After three plane rides and over 30 hours of traveling I have made it to my destination of Phuket, Thailand!

I have been here a few days now and finally getting settled in 🙂

I decided to visit Thailand for a few reasons:

1. Why not? I mean it’s Thailand! They say it’s paradise out here (It is!) 😀
2. I want to train Muay Thai! I have been practicing Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu (BJJ) for about eight months now and wanted to switch things up. And what better way to switch things up than to go from a non-striking martial arts like BJJ to the brutal sport of Muay Thai! Which specializes in rib breaking knees blows, knife cutting elbows, shattering shin kicks and just overall bloody guts.

I did some research and decided to pick Phuket because it’s Thailand’s largest Island and has some of the best training academies Thailand has to offer.

Phuket Top Team is where I am training. Not only do they offer Muay Thai but also have classes in Wrestling, BJJ, Boxing, Dutch Kickboxing, MMA, Yoga and strength training!

I am in heaven!

Phuket Top Team  is located in Chalong, on a street called SOI TAIED also referred to as “fighters street”.

This is because there are many fighting gyms, cross fit gyms, yoga studios, healthy restaurants and much much more!

I want to focus a lot of my time on training so picking a location which offers conveniences is important to me.

The hotel I am staying at is actually right next door to Phuket Top Team, called Studio 77.

Pretty much everyone here is doing some sort of fitness training so it’s nice to meet people with the same interest.

I arrived around 1:30 AM on Wednesday, April 12th. By the time I got to my hotel it was 3AM. I was so excited to be here that I did my best to nap but ended up waking up and going straight to my very first wrestling class from 9:30 AM -10:30AM. I had a 30 minute window before BJJ started. Ran next door to my hotel, cleaned up, drank some of my hemp protein powder that I brought with me form the states, put on my BJJ Kimono and headed to the 11AM -12:30PM BJJ class.

Both the wrestling and BJJ classes went great! Both classes were packed and filled with humbled athletes.

After my BJJ class I was tired lol. I took another quick shower and headed down Soi taied to find me a refreshing drink. I ended up drinking a watermelon and kiwi smoothie.

But my stomach didn’t feel right yet to eat a full meal, so I decided to walk a little.

I found a pure vegan restaurant and decided to go for the vegan tacos.

While waiting for my meal my mouth started to salivate. And I really knew what this meant… I was about to throw up haha

I ran to the bathroom and saw all of that watermelon and kiwi go down the drain.

But I felt A LOT better after that. Sat down and ate those tasty tacos.

I was thinking about skipping the 5PM Muay Thai class but remembered being told that the gym would be closed the next two days due to the new year holiday called Songkran Festival. It’s a water festival. And the people go into the streets having this huge water party.

I took a nap and felt much better and decided to suck it up and head to the TWO hour Muay Thai class.

I’ll say this: Muay Thai is no joke.

lol it was the toughest training I have done so far. I started to cramp up at the end in my legs and calves. But I made it though and slept like a rock that night haha

I’ll go into further detail about my training in future posts but want to talk a little about this water festival.

I woke up sore but yet excited to walk the streets and experience this new year tradition.

But as soon as I got out there I couldn’t help but become somewhat down.

As you walk the streets, there are groups of people having fun, blasting music and smiles all around. Which is lovely.

But despite all the beautiful people enjoying their new year I couldn’t help but see the waste.

Literally, tuck loads of water would be transported to refill the water bins that would ultimately be thrown to the ground.

I couldn’t help but think of all the people out there who don’t have access to clean drinking water.

It rubbed me the wrong way.

I did my best to enjoy walking around but didn’t want to partake in actually throwing away the clean water.

I had my go pro camera on me and had pre determined that I would get some good footage… but as soon as I got out there, it didn’t feel right. I didn’t take any videos or photos of the festival.

For me, I don’t want to share or support ideas or traditions that go against my beliefs. Especially when it is already known world wide that millions of people don’t have access to clean drinking water.

If counties put as much time and energy into sharing their water instead of putting it into supper soakers to wet others for fun, the world would be in a better place.

I could go on and on about this. But I already know I am preaching to the wrong choir.

I’m just venting out a little.

I don’t want to end this post on a downer… Just letting you know how I feel 🙂

I will continue to keep you updated on my training and anything that catches my eye.

Below is a video I made showing the hotel and where I am staying during my month stay in Thailand.

If you like the video and find it helpful please like and subscribe! If you don’t like it please comment why because your feedback is important to me 🙂

 

Thank you for taking the time to read and watch my post…

Until the next one!

David