I’m in Phuket now staying in a bungalow at the Tiger Muay Thai camp.
I was off to a rocky start when I got plucked from the boarding gate at the airport about twenty minutes before boarding by a Canadian customs official who questioned, searched, handcuffed, and interrogated me for carrying nothing but a knapsack full of vitamins, a pair of shorts, and a toothbrush. For whatever reason they felt it necessary to question somebody about something…. And I was it. After harassing me for just long enough to miss my flight. Explain to them as I might that I was going to a training camp and planning on buying anything I needed when I got there, they continued to question me until the plane left without me. I had to wait another 10 hours for the next flight. Geoff, my sponsor from Sacred Souls Clothing who I was traveling with, got on our flight not knowing what happened to me or if I was coming at all!
I finally arrived in Bangkok about 9am the next morning and luckily knew the name of the hotel Geoff and I were supposed to be staying in, caught a cab from the airport and we managed to link up. We had one night in Bangkok before flying to Koh Somui so we decided we’d check out the fights that night at world renown Lumpinee stadium, where the “best” Thai fighters would compete. In my opinion the fights that night were a bit boring except for the last three fights where the fighters exercised some real skill as far as timing and countering, demonstrating lightning speed and power. The First 6 fights seemed repetitive as they just banged away at each other with almost no boxing whatsoever! But as all fight cards go: the better skilled fighters are saved until the end. Overall it was a great experience to be there in the middle of what I’d heard about so many times…to smell the air, eat the food, hear all the Thai people yell ooy! Every time their favorite fighter threw something…it was cool.
The next day we flew to Koh Samui, an island off the east coast. We stayed a few night there to get accustomed to the climate, time difference, do some shopping, and of course work on the tan before heading to Phuket.
We arrived in Phuket and were met by a driver to take us to the Tiger Muay Thai camp about 45 minutes away from the airport. The cab dropped me off and took Geoff on to where he is staying which is about 30 minutes away from the camp.
The camp facilities are excellent. They have two boxing rings and one full MMA octagon. They also have a full juice bar for protein shakes before and after workout, which is awesome! My bungalow is right next door which is also nice. It comes fully equipped with everything I need except for a washing machine. For all my training gear I wash by hand and hang everyday. The staff is very friendly and helpful like almost everybody in Thailand. The trainers are very experienced Thai fighters, some with over 300 fights under their belt. I’m still trying to remember everyone’s names let alone pronouncing them as I’ve only been here for three days. More details on them in my next posting.
The training is good so far but I’m still just getting in to the groove and figuring out my routine. The first day I was nervous that I’d sleep in with no alarm clock so I didn’t sleep much. I woke up every hour checking my watch. I thought that the morning session started at 6am so I got up at 5am to eat a little breakfast of left over fried rice and a hand full of vitamins and was sitting in the dark by myself at the gym with my runners all laced up ready to go. I found out after waiting for half and hour for everybody to show up that I was an hour early so I when back home for a catnap. They threw me in with the other 15 or so camp members from various places training for variety of reasons. It was much easier than I had expected. I talked to the camp manager to let him know that I was here to train professionally and not recreationally. He briefed all the Thai trainers in Thai so they understood. I did the MMA (Mixed Martial Arts) session in the afternoon. The coach is very technical and explains everything in great detail, which is what I need in order to improve my ground game. I’ve chosen to do the Thai Boxing in the morning and MMA in the afternoon. The second day I woke up at 6am on the dot helped by the cock of the rooster farm next door – they’re a perfect alarm clock! Training was substantially harder. I ran with Robert, a veteran Thai fighter. We started out with a nasty steep hill run to warm up. Despite the fact that that his calves are twice the size of mine, I still managed to give him a competitive push up the hill. When we got back I jumped in the ring with Yod, a trainer, for pad work. After that I worked the clinch with Robert, something that in the past I’d avoided, but as it is his specialty, best give it a try. For the time being he’s throwing me around like a rag doll but also teaching me how to do it and letting me practice. By the time I get back I will probably have thrown thousands of knees. Which is what the Thais seem focus on the most. It looks like I’ll have to train my boxing on my own seeing as so far the ratio of punches to knees is about 1 to 20! Today we trained at the beach. We ran the length of the beach twice then did wind sprints bare foot in the sand. We did a series of drills, conditioning, and then ended off with shadow boxing in the waves. So great to have warm water for training!
Everybody rides scooters out here. It’s kind of an organized confusion on the road that seems to work. I don’t even know if you actually have to have a license to drive here because they didn’t ask to see mine when I rented my scooter. There also don’t seem to be any rules of the road either except for: go if you have the opportunity. The major intersections are roundabouts where I still haven’t figured out who has the right of way…so I’ve just been driving into them with all the other scooters and cars just trying to go with the flow. People drive so close to you that you could reach your hand out and grab on to the back of their car. It’s pure madness but for some reason seems to work with nobody getting upset or stressed out unlike North America. So far, no road rage.
The Spa, about a two-minute scooter ride from the camp, is a lifesaver with the sauna, whirl pool, and two-hour Thai massages all for 9 dollars Canadian! I’ve gone a few times already which has no doubt saved me some muscle cramping.
Overall so far the training set up appears to be ideal for me to jump up another level in skill and reach my best fighting condition ever. I’m just getting started though so this week should be a rough one. I’m planning on posting weekly so stay tuned.
