Training Videos from Nongnapat and Footage from Rajadamnern Stadium

I'm now back in Raleigh, after getting in on Wednesday around 11am. I barely made my connecting flight in Philly due to a mistagged bag and backups at security. For the first time, I got to be that person running through the terminal at a full clip. I made it to the gate just as the woman was announcing the final boarding call for my flight. Unfortunately, one of my two checked bags did not make it to the flight, but the airline was nice enough to deliver it to my house when it finally arrived.

Below is a video edit of some of my pad work with trainer Banglee from Saturday morning. The rounds at Nongnapat are around 5 minutes long with a 1 minute rest. Like a lot of gyms, there is no round timer. Here, the trainers just watch a clock that is posted over the ring. This means that rounds can end up being anywhere from 3-5 minutes long. Banglee is pretty accurate in his round timings though, and when I reviewed the video, I was surprised at how close each round was to five minutes. Watching these videos makes me realize how much I need to work on turning my hip over when I kick. Banglee was constantly telling me 'more hip.' I think my technique is generally better on the bag, but during pads I get tired and lazy and resort to punting my kicks in.

 I also got some footage of sparring. As is typical in many Thai gyms, sparring is very light and playful. You can tell we are having a lot of fun in the video. The good thing about sparring with Banglee, or you padholder in general, is that they can find your weak points in sparring and work them on the pads. For example, I had a terrible time with checking back leg kicks from Banglee who is a southpaw. He noticed this in sparring and would drill this a lot during padwork.

I really enjoyed my week of training with Banglee who held pads, sparred, and clinched with me about 90% of the time I was at Nongnapat. Banglee seems to have a passion for teaching Muay Thai, and being a trainer and holding pads is not just a job for him, it is something he loves to do.

On Monday night before leaving Thailand to return to the states, Linda and I decided to watch some Muay Thai at Rajadamnern stadium. We took the BTS skytrain from Sukhumvit to Ratchathewi and from there grabbed a Tuk Tuk to the stadium.

Linda's first Tuk-Tuk ride.

There wasn't a big event at the stadium, so it was only about half full, but there were still some great fights. Most of them were among the lower weight classes from 103 to 120 pounds. The main even was between Superjek So Yophinda and Ritthikrai Kaewsamrit. It was an exciting fight and I filmed the 4th round which was a clinch battle. The stadium was pretty loud during this bout and I wanted to capture the atmosphere, but my camera didn't pick up the sound all that well. Superjek (red) was laying in tons of knees from the clinch and dropped Rittikrai and one point, but Rittikrai later responded with some nice uppercuts.

Linda and I with Superjek

Headfirst Back Into Bangkok

Sadly we left Rawai today. Linda returned to the gym yesterday from Kata for a couple training sessions before we both flew back to Bangkok. Nongnapat gym turned out to be a great choice for training. Much like Sitmonchai, I really felt a part of the family, and that they would have done anything to accommodate me while I was there. I also got some great training, worked hard, and put in 11 training sessions over the course of 6 days (I've got over 30 minutes of video footage to edit when I get to Raleigh as well).

With our trainers after the last session.

The gym manager, Cha Cha, was kind enough to motorbike us around Phuket the last couple days as well. Taking three grown adults on one underpowered 120cc motorbike onto the roads of Thailand is quite the experience. We precariously scooted around taking in some last minute sights including the Fightlab shop, Nai Harn Beach, and Promthep Cape (again for me).

I was having fun at least...and being totally safe.

 

Nai Harn Beach

Elephant tribute thing at Promthep Cape. And Linda.

Cha Cha, Linda, and I at Promthep Cape.

Flying Bangkok Airways is always a nice treat. They have a Boutique Lounge for all customers, even the lowly economy class scrubs like me and not just business travelers who rack up a million frequent flyer miles on corporate dime. The one at Phuket airport had free wifi, coffee, juice, pizza snacks, almond muffins, pineapple danishes, and more. Linda and I pretty much had the place to ourselves for like an hour. All this plus a full in flight meal for a ticket that cost less than $100 round trip. Why can't US airlines provide this level of service?

Living it up in the Bangkok Airways boutique lounge.

After arriving in Bangkok, the only logical way to overcome the depression of leaving Rawai and our new friends at Nongnapat was to hit up Soi Cowboy. No buddhist holiday this time meant that it was on. I'm not sure if this is a family friendly blog or not, but I'll just say we had a couple beers at Toy Bar and The Dollhouse and leave it with this picture of the soi:

After literally getting dragged into some other bar by the girls outside and refusing to buy 200 baht beers, we decided it was time to leave. I was reeling from a bit of sensory overload. Linda however was ready to dive full into Bangkok street life, so we headed out in search of some street food which she had been avoiding for the last couple weeks for fear of getting sick. First up was a pad see ew vendor. She stir fried it up fresh for us right there and we promptly devoured it on the spot. Linda then wanted to find some rambutan fruit, but the late night fruit scene was not very happening. We settled for some ko moo yang (grilled pork neck) at the end of the soi that our hotel is on, and it was amazing.

Pad See Ew vendor prepares us some food in a blur.

Linda pointing out the source of tomorrow's diarrhea.

Street eatin'.

  A good first night back in Bangkok. Tomorrow is shopping and hopefully catching some live Muay Thai at Rajadamnern Stadium.

Mai mi Khao Niao

Afternoon at 96 Penang Gym

I'm going to be pretty spent by the end of the week as I'm feeling pretty worn down already. I had plans to get in some morning sessions at a couple different gyms, but I doubt the training would be near as good anywhere else as it is at 96 Penang. I've decided that I'll just run on my own in the mornings. I've been doing about 3-6 miles in Lumphini Park which is basically across form where I'm staying. I then eat breakfast, relax, and maybe take a nap before afternoon training.

Here's what training looks like at 96 Penang for me; I'm currently the only foreigner here. I leave the hotel at 3pm and walk the 2km to the gym, stopping at Tesco to pick up a 2 liter water for 12 baht (37 cents). I get to the gym about 3:30 and begin skipping rope. The Thais get back from their run about this time too and we all skip for 15-20 minutes. Then it's in to the ring for clinching, at which point I become the last kid picked on the playground. I can hear the Thais using the word for foreigner, and know they are all trying to avoid being the one who ends up clinching with me. This is because I (like a lot of foreigners) suck at the clinch, and clinching with me does nothing to help them get better. After 15-20 minutes of clinch work I get called out of the ring for shadowboxing. I'll shadow box for another 15-20 minutes while one of the trainers watches over me to correct anything I'm doing wrong, which is usually everything. Then it's on to pad rounds. I do 3-5 x 4 minute rounds on pads with either Kraisuvit, who is very playful and fun with his padwork, or Sricoon who is very technical and always correcting me. After padwork I hop on a bag to work on everything I just learned for 3-5 rounds. Finally i finish out with 200 skipping knees on the bag and then teep an old utility pole 100 times. Then it's time to walk the 2km back to my hotel, sometimes stopping to buy post workout fruit from a street vendor.

I also did some research and found that the Lumphini park area is actually a little hotspot for Isan food. The only drawback is that the street isan food is on the exact opposite corner of the park from where I'm at making it a longer post-training walk than I'd care for (I'm being cheap and avoiding taxis). But there are two Isan restaurants closer, and I decided to try Northeast restaurant tonight. I ordered som tum (green papaya salad), deep fried pork neck, and of course sticky rice. Well after I order the waiter who doesn't speak much English comes back and says "mai mi khoa niao". Hearing the word mai I knew that he was trying to tell me they were out of sticky rice. How does that happen in Thailand? I'm pretty sure that even with my limited Thai I could get a 10lb bag of it delivered via motorbike taxi within 10 minutes. Perhaps they just forgot to soak it. Disappointing, as I had to eat the far inferior regular kind of rice. On the bright side, if there is anything better than grilled pork neck, it is most certainly deep fried pork neck.

96 Penang

Yesterday was Sunday, which is rest day for most gyms, although Fighting Spirit does have a Sunday afternoon training. I decided not to train, and just did some exploring after watching the Channel 7 Muay Thai fights on TV. The main event featured Jomhod Eminent Air vs. Chiabkom Sitjagun. It is definitely worth watching as Jomhod put on a technical performance and used some great boxing all while smiling the whole fight.

Muay Thai on TV. So awesome.

As I was walking around exploring the Sathorn area of Bangkok, I scouted out one gym that I knew the street of and actually stumbled upon another that I wasn't looking for. I may try to get in a morning session at each of them this week.

The gym that I've decided to spend most of my time training at this week is 96 Penang. 96 Peneng is located underneath a highway overpass in the Klong Toei slums of Bangkok. It is only about 2km from where I am staying, so I walked the first km to the intersection of Rama IV road and Sunthorn Kosa Rd. I could have walked the whole way, but I didn't really know where it was and I heard the motorbike taxi drivers would know (the gym has no address as it is not on a road but under a bridge). So I stopped at the nearest motorbike taxi stand and using my perfect Thai said "kai muay gaao-sip-hok Penang." The guys all start shadow boxing, so I figure they must know where it's at, perfect. I get on the appointed motorbike, the driver goes about 50 feet, and stops to ask a songthaew driver for directions. He must have gotten it because soon we speed off. Nope. At the next stoplight he starts asking the guy on the motorbike next to us for directions. Why did he agree to take me somewhere that he didn't even know where it was? I guess he didn't want to lose the 20 baht (65 cents) I was going to pay him. Well the directions he got were good enough, and soon I recognized where to go from pictures I'd seen on the internet.

Despite being in the slums, the training I got here was some of the best I've had in Thailand. I was seriously impressed with the amount of effort and attention that the two trainers put in to me and correcting my technique seeing as it was only my first time there. Training consisted of Jumping rope, shadow boxing, pad rounds, and bag rounds. They don't have a round timer, but I think I got 2 x 10 minute rounds with one trainer and 1 x 5 minute round with Kaisuvit, the head trainer. No matter what I was doing (shadow, pads, bag) they would keep an eye on me and correct anything they saw wrong in my technique. Tomorrow I'll probably get some clinch work in as well; today I think they just wanted to see where I was at skill wise before sending me to clinch which they do first thing.

Here's the only picture I took of the gym. I'll get more this week and maybe some videos. I didn't want to look like a gym tourist taking a million pictures on my first time there.

After training I walked the 2km back to the hotel, it was a nice cool down. After showering I went out to get dinner and had my favorite Thai meal, Ko Moo Yang (grilled pork neck) with nam jim jaew (dried chili dipping sauce), khao niao (sticky rice), and fresh raw vegetables. I need to find some Isaan street food in this neighborhood though so I don't have to pay 170 baht (~$5) for this meal at a restaurant. I'll work on that tomorrow.

The rest of the plan for tomorrow is to get up at 6am and run about 10km in Lumphini Park, rest and then head to 96 Penang for afternoon training (they only train in the afternoon, just running in the am).

Thailand Day 7: Chinatown and TUFF

Day 7 was our final day of training, and my last full day in Thailand.  We had an afternoon training session and the morning free.  I got up fairly early at about 7 because I had some banking issues to take care of.  The day before I had tried to get money from the ATM, but my card was declined.  Upon checking my account online, I noticed that there was over $700 worth of dry cleaning charges in London and my account had been put on hold.  It actually happened two days before I left, so I don't think it had anything to do with my trip, just bad timing.  Luckily I had some American dollars that I was able to exchange for Baht so I could have money for the last couple days.

At 10, I met up with some of the guys and we headed into Chinatown to do some shopping.  We went to what I will refer to as the Chinatown Underground.  We were the only foreigners in there, and its the kind of place you won't find unless you know its there; for good reason.  Anyway, I did end up scoring the entire Planet Earth series DVDs for less than $7.

Our afternoon training session was back at the TUFF camp to be followed by another BBQ.  Sticky rice may have met its match in the exploding fish balls that they cooked for us.  They were small pieces of fish that were fried, but chewy and not crispy.  Dipped in Thai sweet and sour sauce they were delicious! After dinner, our filmers Will and Mark jumped on the bags and pads to get a little Muay Thai experiance.

Mark Working the Bag

Will on the Bag

Will hitting the pads

The next picture is of me with the driver of our van, Khun Plug.  The man was incredible at navigating around Bangkok and knew every side street to take to avoid traffic.  I also don't think he got lost once unlike the other driver we had for 2 days who got lost every time we went somewhere.  He would even suggest places for us to eat which would always be fantastic.  We ended up nicknaming him Mr. Bangkok.

 After the bbq at TUFF, we headed back to the hotel for some farewell drinks as we'd all be heading our separate ways.  It was sad that our trip was over, and it definitely went by too quickly.  I couldn't have asked for a better group of 6 guys to travel and train with in Thailand.  I already can't wait to get back to Thailand, and hope to someday spend a longer time training there.  Having experienced training Muay Thai in Thailand is going to make it hard to go back to a gym in Raleigh.  A little after midnight I said my farewell to the guys, Mai, Adrian, Mike, Jack, Will and Mark and headed to bed.  I had to be up at 4:30 to make my 8am flight.

Thailand Day 6: Kiatphontip and Chatuchak Market

Finally got diarrhea!  It wasn't that bad actually.  I woke up felling fine, but started to feel a little queasy during the van ride to Kiatphontip gym.  As soon as we got to the gym, I had to go to the bathroom and knew right away it was going to be bad.  I wanted to get some training in, so i skipped rope, shadowboxed, drilled some technique with the trainer, did a round of padwork and then a round of bagwork.  At that point I started to cramp real bad and get a headache; I decided to take it easy then.  Fortunately one of the foreign fighters at the camp had some A/D and charcoal tablets.  That seemed to settle my stomach and I was able to get in a couple more rounds on the bag.

This is generally what happens when gringos clinch with Thais.

Rambutan fruit was our workout snack.

After the morning training we headed over the Chatuchak market which is the largest market in Thailand.  It was overwhelming.  Not only was it enormous, but the walkways between all the stalls were very narrow.  You could easily get lost in the place.  We started out in the live animal section, which was a little depressing.  There was everything from stingrays to owls (alive and dead) to cockfights, and cockroaches everywhere.  On the flip side, there were sections of the market that were basically high end boutique stores.  Its a crazy place. 

cockfighting

One of the more open areas of the market.

Coconut ice cream served in a coconut.

This dog was ridiculous.  Shoes and jeans, really?

After spending a few hours at Chatuchak, some of the guys went for another Thai massage.  I opted out for a walk and nap instead.  The rest of the evening was pretty low key; we just ate dinner at a restaurant across the street from our hotel.  We get to sleep in in the morning so hopefully I can get some rest and have a good training session tomorrow.

Thailand Day 5: Kaewsamrit and Ghost Door

Our morning training session was at Kaewsamrit and it felt like the toughest session yet.  It was probably a combination of fatigue from the 3 previous days as well as their regimented style of training with conditioning drills built in.  I liked it though.  We got to work on a lot of flashy techniques like reverse and flying elbows.  After the training session, an old lady rolled up with her fruit cart which was a perfect post-workout snack.  For 10 Baht or 33 cents you could get about half a pineapple.  Lunch was nothing special as we ate at more of a restaurant type place, but we wanted to be inside in the A/C.

   
Mike, Adrian and I decided to walk up to the gear shops at Lumpini stadium after lunch.  Muay Thai gear here in Thailand costs about half what it does in the States.  While walking along Lumpini Park I happened to glance through the fence.  On the other side was about a half dozen or so 5-6' or longer water monitors.

Lumpini Park.  The monitor lizard infested canal is just on the other side of the fence.

 

After gear shopping we decided to relax at the rooftop pool before heading out to dinner.  For dinner we headed to Thip Samai, or Ghost Door Pad Thai.  It is known as being one of the best pad thai places in Bangkok.  It was amazing.  While eating we asked if they sold shirts.  We got some confused looks from the employees, but after checking with the boss lady, she agreed to sell us some that they probably had on hand for employees.  She quoted us 200 baht a shirt (less than $7) thinking it was too much and that we'd change our mind.  We said hell yeah, and when they brought the shirts out, I guess she felt bad and lowered the price to 600 Baht for all 5. We proceded to get even more confused looks, and I guess they couldn't understand why we wanted to buy their work uniforms.  In the end, we got some sweet shirts for about $4.

Panorama from the rooftop pool

Coming up on Day 6, Diarrhea!

Thailand Day 1: Wandering and TUFF Camp

My flight into Bangkok was 30 minutes late which killed my plan of taking the train into downtown.  We got in at 11:20 and by the time I got through passport control and got my luggage it was after midnight when the trains stop running.  I therefore had to take a taxi.  The driver certainly wasted no time, going 140km/hr+ (85-90mph) on the highway.  The ride cost 500 baht with tip+tolls, which is about $17; not bad, but the train would probably have been about a fifth of that.    Got checked into my hotel, showered and went to bed around 2am.

I was planning to get up at 8am, but was wide awake at 6:30.  After having breakfast, the plan was to walk around, explore, and shop.  I wanted to a couple of the Muay Thai gear shops at Lumpini stadium as well as the MBK megamall.  All in all I had about an 8 mile Journey planned out.  Walking around in Bangkok for the first time is definitely an assault on your senses.  There is so much going on audibly, visually, and aromatically; plus you are constantly aware of the heat and humidity. A few things I observed:

-Damn its hot and humid.  It only took about 2 blocks before I was a soaked in sweat.
-Traffic is ridiculous.  You have to be on your A game when you cross any street or intersection; no one seems to give a shit about pedestrians.
-Street food is everywhere!  There is someone selling something on almost every block.
-So many different smells too.  It'll go from street/fried/spicy food, to citrus fruit, to BO, to incense in a matter of feet.  It's pretty amazing.
-There a NO trashcans anywhere along the streets.  I ended up walking about 4 miles with an empty cup and ended up throwing it away at a hotel.  You would think that with all the street vending, there would be trash cans everywhere.  Not So.

When I got to Lumpini stadium, the shops were all closed, so I figured I'd head to the MBK megamall.  It too was closed until 10, so i decided to head to a shop I had read about online called Action Zone that sold Muay Thai gear and was right down the street from MBK. The lady at Action Zone was so incredibly nice! I of course was a sweaty mess from just having walked 4 miles to get there.  The first thing she does is get me a frozen wet wipe and a bottle of water, it was much appreciated.  Then she helped me find some shorts, hand wraps and bag gloves, gave me a discount and threw in a free towel.  So awesome.

After action zone, I stopped into the MBK megamall which is an enormous 5 story mall.  It's the first mall i'd been to where I was afraid of heights.  The escalators between floors go right over the large open courtyard.  It had everything from regular mall stores to street vendor type places selling knock off clothes and electronics. 

So I'm getting behind here, as it's already halfway through Day 2 and I haven't finished Day 1.  From now on I'm going to try to include more pictures and not ramble so much about boring shit.  I actually lost most of my pictures from this day because my memory card crashed.

So Day 1 finished up with me meeting the 3 other guys I'd be training well as the guy (Nopadon) who set this all up and planned everything. They are also a couple of filmers along for the trip as well, so it should be well documented. They are all amazing guys who are all laid back and a lot of fun.  Nopadon knows so much about Muay Thai, it's history, and Thailand history as well, so it's great having him around. It's going to be a fun week and a half.

Arriving at the TUFF camp

From the hotel we headed to the TUFF training camp for a welcome dinner and grill.  The TUFF guys were all super nice and accomodating and we got to meet Orono "Black Superman" who is a Muay Thai legend.  I'll wrap it up with some photos.

Orono and I