, this photo really doesn’t do her justice. I find that most Thai girls aren’t very photogenic.

Anyway, about 5 days ago I was playing pool in a common area for the residents of the apartment and I was talking to one of the girls that works here (below is a nightclub). I told her that I was dealing with a girl and she almost immediately replied with “don’t say you love her”. That struck me as being somewhat of an odd comment and when I inquired as to why I shouldn’t say that (not that I’d say that anyway), she made the action of her throat being slit.

Literally about 15 minutes after the disturbing conversation, Fon sent me a text message and for the first time, after only knowing me for 5 days, she dropped the “L-bomb” (I love you). After what the girl at my apartment had just told me, I obviously didn’t return the affectionate words.

A couple days later, her best friend added me to msn and started asking me if “i love she” (poor English obviously) and when I tried to explain that I didn’t know Fon well enough to “love her” and that “love takes time to build” blah blah .. she really didn’t understand. After that conversion, she then tells Fon that I said I didn’t like her. Needless to say, that causes all sorts of drama.

Which Brings Us To Last Night

Since there’s no training on Sundays and I have nothing to do all day but sit around my room and well, type up these entries, I allow myself to go out on Saturday nights and have some fun. Due to how quick Fon was moving with things (her friend was even asking me about marrying her), I knew I had to slow things down a bit so when she asked me to go see her, I said that I just wanted some time alone.

Well, she didn’t take that very well. She literally started screaming “you come see me now!” on the phone. I declined. She then responded with “ok, I kill you now”. Obviously, the death threat didn’t sit well with me so I told her off, hung up, went to the bar and started talking to some new girls just to spite her. She called non-stop for about 2 hours straight so after about the fourth call, I turned the volume off, set it to vibrate and put my phone in my front pocket (I’m not going to lie, it felt kind of nice .. haha).

Curiosity eventually got the best of me and I ended up answering to see what she had to say. When I did, she just started rambling on about the most random things. “You want me die?” she asked. “Why you want me die?” she repeated. At this point, it became pretty clear that there’s something psychologically wrong with this girl. I never said, nor implied any such thing. She’s the psycho that threatened to kill me, not the other way around.

Based on the things she was saying, I was a little concerned that perhaps this girl could be suicidal. I also knew she had been drinking so I just tried to be as nice as I could and I reassured her that while tonight wouldn’t be a good time to meet up, I’d could see her tomorrow (today) to talk about things. I also told her that I had booked a room at the Mariott so she wouldn’t show up at my room later on (she had done so before).

While I was walking back to my room, we were sending texts back and fourth and she kept asking me where I was, and when I was going home. I made it to my apartment and all looked well. I was expecting her to be standing outside my building to make sure I didn’t have another girl with me or something but no, the coast was clear.

I walked up the stairs, unlocked the main door and entered the building. The second security measure is a password protected door so I went ahead and input my password. From there, I walked up another small flight of stairs and approached my apartment. While I was in the process of sticking in my key, the door was pulled open from the inside.

My heart rate shot up, my stomach dropped and I immediately jumped back a bit and got into a fighting stance with my right fist cocked back. She then peered her head around the corner. I immediately charged into the room and checked to make sure she didn’t have any sort of weapon in her hands. She didn’t.

I then did a quick search of the room and made sure the safe was still locked and that my laptop was still where it was stored. Nothing was gone. Actually, not only did she not rob me but.. she cleaned my room. But as nice of a gesture as that is, it doesn’t quite overshadow the death threat and the B & E (break & enter).

I told her straight up that I thought she was “ting tong” which translated from Thai to English, means she’s crazy. Her reaction to that was nothing more than a creepy laugh. I knew I really had to get this girl out of my room but at the same time, I wanted to stay on her good side because after all, if she was able to get into my room so easily, I’m sure she could do it again while I’m sleeping.

I told her I was hungry and that I wanted to go across the street to get some food. Prior to leaving my room, I grabbed her purse did a quick scan of my room to make sure she didn’t leave any of her belongings behind. She strongly objected to the fact that I was bringing all her stuff with me (she knew she wasn’t welcome back at this point) but too bad, I basically nudged her out the door, followed, and closed it a.s.a.p.

I really needed to know how she got into my room so while we were eating, I kept drilling her with questions. If this girl was able to pick locks, I’d basically have to change rooms, move to Bangkok, fly to Phuket – basically just get the hell out of here. She finally admitted that she didn’t pick the lock but rather, my neighbour let her into her room since she recognized her.

From my neighbours room, she basically went out onto the balcony (keep in mind she was pretty drunk) and climbed from her balcony onto mine. She then got into my room via my balcony door. I guess it was unlocked but in my defense, I really didn’t think anyone would be crazy enough to be balcony jumping from a few stories up.

Here’s a couple photos. The first is of my balcony in relation to my neighbors and the second is of the distance from my balcony to the ground level concrete. If she had fell, she would have sustained some pretty serious injuries.

Right now it’s about 2am and I haven’t heard from her yet. I’m sure I’ll get a text message or a call within an hour or two though. I’ll give you guys an update on the situation in my next entry.

As for the Muay Thai, I’m still at it. I’ve been training at Scorpion gym lately and it’s been going really well. The owner (Rosalie) is cool. It’s on the baht bus route so it’s cheap to get there and the trainer I’m working with is pretty good about correcting my form. I’ll be here in Pattaya for another 10 days or so then I’ll be heading to Bangkok to check out Fairtex Bangplee, Kaewsamrit Gym and a few others.

Stay Tuned..

..and of course, if you have any tips on how to deal with crazy girls, feel free to leave a comment..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Back to the Basics

While it would be nice to spend everyday training at Fairtex, the 800 baht per session price tag doesn’t exactly suit my long term budget. Since I had to move on, the other day I went looking for a Muay Thai/MMA gym that I had heard about here in Pattaya. As usual, I got lost and found myself wandering down a little side street.

I suppose I lucked out because I looked to my left and noticed a small sign that said “Thai Boxing”. I turned down the volume on my Ipod and immediately heard the grunting and sounds of shins smacking against the pads. At first, I was somewhat apprehensive about going in as the place didn’t look like a public gym, but rather, it looked like someone just had a ring set up in their backyard.

After a minute or two of watching from a distance from what appeared to be a garage, I figured I might as well walk through and introduce myself. After all, the chances of me finding the gym I had originally been looking for weren’t very good. As soon as I made myself visible, one of the trainers immediately stopped, mid-round, with the kid he was training and inquired as to what it was that I was looking for (I’m sure he assumed I wanted directions or something).

“How much for training?” I asked. He paused and thought for a second, “300 baht” he replied. I have a feeling he just pulled that price out of his a@s but it sure beat the 800 baht I paid at Fairtex so I obliged, got changed and started skipping. I don’t think I’ve ever heard the word “farang” (non-offensive Thai word for foreigner) being tossed around so much. When you’re the only white guy around and the Thai’s are talking are dropping the “F-bomb” (falang) in your presence, it’s a pretty safe bet they’re talking about you.

Not that they were saying anything bad, I’m sure they were just talking about how awesome I am (right?). Anyway, once I was warmed up, I was told to kick the heavy bag 30 times per leg. When you kick the heavy bag, you usually have someone holding it for you and often times, you’ll be kicking it along with someone else (you kick with your right leg, the other guy kicks with his left), then you switch after.

Well, I was trading heavy bag kicks with a 9 year old. It was a unique experience to say the least and in no way am I ashamed to admit that in terms of technique, he was better than me.

With great difficulty, I finished up the 30 kicks per leg and while I was pouring water all over myself and struggling to catch my breath, the kid, who showed no signs of even having an elevated heart rate, came up to me and said “very good” with a big, innocent smile on his face.

Once I re-gained my composure and caught my breath, I stepped into the ring and went through my usual 5 rounds of pad-work. We then moved on to the clinching and again, I’m not ashamed to admit – I got owned. As a matter of fact, it’s been a few days since I trained there and my neck still hurts. I guess that’s a testament to how effective Muay Thai actually is. Right now I weigh around 210lbs (formerly into bodybuilding) and I got tossed around the ring by a Thai guy who weighed no more than 170lbs.

It’s funny to think about all those “roided up” guys in the gyms thinking they’re tough based solely on the amount of weight they use when performing preacher curls. It’s not often you see the “juicepigs” of the gym performing neck extension exercises. It doesn’t matter how much someone can press, curl, row – whatever! If they get into a Thai clinch and get their neck pulled down (because it’s a weak-link for most people), they’ll be defenceless because where the neck/head goes, the body follows.

I learned that the hard way as my strength advantage was completely neutralized when I was “clinched up”. I’m just glad that it happened in training and not an actual fight or else I would have taken some serious knees to the face. Overall, it was a beneficial experience though as I now have an even greater appreciation for the art.

When training was over, I sat for about an hour or so and just talked to my trainer. He spoke very good English and as yet another testament to the hospitality of the Thai’s, he took me on a little tour through the house. He showed me some of the videos he had of the kids (wait, that sounded bad, let me re-phrase).. he showed me some photos and videos he had of the kids that train at the camp FIGHTING..

I then saw a trophy case and walked over to it. He followed and told me some of the stories behind each one. He then pointed to a championship belt that was lying next to the trophies and told me that he was “number 2″ at lumpinee stadium back in the day. I guess that’s Thailand for you. Randomly stumble on a side-street camp and end up training with a formerly ranked fighter at lumpinee stadium. Overall, it was a really cool experience and although I only have a couple weeks left here in Pattaya, I think I’ll be going back.

Here’s a short video tour I took of the camp..

Now, in my last entry, I said I had some information on the status of a potential fight between Buakaw Por Pramuk and Yodsanklai Fairtex. Well, I didn’t say it was GOOD news. Although I’m sure the fight will eventually happen (just makes money sense), things are not looking good for the moment.

When training at Fairtex Pattaya, I was informed that Buakaw’s camp was on board at first providing they fought under K1 rules and not full Muay Thai rules. Now, it seems as though they have backed out because, as my source at Fairtex put it, Buakaw has too much to lose at the moment (with him coming off a KO loss at the hands of Yoshihiro Sato). Of course, that’s only one side to the story. Hopefully I’ll make my way to the Por Pramuk gym at some point and get their perspective on the potential match-up.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

I’ve developed a 70 page guide that profiles everything you need to know about training in Bangkok, Phuket and Pattaya. In the manual, I discuss the visa issues, the Muay Thai camps, the different areas, the transportation, the food, the culture and customs, the girls, the scams, the safety issues and most importantly, how to save a ton of cash along the way!

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Next Page »