Fairtex Muay Thai

I first discovered the Fairtex Muay Thai gym back in 2005 while I was still a student at Frank Shamrock's MMA academy.  On a Saturday evening in November I drove to the Fairtex Gym off of 140 Hawthorne in San Francisco to witness Boxing and Muay Thai smokers.  We had a few students that were participating in those and I wanted to show them my support.

Much to my dismay, by the time I arrived most of my fellow trainees had left the venue already.  There were still a lot of fighters that were going to participate but I did not know any of them.  Not only did I not know any of them but I did not have an interest in watching them fight either.  

So with nobody to really watch I decided that I should just tour the place.  At the time I had never entered an actual gym that specialized in Muay Thai.  The gym itself was really clean and I found myself hanging out at the pro shop.  I then saw that they were handing out free vcd's that promoted the gym in Thailand.  I got a hold of a few VCD's (I only needed one), bought a few items, and then I made the trek back home.

As soon as I got home that evening I popped in the VCD.  It contained about 4 - 5 documentaries that centered on the Fairtex Gym in Bangplee, Thailand.  I would end up watching all of the documentaries that night but one of them really made an impression on me.  

The longest segment of the VCD was a program that was produced by National Geographic.  The segment, which was aptly titled A Fighting Chance, chronicled American Sam Sheridan as he trains at the Fairtex Gym in Thailand for his first Muay Thai Fight.  The documentary itself was interesting and entertaining.  There was nothing really special about it but a few months a later something even more revealing was about to be released.  

While surfing Barnes and Noble online I discovered that Sam Sheridan had written a book.  Titled "A Fighter's Heart" it chronicled Sheridan's Travels to learn Muay Thai, Kung Fu, and even MMA.  I ordered a copy for myself and was delighted to see that the first chapter was dedicated to training in Thailand as well as documenting the same experience that I had watched on "A Fighting Chance." 

Reading that first chapter had made an impression on me and it was then I decided that I should try to learn Muay Thai.  I found out that Fairtex had opened up a gym in Mountain View and they offered a free intro session with one of the trainers.  On one of my days off from work I drove to Mountain View to train at Fairtex.  I was told that I would be training with one of their "junior" trainers who went by Christian.  

I liked Christian, that 30 minute session alone changed the way I threw kicks.  I liked it so much that I booked a private training session with him.  It was not practical for me to travel 2 - 3 times a week to Mountain View from Stockton to take the group class.  I figured that if I took a private lesson I could learn more, practice on my own, and after a month or two take another one.  

I was able to book a session on the same day that I took my parents to the airport in San Francisco.  So after dropping my parents off I headed south to Mountain View.  Unfortunately when I got to the gym I was notified that Christian had quit.  I was not pissed but I was really disappointed.  To the gym's credit, they did book me a session with Muay Thai legend Jongsanan Fairtex for the same price that I paid for Christian.  

A week later I came back to have my session with Jongsanan.  I learned all the fundamentals that day.  Stance, footwork, punching, and kicking etc.  I then did pad work for 5 rounds with 4 minutes in duration with 30 seconds rest.  I then had a follow up session about a month later with Jongansan and again I was blown away with what I learned.  

I was then told that if I wanted to experience more then I should make the pilgrimage and train in Thailand.  I have no contacts there and I did not know of any other gyms other than Fairtex.  Fairtex has two gyms in Thailand with locations in Bangplee, which is a about 30 minutes away from Bangkok, and the flagship gym in Pattaya which is about an hour and a half.  I figured that since I had the money I should just train in Pattaya.  

I wrote extensively about my first trip to Thailand on my January post back in 2009.  I have travelled and trained at Fairtex on five separate instances from 2008 to 2013.  Fortunately I was able to blog those experiences while I was staying and training there.  Familiarity, friendship, and loyalty has always brought me back to this gym. 

At Fairtex, not only did I befriend my fellow trainees but also the staff.  Ted Okuno had always assisted me in booking my trips.  The staff at the restaurant always remembers me (do not know if that is a good thing), and there are other members that still call me by name.  It is the most professionally run gym that I have encountered in all my years in going to Thailand.

The gym itself is about a 1500 baht (roughly $45 US) taxi ride from Bangkok.  Within walking distance (pretty much behind the gym) is an independent  taxi service that can give you a ride from the gym to the airport for about 800 baht (about $24 US).  

It is located by Pattaya beach and there are malls, high end restaurants, and markets that can satisfy your shopping cravings.  For better details about the training experience you should check out my older blogs.  Unfortunately I did not blog my trip in 2009 but I did blog in 2010, 2011, and 2013.     

       

       

Japan Prologue

It's been a few months since I updated the blog.  Actually the last post was not our last day in Japan.  On Sunday morning October 19, 2014 both Sherryl and I were prepared to leave Japan.

At our hotel, The Best Western Shinjuku, we pretty much braved the bland breakfast for the whole week that we were in Tokyo.  The previous day we had an awesome brunch at Slappy Cakes which happened to be a famous breakfast chain from Oregon.  Both Sherryl and I loved our meals there and we both decided to head back out there again for our last meal before the limo bus takes us to Narita International Airport.

After we packed we went to the lobby to check out, leave our stuff in the lobby, and get some food before our taxi arrives.  It was then that Sherryl notifies me that our flight is delayed.  Delayed 3 hours to be exact.  At first I was bummed out but then I realized that there's nothing that I can do.  The hotel stuff informed us that it is safe for us to leave our bags in the lobby while we go out to eat.

We head out of the hotel, hang a left, and walk straight for Lumine Shinjuku.  We get there without incident and have to take the many flights of escalators to the 7th floor.  Even though Sherryl and I get there before it opens a line had already formed.

Despite the line our wait was not long and we were promptly seated.  I then realized that this would be our last meal in Tokyo.  I ordered the same meal that I had the previous day and Sherryl had something different.  It was fitting that we had a meal like that before we had to leave.

After finishing up we walked back to the hotel, got our stuff ready, and before we knew it our taxi was right there waiting for us.

Taxi drivers in Tokyo are well dressed and the cars, although old compared to the taxi's in Bangkok and Singapore, are immaculately clean.  Our taxi driver takes us to the bus stop, we unload our bags, and in less than 15 minutes we load our stuff onto the Limo Bus and it promptly takes us to Narita.

I really wanted to look outside the window to get another last look of Tokyo.  I remember driving into Tokyo from the Airport and I really like what I saw.  However as soon as I got onto the bus I just fell asleep.  And when I woke up it was just a few minutes before we entered the Airport.  Couldn't believe that I missed that whole drive.

After we got into the airport and checked in our bags the reality of our delayed flight started to creep in.  I absolutely hated waiting.  What made things worse was that the WIFI at the airport was down as well.

Finally after a few hours both Sherryl and I were able to board the plane.  Our flight was uneventful.  We flew straight from Tokyo to San Francisco.  This was a first for me.  For my first three trips in the past we flew from Bangkok to Taipei, stayed a few hours, and then flew to San Francisco.  After I started adding Singapore to my Thailand trips we would fly from Singapore to Hong Kong, and then from Hong Kong to San Francisco.  One time I took a flight from Singapore to Seoul and from Seoul to San Francisco.  There was always a stopover.  I actually liked those as I got to stretch out and eat good food at the airports.  This time it was just a straight flight which is also good considering the time we would be saving.

When we landed, we went through immigration, baggage claim, and customs.  We waited for a bit but my cousin Edward and his gf Melinda were able to pick us up and bring us back home.