To Bangkok, then home!

Three months. Eighty-nine nights. Two muay thai gyms with over 400km between them. Countless rounds of hitting the pads and bags, shadow boxing, sparring, clinching. Litre upon litre of sweat. Sleepless nights and days which consisted of nothing but training, eating and sleeping. My first win in the ring. Friendships made with people across the globe.
It's been one hell of an adventure. And now it is over.

The End is Near: Final week in Thailand 2015

As I mentioned in my previous post with the end of my 3 month Thailand adventure drawing close, and no fight on the horizon due to a couple of nagging injuries, I'd decided to relax a little and enjoy my last couple weeks in Hua Hin. I've still been training, but mostly only in the afternoon to allow myself the time and energy to do other things.

Two Weeks left in Thailand

It doesn't seem all that long ago I was making my way to Manchester airport, ready to begin my 3 month Thailand adventure. Three months seemed like such a long time, and during my initial stay on Koh Phangan I quickly got used to the lifestyle, almost feeling like it would never end. But all good things must come to an end, or so the saying goes, and I now have less than 2 weeks left before I return to the UK and 'reality'. As much as I am missing my family, friends and my gym (Shor Chana muay thai), I really wish I could stay longer but I don't have the money available to do so. I will absolutely be returning to Thailand, however, at the soonest opportunity.

An Average Day at Sitjaopho Muay Thai Gym

6am- the alarm clock on my phone goes off. I hit snooze and plant my face in my pillow, already wishing I'd been able to get to sleep earlier the night before

6.05am- the damn alarm goes off again. I wonder why the hell I'm doing this, and run through a list of exuses as to why I should skip training and just stay in bed

Stage 2: Sitjaopho Muay Thai, Hua Hin

The next stage of my Thailand muay thai adventure is set in Hua Hin, a coastal town a few hours drive from Bangkok. I am living and training at Sitjaopho gym, about 15 minutes drive from the town. The gym is run by Phet-tho and Petch-eak, brothers and former champions renowned for their beautiful muay thai style. Petch-eak is currently away from the gym, recovering from surgery on his leg, leaving Phet-tho (also known as Eff) to run the place along with a handful of trainers.

Halfway Point- Highs and Lows

I did it. I won my fight. The main reason for me coming to Thailand was to train and fight, to become a better, stronger fighter. After losing my first three fights (one in Phuket, the others back in England), I had finally got that first win. To top it off, it was a great fight against a skilled and experienced Thai, which ended via TKO in the 4th round due to leg kicks. 

In the corner at my fight at Haad Rin Arena

But what now?

Fight Night

I was sat on a plastic chair, facing backwards with my arms rested on the back of the chair. In front of me, Nop was busy wrapping my hands in the layers of tape and bandage that would allow me to punch without fear of breaking my hand. Behind me, the first fight is underway between two young girls, the traditional Thai music that accompanies every bout contending with the shouts of the crowd. Soon it would be my turn. I was set to be the 5th fight of the night, so I had a bit of time to relax barring several first round knockouts.

It's fight night in Haad Rin arena, and I'm about to have my 4th muay thai fight.

The time approaches

In something over nine hours, from the time of writing, I will be standing in a ring ready to begin a full rules muay thai bout. Shins will clash, knees will grind into ribs and punches and elbows will be thrown with abandon. There may be blood, possibly even a knockout. But after it all, no matter the result, I will have taken another step forward on this incredible, life changing, challenging, inspiring, difficult journey through the beautiful art of muay thai.

Embracing the Grind

I'm now in my third week training at Diamond muay thai and I'm really in the swing of things now. I'm training twice a day and running before each session, which means the time in between sessions is often spent napping. The weather has been turning a bit crappy recently, lots of rain so I'm not missing out on any beach time anyway. I'll be able to get some when the fight is done.

One week in...

So I'm now in my second week on koh phangan at Diamond muay thai, and I feel like I've really settled in here now. Time seems to move strangely here in Thailand- on the one hand, hours and days can fly by, yet I feel like I have been here forever. Everything back home seems so distant, it seems like I've been in Thailand for months already.

One week in...

So I'm now in my second week on koh phangan at Diamond muay thai, and I feel like I've really settled in here now. Time seems to move strangely here in Thailand- on the one hand, hours and days can fly by, yet I feel like I have been here forever. Everything back home seems so distant, it seems like I've been in Thailand for months already.

The training here is great, I'm really enjoying it now I've started to adapt to the heat and humidity. I'm no longer surrounded by a puddle of sweat 5 minutes into the warm-up! It's still hard, but that's how training should be. I feel like I've improved a number of things already, and also understand why they should be done that way too. The head trainer, Mon, is a Mr Miagi-esque guy who uses a lot of metaphors to get his point home. He also likes to do freestyle pad work, which is one of the reasons I chose tis gym. Usually, a trainer holding pads will call out strikes and combinations for you to throw, but in freestyle you throw what you want and he catches it. It takes incredible reflexes to do, as well as supreme confidence in your ability to catch whatever is thrown. This doesn't mean that Mon is a passive figure during the rounds at all, he keeps you on your toes by throwing stuff back at you and forcing you to defend yourself. He doesn't just tap you either, if you don't defend something, you will feel it.

I will be putting all of this hard work into practice in a couple weeks- I've been signed up to fight on the 27th alongside a few other people from the gym. I've no idea who I am fighting (pretty standard here) but I think it will be a Thai, so it should be a good one. The trainer organising them said he won't be giving me an easy fight, which is good for me as I don't see the point in easy fights. I want to fight to challenge myself, to grow and get better. Beating up a tuk tuk driver who is only in it to make a quick bit of cash won't help me much.

There is a very relaxed atmosphere here, and as it is a small gym everyone mingles together after training. On Saturday, we had a BBQ after training to celebrate a few people's birthdays. Afterwards, we all went out for a few drinks together. It was great to spend time with everyone away from the gym and get to know them a bit more. It also served as a nice cut-off point for any drinking- with 2 full weeks to concentrate on training before my fight.

With Sunday being the day off, I headed out with Paul and Jason for what turned out to be a fairly epic bike ride to find a beach on the other end of the island. The road to it was only half built and contained some crazy hills, which made it a pretty interesting ride. The beach was beautiful and made the long ride well worth it.

First days in koh phangan

 In my last post I finished by describing the torturously long journey from Bangkok to Koh Phangan. I arrived on Sunday so no training that day (not that I was in any state for it). I introduced myself to a few people who were hanging around there, some of them staying at the gym like me and others in the area. Everyone seemed very friendly and welcoming. As I didn't have a scooter sorted yet I went for a quick walk to get some food (settling on a burger- as much as I enjoy Thai food at that point I wanted something Western) and a couple of beers, before heading to the 7/11 to stock up on water.

As I returned I bumped into Simon, one of the co-owners of the gym from England. He was very welcoming too, and it's great to have a fellow Englishman on hand to help with any issues. He also said he would sort me out a second hand bike I could use, much better than going to one of the rental shops which often require you to hand over your passport and are notorious for scamming tourists. I was a bit nervous about riding a scooter as I'd never ridden one before, but it's the only way to get around (walking more than 5-10 minutes in this heat is just out of the question) without blowing money on taxis. It also lets you just explore the island, and as it is a relatively quiet place the traffic isn't ridiculous (though it may well be around the Full Moon Party).

Goodbye Bangkok...

Friday was my second night, and only full day, in Bangkok, so I decided to spend the day doing the usual tourist stuff. With most of the morning taken up sorting out my move down to koh phangan for the following day, I asked the lady at the travel office conveniently located inside  the hotel what she recommended I do for the afternoon. She told me to check out the local temples and the Grand Palace, saying both were within easy walking distance and showing me where to go on the map. Those of you who know how bad my sense of direction is are probably worried already. I didn't get overly lost though, but what I did realise that easy walking distance is a relative concept in this heat and humidity. Over half an hour later, passing a couple of smaller temples, I made it to the Golden Mountain Temple, drenched in sweat and with my water bottle hot enough to make a cup of tea with. As the name of the place might indicate, the temple was high up on a hill (not quite a mountain thankfully!), but it was an interesting walk that covered some of the history of Bangkok.

Bangkok...

So, just over 18 months since my trip to Phuket, I find myself back in the Land of a Thousand Smiles, this time for a longer stay of around 3 months. Last time I flew straight to Phuket, so this time it seemed only right that I make a little stop off in Bangkok on the way to koh phangan.