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.
