Sunday, August 17, 2008

Bangkok Trip

Right so the week before was a very eventful week. The Opening of the Olympics 8th Aug,Singapores National 9th Aug,me leaving for Bangkok on the 10th Aug and the Queens Bday 12 Aug!!!

Olympic ceremony was pretty amazing!! The lights,the choreography,the fireworks and the whole stadiums atmosphere was just awesome!! Should have booked my tickets to go Beijing...!! Had some clients who attended the opening ceremony so can't wait to catch up with them and hear the stories and see the pictures they took! So Singapore won their first Silver medal in YEARRSSSSSSSSSSSS......but yeah the taxi driver on the way home was like..."Cmon,it was China vs China!! They are not Singaporeans!!"....hahahaha....

So after a night out with some friend on National Day. I was off to Bkk bright and early on Sunday morning!! Was sooo happy to be going to Bkk again.....Last time I was in Bkk was.......? Dec 2007?....That for me is a LOOONGGG time!! Got in mid day checked into a cheap hotel for about 600Baht a night near MBK the giant shopping mall. Shopping heaven for some...Crowded nightmare for others!!!

Bkk is like 2nd home to me....I love it there so much!! I know so many people there it's crazy!! It's always calling around catching up with people when Im in town. First person I met up with was my brother from another mother,Soren NTG Eminent Air!!! We met up at MBK and had some coffee and donuts!! We had a good time catching up on whats new or happening in muaythai, life in the Thailand for him, life at the gym, fame...crazy girls...and more muaythai!!.... We always have so much to catch up as I used to train out at Eminent Air when I was first starting off....so all the trainers and gym owner knows me.

I asked Soren if there were any good fights and he told me his gym mate, Jomhod Eminent Air was the main fight that night. Jomhod is an awesome fighter....think he fights at like 105pounds? Jomhod Eminent Air,was 2 Time Lumpinee Champ,Channel 7 Champ and S-1 Champ. He was undefeated for quite awhile and I remember he even had to switch over to Boxing for 6months coz he couldn't find any opponents in Muay Thai even tho he was fighting a weight division up. (And STILL WINNING!!)



So Monday,called my buddy/sponsor Oak from muaythaistuff.com and we met up and went over to his warehouse to do some shoppppping!!! Got a whoooolllleeee load of gear from him!!! For a moment I thought I was gonna be seriously over the weight limit on the flight back!!!... Muaythaistuff basically carries most of the Muaythai brands like,Windy,Twins,Raja and King and he sells them all on his website. He also runs the UBER cool muaythai Tshirt company, Tuffboxing and also the Muaythai shorts company Kombat Gear where you can design it all on the Kombat Gear website and get it delivered right to your doorstep anywhere in the world!! It can't get any better than that!!

So after a whole day of shopping at the warehouse and spending lots of my hard earned money!! It was time to get ready to go down to Rajadamneorn Stadium. Called up my good friend from the UK,Rob Cox who has been living in Thailand for the last couple of years. He runs a website muaythaifocus.com and takes some awesome muaythai pictures as well as update people on latest fights in Bkk!! He speaks,read and writes thai fluently so you can rest assured that his facts are pretty much SPOT ON!!! He had good news for me as he told me that my camp mate Linglom was fighting that night too!! Excellent!!! Get to see two of my friends fight that night!!!

Arrived at the stadiums and I called my gym owner and we went to get the tickets but I followed them to the changing rooms and ringside. I love it how at the stadiums there are local thai price and of course foreigner priced tickets. hahaha Perks of being a fighters sometimes!!

I went straight to the changing rooms and saw some of my camp mates and trainers from both Tor.Chalermchai and Eminent Air. My campmate, Linglom was getting oiled up,massaged and ready for battle. He was fighting Rung-Anant Sit.Noomnoy and Rung-Anant was just being massaged right next to him!! Totally not awkward at all?!?!? haha Walked over to say Hi to Jomhod and my old trainer....and he said,"Soren at home sleeping!" hahaha

It was nice to see them again. Some of the boys were saying to me (in thai).."Oh we saw you fighting on TV!!" I asked them...."Was it the one I won or lost??"...They said..."Lucky it was the one you won,coz If we saw you losing we wouldnt have told people we knew you that night!" hahahaha cheeky bugger!

Linglom was up soon and the trainers were just putting the armbands and headgear on before they made their way out. I love to see how the trainers and fighters say their prayers as the armbands and headgear are put on and also when the gym owner goes up to remove the headress.


My gym owner the cowboy Mr.Bon,Linglom and Me.
Mr Bon saying prayers and removing the headress for Linglom

Linglom is just awesome to watch in action. He is just reallly reaaaaaaaallly fast. He had some very fast hand combos and finished off with some low hard leg kicks in the first two rounds. Going into the 3rd Round his corner told him to keep going for the legs and Linglom did. Linglom however landed some very hard straight punches and even though Rung-Anant had his guard up,he was still shaken by the force behind the punches....So Linglom changed his tactics and came in with some BIG punches rocking Rung-Anant cozing him to wobble once or twice!! Round 4 Rung-Anant knew that he had to keep in grapple so that Linglom couldn't punch. Round 5 Linglom came out with everything and everytime Rung-Anant tried to grapple,he'd slip out push him away and land som HEAVY combos!! And as Linglom landed the punches the stadium got LOUDER AND LOUDER....it's just an awesome experience going to watch a fight at the big stadiums in Thailand highly recommended even if you're not into muaythai!! Linglom landed alot of punched and as Rung Anant went down Linglom landed a knee to Rung-Anants face knocking him out cold. Rung-Anant was knocked out pretty badly....he had to be stretchered off the ring to the medical room.

Last piece of advice before Linglom comes out of the corner to knock Rung-Anant out!!

Linglom jumps around the ring and my gym owner Mr.Bon goes up to congratulate him and puts the flowers around his neck. Showing what Muaythai is all about.....RESPECT and alot of sportsmanship,Linglom goes over to check on his opponent and to apologize to Rung-Anant's corner. An awesome performance!! Winner by Round 5 Knockout. Linglom Tor.Chalermchai!!!!!


The talented Jomhod in action at Rajadamneorn Stadium

We all went out to watch Jomhod Eminent Air fight and this was I think only his 2nd fight back after having done Boxing for the last 6 months. Jomhod is just awesome to watch he's so cool and and his eyes are really sharp.. he reads his opponents really well.....reading punches and kicks and countering them. His opponent pressed forward alot but the fact that Jomhod was just in control of the fight the whole 5 rounds made him look the stronger of the two fighters.

So what a way to end the holiday!! Two wins from two of my friends! Watching fights and hanging around the stadium really makes me miss Thailand alot. Makes me miss the awesome quality of training that is available there.

Right so thats all from my trip in Bkk....as much as I try and take a break from MuayThai when I'm on holiday......I always ended doing something related to it still!!

LaterZ





3 comments:

Asy ' Ari said...

wow,such a long entry,but was all worth it.I thought ur blog was dead as yesterday i tried to go to ur blogs' link,but it ended up at the google's website. hahaha.You should update more !!!
~I so wanna go Thailand !!!

Anonymous said...

amazing country, amazing people, amazing food...

just a great place to escape to ...AND runaway to if somehow singapore becomes an underwater piece of land in the next 50 yrs or so =P

anyhow, anything or any place with an exotic appeal is a fetish and thailand my friend, is one of them strange, mysterious realm on earth..

lucky you ... can u sense my jealousness?? lemme tag along the next time you go there again... haha

Bangkok Hotels, Thailand said...

Thai Boxing show is very beautiful and memorable fighting art.Thank you for sharing the story.It's very informative.