Hello from Thailand!

Millionaire

Hi Guys


Hello from Thailand where I am now living!

Happy new year to all, I hope 2006 is a great year in all areas of your lives!

I am living in a tiny village called Nong Ki (or Nong Kee) which is between Korat and Buri ram and is the in North East, approx 5 hours drive north from bangkok.

spend a week living in real rural country area, That was interesting (i am a bit of an antropologist) and then too bangkok for the new year. Man it was nice to have a real hot shower in ahotel!

Then I came to Nong Ki.

I will be doing Muay Thai . there is a real good muay thai camp here, with many champs both in Muay Thai and also western boxing. shall be starting training soon , each morning. westerners come to stay in the camp too. this is the year to bring training to another level, with hard and intense Muay Thai training. get some sparring in!! real training!



I work my business into ireland from here. VOIP phones rule!!

It is so cheap here. 2 bed town house, my rent is 60 euro a month. you can live off less than 60 - 100 euro a week.

The weather is wonderful and its great to wake up to the sun each day.

Saw a few MT fights at a few local festivals around here. Open air ring etc. They seem to take it alot easier than MT fights I seen in Dublin. They only start moving in round 4 mostly!!! and much less boxing. Hell, depending on how I get on training, might be tempted to get back into ring myself. Never fought Thai syle, and its been 5 years since last time fought kickboxing. still with hard training, it can be done!!!

Keep well lads, train hard. amd i ll let you know what the training is like when I get started. right now, setting up the work set up comes first!

Ger Healy

Sound great Millionaire keep us posted on whats the training is like

RedRaven

Millionaire wrote:

Hi Guys


Hello from Thailand where I am now living!

Happy new year to all, I hope 2006 is a great year in all areas of your lives!

I am living in a tiny village called Nong Ki (or Nong Kee) which is between Korat and Buri ram and is the in North East, approx 5 hours drive north from bangkok.

spend a week living in real rural country area, That was interesting (i am a bit of an antropologist) and then too bangkok for the new year. Man it was nice to have a real hot shower in ahotel!

Then I came to Nong Ki.

I will be doing Muay Thai . there is a real good muay thai camp here, with many champs both in Muay Thai and also western boxing. shall be starting training soon , each morning. westerners come to stay in the camp too. this is the year to bring training to another level, with hard and intense Muay Thai training. get some sparring in!! real training!



I work my business into ireland from here. VOIP phones rule!!

It is so cheap here. 2 bed town house, my rent is 60 euro a month. you can live off less than 60 - 100 euro a week.

The weather is wonderful and its great to wake up to the sun each day.

Saw a few MT fights at a few local festivals around here. Open air ring etc. They seem to take it alot easier than MT fights I seen in Dublin. They only start moving in round 4 mostly!!! and much less boxing. Hell, depending on how I get on training, might be tempted to get back into ring myself. Never fought Thai syle, and its been 5 years since last time fought kickboxing. still with hard training, it can be done!!!

Keep well lads, train hard. amd i ll let you know what the training is like when I get started. right now, setting up the work set up comes first!

You lucky bastard ha ha...fair play my man, make the most of it and keep us all posted.

dlofnep

Sounds great. Get some pictures of the training camp and stuff.

damo

is bangkok as cheap as the place youre in at the moment? ill be spending a few months in thailand from mid-feb...cant wait!

Millionaire

Bangkok would be alot more expensive than where I am.

I am in a real bogger type place...so I fit in perfectly! :eek:

There is very little to spend money on here.

But bangkok is cheap compared to say Dublin. if your going to Starbucks each day and to top night clubs, it will be expensive.

If you eat thai style, where they eat etc, then its cheap. if you google a bit on prices in bangkok you will find it on the net. specific info.

Its a buzzing city bangkok, real exciting. and dublin is like a village compared to it.

Starting training tomorrow 6am - 8am! running before boxing! just back from the camp, and a few Thais training there eyeing me up like a bit of fresh meat!!! I d say I am going to be put to the test!!!!

also they have a 4pm session, so doing morning session 5 -6 mornings and 1 hour in afternoon maybe 2 - 3 time.

This is the name of the camp here....

Nong Kee Pahuyuth Camp. 133 Tambon Toongkratad Pattana. Ampeur Nong Kee. Buriram 31210. Thailand. Tel: (044) 641-185. * This is one of the best camps in the world. An awesome place to learn knee clinches, etc. However, it is difficult for a foreigner to get into this camp.

RedRaven

Millionaire wrote:

Bangkok would be alot more expensive than where I am.

I am in a real bogger type place...so I fit in perfectly! :eek:

There is very little to spend money on here.

But bangkok is cheap compared to say Dublin. if your going to Starbucks each day and to top night clubs, it will be expensive.

If you eat thai style, where they eat etc, then its cheap. if you google a bit on prices in bangkok you will find it on the net. specific info.

Its a buzzing city bangkok, real exciting. and dublin is like a village compared to it.

Starting training tomorrow 6am - 8am! running before boxing! just back from the camp, and a few Thais training there eyeing me up like a bit of fresh meat!!! I d say I am going to be put to the test!!!!

also they have a 4pm session, so doing morning session 5 -6 mornings and 1 hour in afternoon maybe 2 - 3 time.

This is the name of the camp here....

Nong Kee Pahuyuth Camp. 133 Tambon Toongkratad Pattana. Ampeur Nong Kee. Buriram 31210. Thailand. Tel: (044) 641-185. * This is one of the best camps in the world. An awesome place to learn knee clinches, etc. However, it is difficult for a foreigner to get into this camp.

Are they charging you to train there, if so how much??!!!

Millionaire

If you fly in and stay there in the camp, it is I think 200 dollars/euro a week.

However the Thais train from free. I have a buddy from Canada, living here, so we played smart and got some Thais to put a word in. saying we live here long term as opposed to tourists, sort of thing.

had to call around a few times, before the master accepted us and allow us to train. So got the green light today. so I hope fingers crossed , little money will be charged!

Colm_OReilly

[jealousy]I think we should ban Millionaire for that type of posting[/jealousy]

RedRaven

Millionaire wrote:

If you fly in and stay there in the camp, it is I think 200 dollars/euro a week.

However the Thais train from free. I have a buddy from Canada, living here, so we played smart and got some Thais to put a word in. saying we live here long term as opposed to tourists, sort of thing.

had to call around a few times, before the master accepted us and allow us to train. So got the green light today. so I hope fingers crossed , little money will be charged!

If you fight for the Camp they should let you train for free and you get paid to fight also!!!

Millionaire

The sun and Palm trees are great Colm!!!!

Thats good info to know re training for free. This man here would have to do a hell of alot of hard training to fight!!!!! but then again, I am in the right place to train hard!!!!

Dave Joyce

Hey Gerry ya lucky so and so!! Try to make sure that you get to both sessions (morning and afternoon) and most places will take you seriously if they see you're there to train. Also try to get to know some of the cultural do and don't as (the usual stuff don't tap/pat anyone on the head or show them the soles of your feet etc, your mate should be able to help there) it can be easy to insult someone there and they'll still be very nice to you but in there own minds will be saying fuvk this asshole. Have a great time man and good luck with the training. Are you gonna train in Bangkok or just stay in the sticks.

john kavanagh

great stuff gerry, enjoy yourself

Millionaire

thanks lads!


I am going to be staying in the country for up to 12 months.

yes, i am shooting to make as many sessions as possible. still am working 12 hours a day into ireland with the recruitment biz. so have to squeeze the sessions around work. may not be able to do both sessions each day re work, but when I do, will be giving 110%!

apparently this camp, their specialism is knees in the clinch. (which complimentys RBSD real good!)

have first session today, so will post a report over next few days.

Millionaire

Just did a training session Number 1!

went in , did not mention I did any training before like Kickboxing, or KM or a wee bit of Thai. always good to Dun Do Bheal when visiting these places!

Started me on the basics. well I had a buddy with me, that has zero training. so happy to practice the basics. after a while they asked me, so I said I was a kickboxer who did a wee bit of thai.

This is an excellent MT camp. Not only do they have champions that fought in lumpinee stadium (and also western boxing champs) but more interesting, they teach the Art of Traditional Muay Thai. for example he had a board on the wall with 30 "Tricks" you must know and there is 52 moves ... anyway not sure what this is, but i ll figure out in time.

Also the master showed me some moves and blocks they did, blocks against punches and twisted me into some sort of arm lock. very interesting.
this is all new to me.

for example when I spent a few week in Fairtex Camp outside bangkok this year,the training was great but totally for the sport end of things. so its great to be learning the full art, with alot of clinch work.

its about 2 months since i trained, re moving here and stuff. so now my shins hurt like hell , had a real hard bag to kick, and I am too stubborn to take it easy.

so 1 session per day, 6 days re week for a few weeks and then ramp it up.

The master was saying the professional fighters, morning is running, 5 rounds shadow boxing, about 5 x 5 min rounds on punch bag, 7 or 8 x 5 mins with pad man. then finished with 20 mins weights. repeat twice a day, and the sometimes additional running at night. now thats a heavy regime!!!

Millionaire

The training so far...

As I mentioned, so far just doing 1 session a day to easy in. with moving over and closing office in dublin, its been well over 2 months since i did real hard traning. Ok I was teaching my KM class, but teaching beginnners is not the same as training.!

Last seesion, we were shown the kicks. I was real suprised here too. For example the 1st kick we were taught was one, where you swing you leg straight up , with like out straight, and boot the guy under the chin (sort of front kick style). (There is a similar kick in Israeli KM Association where I trained). ok so the usual round house kick thai style and push kick..teep (spelling??) . Also is a reverse kick, which basically is like a spinning hook kick, with the leg straight, hitting with heel. Again this is new to me.

Then some work in the ring, with a opponent, moving about and throwing the kicks.

Me being me, when training, never can take things easy. I haved the softest soles of feet in the world, and not being used to training on a bare concrete foor, I have blistered and ripped skin of balls of foot , real sore to walk. (Anyone got any ideas or tricks to help this heal).

Also went mad on the sit ups, and I think I pulled a muscle, of course I did not stop when this happened!! to yesterday , walking about like a hunch back with pain, and not much better today!!! so hope to be back traing today. took yesterday off to let damage repair.

so far to good, and really enjoying it.

Just off topic... thailand is a funny country. outside my back door, lives this old guy and he had a massive big rooster. now this thing crowed full blast all night from 2am until 7am every 5 mins. could not sleep for 3 nights, and I was starting to get real annoyed. another westerner said, everything is for sales in thailand. Long story short, I bough the Rooster (300 bhat..approx 6 euro) and the old guy hardly had the money in his pocket, until he executed the rooster for me, plucked and cleaned it. near threw up at thoughs of eating it, so I donated it to someone else!! funny old world!!

Dave Joyce

Hey Gerry for any back/muscle complaints make sure you get a regular Thai massage which is great!! As regards your feet, ask locally as anything we suggest here may be very hard to get the Thais to understand over there. Reminds me of a funny story (for me that is, not Craig at the time) when Craig O'Flynn suffered a very badly cut nose during his victorious semi-final fight at one of the amateur worlds and they asked the Thais for Adreneline for the cut, but were met with bewilderment. Poor Craig had to settle for super glue!!!

RedRaven

Dave Joyce wrote:

Hey Gerry for any back/muscle complaints make sure you get a regular Thai massage which is great!! As regards your feet, ask locally as anything we suggest here may be very hard to get the Thais to understand over there. Reminds me of a funny story (for me that is, not Craig at the time) when Craig O'Flynn suffered a very badly cut nose during his victorious semi-final fight at one of the amateur worlds and they asked the Thais for Adreneline for the cut, but were met with bewilderment. Poor Craig had to settle for super glue!!!

Poor locals eh Dave ,sure I guess they "hadnt a glue"!!! Boom Boom!!;);)

Millionaire

i ll see if they got a glue here so!!

whats the best way of looking after the shins from hammering hard as rock kick bags?? Its ok if u take a day off in between, but I am not here for days off training, so the poor wee shinnys are a wee bit tender right now.

would that thai boxing oil or tiger balm help? any other tips lads?

what can be done to harden them up faster?

Thanks

G

RedRaven

Millionaire wrote:

i ll see if they got a glue here so!!

whats the best way of looking after the shins from hammering hard as rock kick bags?? Its ok if u take a day off in between, but I am not here for days off training, so the poor wee shinnys are a wee bit tender right now.

would that thai boxing oil or tiger balm help? any other tips lads?

what can be done to harden them up faster?

Thanks

G

Slow down dude pace yourself...shins will sort them selves out but oil will take the sting out...dont put it on broken skin though...give your shins a good rub using the thumbs to work the nerve ending away from the front of the shin.

Go to a chemist and buy calcium and vitamin D.

Dave Joyce

Wayne, your jokes are getting so bad, you must be getting training from the Budda or else the "forgiener":D

Gerry, make sure you use the Thai oil BEFORE training and DON'T use it afterwards. Wayne is right about slowing down the pace a little and they'll sort themselves out but also make sure you get Thai creme (specifically for muscle soreness/bruising) and you can get bone linement for bad knocks to the boney areas. No exaggeration both of these remedies are great and will work wonders. Keep up the good work, ya lucky bastard!!!

ninjawitatitude

Hey Dave,
Anywhere to get these in Ireland bro?

Ta

Millionaire

Went back yesertday. taking in easy. going to easy in. I am here for 12 months all going well. I will easy in for a few weeks, and when fitter and stronger will start both sessions.

I got that Thai Boxing Linament...you know the orange coloured stuff with the yellow label on the bottle. and Tiger Balm.

Been a little sick last 3 days, heat hot..no breeze here. but that can be expected for a Paddy to get used to the training!

Started a bit of pad work and was rocking with the kicks, until the pad man decided to sweep me and i landed on me butt. I think they be testing you and playing with ya a bit until you get accepted in and sort of prove yourself.

will get some pictures in time. I will wait until a few weeks, do not want to be like a big Yank in Killarney marching about with a camera..just yet!

sole of foot still in bits! was working in knees yesterday.

RedRaven

Millionaire wrote:

Went back yesertday. taking in easy. going to easy in. I am here for 12 months all going well. I will easy in for a few weeks, and when fitter and stronger will start both sessions.

I got that Thai Boxing Linament...you know the orange coloured stuff with the yellow label on the bottle. and Tiger Balm.

Been a little sick last 3 days, heat hot..no breeze here. but that can be expected for a Paddy to get used to the training!

Started a bit of pad work and was rocking with the kicks, until the pad man decided to sweep me and i landed on me butt. I think they be testing you and playing with ya a bit until you get accepted in and sort of prove yourself.

will get some pictures in time. I will wait until a few weeks, do not want to be like a big Yank in Killarney marching about with a camera..just yet!

sole of foot still in bits! was working in knees yesterday.

Your lucky they havent chalked the soles of your feet yet ha ha!!!

Michael O Leary

Hi Gerry,

Have you or anyone else ever heard of another Thai Martial Art called "Ling Lom" (phonetic translation) or "Flying Monkey" style? Apparently it is from Northern Thailand in the area near Yunnan province in China and according to Leung Ting 70% of the movements are similar to Wing Tsun which would indicate a common root.

Regards,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Millionaire

never heard of that..but I will check it out.

someone told me when I was here in may last, that there was an older part of Muay Thai , sort of long forgotten that was pure ground fighing. Now me me be getting the story a little mixed up. but maybe some of the experienced thai guys can comment?

Was doing alot of clinch work yesterday. Again there was about 8 or 9 specific techniques or holds for clinching, throwing the opponent, sweeping him to ground, lots of knees. In fact I was amazed at how involved the clinch and grappling. also show some "dirty tricks" illegal in the ring, but attemped if they can get away with it. (but mixes so well for RBSD)

Was told that when in the ring , I should be doing 70% of the time clinch and knees. Normally I would be staying out in punch and kick range. Again this camp is famous for this specialization.

Off to Bangkok for the weekend!

I am ramping training up a notch next week!

RedRaven

Michael O Leary wrote:

Hi Gerry,

Have you or anyone else ever heard of another Thai Martial Art called "Ling Lom" (phonetic translation) or "Flying Monkey" style? Apparently it is from Northern Thailand in the area near Yunnan province in China and according to Leung Ting 70% of the movements are similar to Wing Tsun which would indicate a common root.

Regards,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

If you want to know about LL ask PaddyC he loves it!!

paddyc

is **** hot matey


try this web site, they based in berlin and out side o siam they supposed to be the best, hope it helps

http://www.pahuyuth.de/


paddy

Michael O Leary

Hi Paddy,

I had a look at the website and found it very interesting. It said that Ling Lom is comparable to Kung-Fu as a fighting system. It also said that in the early days of Thailand there was a mutual exchange between Thai's and Chinese which has led to partial similiarities in the arts.

As I mentioned previously Grandmaster Leung Ting of the Wing Tsun system of Kung-Fu claims that there are 70% similiarities. I cannot deny or confirm this however in the oral history of Wing Tsun it was claimed that WT originated around Yunnan provence in China which is very close to Northern Thailand.

The website did not seem to give information regarding who the teachers were but I suspect that the school is run by a Mr. Sunthus Supasturpong who has a school in Berlin. Leung Ting went to visit him in 1977 and there was mutual interest regarding the resemblance between Wing Tsun and Ling Lom. Leung Ting claims that the basic set of Ling Lom is done without moving a step and that the stance is narrow. Also that the straight punch is launched to the full from the centre of the chest. These along with other movements are very similar to the first form in Wing Tsun. Interesting.

Regards,

Michael O'Leary
www.wingtsun-escrima.ie

Dave Joyce

Hey Dave,
Anywhere to get these in Ireland bro?

Ta

Sorry I've been so late answering Dave, but hadn't time to get online. Don't think you can get them in Ireland but most Thaiboxing sites would have the oil and creme, linement can be hard to get but if you try Tony Moore's site they should have the 3 of them www.suryothai.addr.com

someone told me when I was here in may last, that there was an older part of Muay Thai , sort of long forgotten that was pure ground fighing. Now me me be getting the story a little mixed up. but maybe some of the experienced thai guys can comment?

Probley Kucheng (sp?) which is cat style and comes from southern Thailand. Blunt (Jason) would know a lot more than me about this style. Old style Thai is cool and great to work.

Millionaire

Hi Guys.

A quick update on the Muay Thai training over here in the village of Nong Ki in North East Thailand.

Been training away most days. Training takes usual Thai camp form of rounds of shadow boxing, on the heavy bag (rock hard too!!), a few rounds with the pad man, more heavy bag etc.

I started running during the week as I am a little out of shape wind wise, and I have to loose about 6Kg too. Its hard running and training in the heat. I run out of steam much quicker than in Ireland. Rounds are 5 minutes too.

I am still "easing" my way into the training, and each week I am ramping it up bit by bit.

These guys are outstanding at grappling in the clinch with knees. They can really throw you on your head very fast. thats is a specialise of this camp.

Did some sparring today too, boxing, with the fighter, no lashing session or anything. more working on getting the technique rather than taking peoples heads off. I notice the Thais go easy on each other when training. there is no bulling nor ignormaus stuff.

They have asked me to Demo Ram Muay at some fights next week, so I am finishing learning and perfecting this. It is nice to be asked!

Some of the lads were fighting last week. 1 lost 1 won. the guy that won get this head split open in 2nd round, they had at 20 sec plus elbow fight on the ropes (viscious) in round 3, he finished his opponent with massive knees to the head. also saw a real good fight, where on chap lashed the other with elbow to jaw and guy dropped like a sack of spuds.
There is fights every 2 weeks or so at the buddhist temples, so its great to go and see them.

After our fighter training, the Master in the camp is real passionate about, the traditional Muay Thai and teches me moves from this. The 15 Master Tricks its called. Its great to learn this too as well as training hard. includes moves very similar to leg locks , sort of catching a kick, and leg locking and twisting to break leg.

When I was going KM instructor course in Israel, the Israelis where doing all these techniques as KM, now I know where they got influence from..Muay Thai.

All in all, getting accepted into the camp now at this stage. and their starting to spend more time with me. which is great!

In another week or so., I will ramp it up more.

I will be in this location for at least 12 months, or more. As I said I got no wind now, and in the heat its tough to train. However lets see in 6 months what shape I am in, and now my technique and conditioning is. Then we'll see what might happen next!!!

Im2Lazy

Hi Gerry,

Great to hear from you & glad you're enjoying the training so much, sound like a brilliant learning experience.

Take care.

pcwares

Millionaire - i had sunburnt feet and they blistered to **** on the soles, open sores the cure for my feet was a long walk along the sea edge and yes its a little brutal the pain but it strengthened and coarsened my feet after a days rest wearing loose cotton bandage Hard as nails after a day or so. I go for a stroll most weeks along the sea and the olde feet are tip top for the week. If you tear your soles you could be exposed to infection especially in that country. Are you innoculated up against those tropical diseases etc.

pcwares

Millionaire

Yes I got all the shots before I came, and am in country.

got an ol sore on the right foot, hurts a bit.

the rest of the feet is coming in well.

I skip training for a day if the soles are cut. gives them a chance to mend..

other than that, the training coming on great!

Millionaire

Hello All...

Here is an update from "The Land of the Smile" :-)

The Muay Thai training is starting to go real well.

I am still only doing the afternoon training session. I would love to do the morning one, but I still work my job to match irish hours, so often end up working to 130am , and after that a 6am session is just too difficult to make for me. though I wish I could get both it. :-(

My pad work is has improved a good few degrees, I watch the combos and movement of the fighters, visualize it, and then try to model the same, rythmn, speed and combos the next day. and this strategy is really helping me. starting to lash the thai kicks off, 2, 3 and 4 kicks fast, like I was a native...I am right chuffed!

Training in the heat is very very hard somedays, and endurance wise, sometimes cannot last longer that 3 x 5 minute rounds with the pad man and the heat.

The clinch work is coming on. getting thrown alot less. sometimes the Thais, if you get one over on them , get a little huffy! today was working clinch and fairly hard too, with a fighter, tapped him a knee in his tigh, not too hard....well talk about a pout, a sulk, and a "I m not playin anymore" attitude.. he sulked off to huff. boxing them too, if you get a few shots in, and its light sparring, they just stop and walk away.
Its such a contridiction, these guys fight pro for a living, and you get a few taps in, or give them a dead leg, and the sulk comes on.... its really funny!

There probably a big elbow in the head coming for me soon on of these days. ha ha

Anyway its great training, and doing it daily is excellent, you improve so much just a little each day. and I also get a few mins to practice RBSD palm strikes and the like from the fence. I work on the heavy bag, from the fence and launch me palms... I think they think I am nuts!! LOL!

Mist

How long before you can beat Ting the Pradu Legend?

Millionaire

Kinda of a Throllish question there Mist...do n't ya think?

Cabelo

Yeah Mist... he's not training in Pradu... jeez.

Mist

Yeah sorry...