Thailand 2 - The Return

I visited Thailand last year around New Year and, to be honest, wasn't that impressed. I thought i'd give it another go though. My mate will has been living there for 4-5 years now and I trust his judgement! Also, the last time I just went to Bangkok so I ventured a little further on this trip.

Visiting a country where your friend lives is a bit of a double edged sword. On the plus side you get a free guide who knows where to go and what to see, you get to know how much you should be paying for things and you don't have to struggle with the language much. On the negative side, not bothering with the language makes me feel a bit ignorant and lazy and I don't take many photos - it feels a bit wierd, like visiting a friend in a different city in England and taking lots of photos.

I stayed in Bangkok for a while, went down to Pattaya (famed sleaze centre, I wouldn't recommend it), a small beach resort called Bang Saen and Ko Samet - a small island not to be confused with Ko Samui further south and much more touristy. I was there for about 17 days in all. Of that I spent most of the time relaxing on beaches (though you wouldn't know it from my pasty white skin) but I also did 5 days training at Jittis Muay Thai gym in Bangkok. I'd read a few reviews of different gyms on the internet and it seemed to be consistently highly rated. It has a real family feel, Jitti and his family live there as do a few of the trainers. If you train there you also have the option of staying in the house. I paid about £10 and each day i'd get 2 meals, a bed for the night and 2 training sessions. To be honest I only ever did one a day - i'm not into that much punishment! - but one was enough. Local Thais train there as do visiting foreigners, ranging from those who have never tried the sport before through to true professionals.

At the time I was there a few fighters from the Leeds based 'Bad Company' Gym were training. Including one of the top UK fighters Liam Harrison who was preparing for a February fight against one of the top Thais, Sanchai. These are people who live and breathe the sport so i felt a bit out of my depth around them, but equally there were people with a similar level to me and more who just popped in for one day for the experience. One strange thing is that the first few questions you get asked by anyone at the gym are 'what do you wiegh' and 'how many fights have you had'. Basically to Thais the idea that you train but don't have professional fights is very strange, it's seen more as a job than a hobby. It was encouraging to be told by the owner that I should try a fight in Japan though, I can't be too bad!

All in all a very nice relaxing trip. It was good to get away from Bangkok this time and try a more relaxing pace of life away from the hundreds of people pestering you to buy things or take tuk-tuk rides. Great to do some Muay Thai in the originating country too, hopefully I'll be able to do that again someday. As per usual, click the title to get more photos.