Day 7 and 8: Back in the saddle again.

Friday, 7th day of the trip, rolled around and I decided lame toe or not, twas time to hit something. I got in some skipping instead of the run in the morning session and hit some pads with Kru Daam, primarily punches and elbows. Man, does that guy get you amped up. He yells as loud if not louder when you hit the pads and keeps his holding very consistent. Simple combinations, hard and fast.

Upon arriving to the camp last week, Brendan and I noticed the fighters were primarily holding pads or working with beginners and not doing much training. As of the the last day or so, Jun, Muu, Pornsaneh, the twins and Apirak have been getting their pad work and clinching in which can only mean one thing...fights! While all these guys are complete goofballs outside of the ring, always teasing eachother and pretty much anyone else in the general vicinity, it's pretty jaw dropping when they hop in on pads. These guys all pack dynamite in everything they throw, the crack of pads is almost deafening with every strike they throw.

Watching the guys clinch is also a treat. Just when it looks like one of them begins to get the upperhand, just as fast are they knocked off their axis and hit with a knee before they hit the ground - all with a smile. The twins clinching is just plain awesome to watch. I wish I could accurately describe how it happened but Apisak threw a knee that Apisit somehow parried and in a flash, snuck behind Apisak and climbed up his back. Even Apisak looked surprised. It is very apparent that while all the nak muays in the gym have formidable clinching skills, the twins (and their cousin Apirak) are the standouts in that facet.

After snagging some sa pa rot (aww yeah, new word. pineapple.), we (Wyatt, Jen, Brendo and I) made our way to a Wat about 30 mins away to get a 2 hour thai massage for $10 tip included. I got hooked up with my man, Tsam, who worked on my toe the other day. He again spent a grueling 30 mins just on the toe/foot which made me think he's either really thorough or he doesn't quite understand you can't exactly massage a sprain away. Regardless, I am thankful for his hardwork and dedication to fixing this vanilla face's trash toe.
After some close-calls and compromising positions, Tsam finished up the massage with some serious elbow drops on my neck ala mid 1980's Ultimate Warrior. Jen, Wyatt, Brendan and myself hobbled over to the hot springs area which were really just metal cyclinders just big enough for a grown man to fit in and soaked in fairly hot water fed through pipes that I assume ran from the hot springs. The man there told us "NO DRINK NO DRINK OK OK?!" While the advice is appreciated, I don't think we had any intention of slurping down some luke-warm, hair filled water that smelled of 100% cocoa. Yeah, that's real.

Pii A then took us to a roadside Udon noodle joint where we ate pork balls (tasted like high school cafeteria meatballs minus the unnatural crunch...I'm not complaining) and noodles. Pii A made sure to dump chili flakes, a table spoon of sugar and chili jelli in each of our bowls. Ended up costing less than a dollar each, fantastic.

Afternoon session brought more padwork with Kru Daam. I think I've almost got his flow down, creating a pretty nice rhythm. My poor knuckles are screaming from all the punishment, hurts so good. I brought my 14 oz for this very reason because I knew this gym would be heavy on the hands but it looks even that isn't saving em. Wah wah wah, I'm sure once I can bring kicks back into the mix, the knuckles will get a little break. We all gathered afterwards to watch a big clinching session between all the fighters - I think someone taped it. Brendan and I were too busy staring with our mouths opens, catching flies.



Bren working leg kicks with Kru Yod



Today was also the Queen's Birthday / Mother's Day (yes, Mother's Day in Thailand is whenever the Queen's Birthday is. Double the presents for the Queen.) so we all gathered around to watch the Queen's Cup around 10pm. I wish Muay Thai was televised at home. Saturday afternoons are Channel 3 fights at Omnoi Stadium. Sure as sugar, Pii A can be found watching them rattling off Thai at the television. Kru Mee usually joins while some of the other nak muays, if not asleep, pass by and OOOOOWAAY at the tv briefly and head back to their rooms.

Saturday, Day 8, brought Wyatt's final morning session and the Norwegians getting ready for their fight tonight. Pretty hot today and will stay consistenly this hot. It's not too bad when you're in the shade, definitely sweat worthy but not unbearable. 90-92 degrees I'd say.

Spent a good 45 mins doing some technical sparring with Pornsaneh which was a treat. Pornsaneh did/does an excellent job conveying his techniques, adding on to some stuff BMTA has given me and even adding some more tools for the toolbox. I love how almost everything goes back to getting in range for ripping a low kick (on either side!) and forcing your oppponent into being a sucker for the low kick. Basics done right.

Brendan got in some time with Apisit and learned some new techniques as well. Apisit review some sneaky trips and simple return techniques as well as tested the thickness of Brendan's dome with his foot, haha.

Apirak left early this morning to head out to his fight that Pii A said was "600 km away." I don't even know if it was still in the country. Unfortunately, he would go on to lose this fight on points. We all said goodbye to Wyatt and safe travels as he heads off to see his lady and spend some time vacationing in the Land of Smiles. Truly a good dude to meet and we'll absolutely be in contact with eachother. Funny how traveling across the world can make you friends with someone who only lives 5 hours away from you at home. Wyatt mentioned his trainers intend on bringing Kru Daam and Kru Mee to New York for a month respectively to help teach and make some dough. I will be doing my best to make it up there to see Jenn, Wyatt and get some work in with Kru Daam.

3:00 pm rolls around and we head out for Kris and Yonas's fight at the Siam Paradise night market in Bangkok. Turns out it's a Master Toddy promotion and boy is he in full effect. Master Toddy had some sort of Fight Girl's-esque show going on and they were doing some rehearsal taping when we arrived. Absolute nonsense complete with stock Thai nu-metal, obnoxious ringside announcers and over the top smoke displays and seizure-inducing light shows. Gotta hand it to the man, he knows how to sell the sport. Anyway, to the fights:

Younas (left) and Kris

Younas was the 4th fight of the night, squaring off against a Canadian from SitSongPeeNong. The Canadian looked strong, top heavy like Yonas and came out pretty serious in the first round with leg kicks and looping punches. Yonas absorbed some punishment and threw his own leg kicks while showing some superiority in the clinch. In the second round, Canada came out with a little more this time, attempting some combinations paired with leg kicks. Younas landed his right body kick at will and landed 2 or 3 grazing head kicks that more or less slapped the Canadian in the face. About halfway through the round, Yonas had Canada in the corner, pressing the clinch. The Canadian knew how to neutralize the clinch but Younas was elbow crazy, taking every opportunity to rip them in there. He slammed the Canadian with a right elbow below the Canadian's left eye swelling up immediately, leaving the Canadian with a "Wtf, eh?" look on his face as he most likely was not expecting it. Yonas pressed on, controlling the clinch - Canada looking fairly winded.

Pii A gave me the job of translating the Thinglish he and Pornsaneh were yelling to Younas in the corner. De facto corner man, cornering a kid who's first language isn't even English that he just met 7 days ago - aww yeah. No worries, we were all having a blast hooting and hollering, jumping around sweating like mad men. Doesn't really matter what language you're speaking, everyone understands violent commands apparently.

8 years young.

3rd round, like most gassed fighters do, Canada came out looking great for the first 30 seconds. Yonas continued wearing him down in the clinch, this time landing knees to the face and uppercut/straight elbows at will. While the Canadian's nose was bloody, his eye all sortsa' lumpy, he continued to press on making for an excellent fight with the mixed farang/thai crowd enjoying every minute of it. This would continue for the next 2 rounds, the Canadian making a great come back for a good 60 seconds in the 5th round and Younas visibly wearing. After the Canadian finished his last attempt at a KO, Yonas found his last wind, letting his hands go and landing another huge knee to the head in the clinch. The Canadian knew he had lost but made a good showing nonetheless, not succumbing to strikes that would otherwise have floored a lesser man.

I wish I got paid to write about this stuff.

Girl fight, yada yada, Thai girl gets robbed, Master Toddy's girl gets the win. Mmmhmm. Funny when the Thai scoring seems magically turn to Western Boxing scoring depending on who enters the ring...sounds almost American...

Kristopher, the Jean-Claude Van Damme in the face/body Adonis look-alike is up next. Kris is clearly too strong for his American opponent hailing from Sityodtong (I'm not sure if he was from a Sityodtong in the states or Thailand...) and quickly drops him at the end of the first. Kris throws several punches, attempted to pressure and contain his fidgidy opponent, eventually landed with outta-left-field overhand immediately creating a mouse under the American's eye. The same would happen in the 2nd round, a lot of Kris chasing his opponent and finally wreaking havoc once cornering him prompting the ref to call the fight.

All the while during Kris's fight, Pii A and Pornsaneh were yelling for "pun-pun...low keek! Kreestofuh, power no IQ!" Sweaty, smelling like trash and starving, we all pile in for the 2 hour drive home in the van, stopping for a serious 4 course meal about an hour out from the camp.

I think I may just throw the pictures up on my Facebook as often as I can as opposed to putting them up here. It's too much of a pain emailing them from my phone individually, saving them on here in the correct format (which never works anyway). Maybe I'll be able to save them from Facebook and plug 'em in here. I feel like I am one of the very few of my generation who doesn't understand computers. I swear I used to.

Oh well, grilled banana time.



Heaven.