Suwit Muay Thai Review

So it’s been a while since my last entry. I actually ended up flying back to Canada and unfortunately, I’m still here. I had booked a return ticket when I booked my initial flight there and while I was planning on just letting the ticket expire and staying, I messed up my ankle during training and since it happened a couple weeks prior to my departure date, I figured I’d fly home, visit my family, my friends, and rest up before flying back to Thailand.

Before I came back – and before I even injured myself – I went to the Suwit Muay Thai camp in Chalong for the day to check it out. Actually, I had planned to go to Sinbi that day and despite telling the motorbike taxi driver to take me to Sinbi in Rawai, he dropped me off at Suwit in Chalong. So rather than wasting more time trying to explain the difference to him, I just said fuck it and did a workout at Suwit instead.

The gym itself was nice enough considering the fact that it’s the oldest gym in Phuket and they even have their own stadium there where they host live Muay Thai fights a couple nights a week. Here’s a quick tour of the place..

The daily cost for training was 500 baht (which is overpriced in my opinion) but the monthly training costs are actually really honest. I was given a price list that I ended up losing but if I remember correctly, you could get a month of training and your accommodation for approximately 15,000 baht or so plus any additional fees for electricity and surprisingly, the cost for electricity was billed out at the local Thai rates. That’s actually a major scam here in Thailand – they’ll jack up the electricity rates because they expect that foreigners won’t know any better. It was nice to see that they didn’t do that here.

I actually went to check out the rooms as well and took some pictures and video for those who are interested. They have rooms on site which are somewhat decent but the nicer rooms (same price) are located a couple minutes down the road in an apartment complex that they own. Here’s a quick tour of the place (ran out of batteries)..

As for the training, well – it was alright. Not bad but nothing stood out as being amazing either. I got a full 5 rounds of padwork which is great and the trainers all seemed pretty friendly. After the 5 rounds of padwork, I got to do some clinching with one of the Thai’s – who completely owned me by the way – and then just finished up on the bag after that.

The gym is located in the same area as Tiger Muay Thai. Actually, there’s 3 Muay Thai gyms right near each other in Chalong – Tiger Muay Thai, Suwit and a new one that just opened up called Dragon Muay Thai. They’re so close to each other that you could try them all before deciding on which camp suits you best. It’s all about getting matched up with a good trainer anyway.

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

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

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE

Scenes From Songkran

Up until this past Monday, I had only heard of the day where everyone throws back booze and has a country-wide water fight. It sounded pretty wild and after experiencing it first hand, I have to admit – it was very, very fun!

I was woken up by the sounds of a Timberland beat blasting out of the two giant speakers they had set up here at the guesthouse where I’m staying. I obviously knew what Songkran was about but having just woke up and put on a fresh dry outfit, I was content to just watch the happenings from my balcony for a while.

Well, apparently one of the waitresses in the in the guesthouse restaurant saw me up there because within minutes of stepping outside my room, she ran up and hit me with a bucket of freezing cold water. From that point on, I obviously didn’t care about getting wet anymore so I just grabbed a water gun, a couple bottles of water and joined the action.

Throughout the day, I saw so many things that I would never see in Canada (and most places for that matter). For starters, along beach road I saw a few on duty Thai police officers drenched with water and covered with white powder. They had their guns wrapped up in plastic and of course, they were getting the worst of it because let’s be honest – who doesn’t want to throw a big bucket of cold water at an on-duty police officer and get away with it like they can during Songkran?

I also saw some things that were flat out reckless. Here in Thailand, most people drive motorbikes. During Songkran, a lot of people get really drunk – not unlike we do on December 31st. Drinking and driving is obviously a major problem (perhaps because the police officers are celebrating themselves and getting drenched and powdered instead of patrolling the streets) but not only that, there’s actually groups of people that stand at the side of the road and when a motorbike drives by, they’ll pour a bucket of water on them – and oftentimes they aim for the face.

I actually saw someone pour a bucket of water on a passing motorcyclist and the guy on the bike stopped, wiped his eyes, turned his motorbike around and actually ran over the guys foot. Obviously the guys reaction wasn’t justified – especially during a holiday where the tradition is to pour buckets of water on each other – but I can only imagine how annoying it must be to be driving around and regardless of where you go, you constantly have people tossing water in your eyes.

I actually got an email notification from a Thailand forum this morning and apparently the death toll for the week is at 373, the injury toll is at 4,332 and all the deaths and injuries are a result of 3,977 total road accidents. They actually call Songkran the “deadliest 7 days” (it’s only 1 day here in Phuket) so I’m assuming it’s like this every year.

But like I mentioned above, it’s extremely fun – just stay off the motorbikes and you’ll be alright. I took a few videos of the scene in the streets. Here they are..

I would have taken more but it seemed like every time I took out my camera – which I don’t think is waterproof – I had someone spraying me with a water gun.

As For The Training

My “home” gym right now is Patong boxing gym but I’ve been picking odd days and trying out some new ones. I went to the Suwit Muay Thai gym a couple days ago and I’ll have a review up on it soon. I’m also going to check out Sinbi and Rawai this week and post reviews for those as well..

THINKING OF GOING TO THAILAND TO TRAIN?

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

CLICK HERE TO LEARN MORE