So I landed in Bangkok around 12am. I was greated by a guy named thek or something like that and he was friendly. Once i stepped out of the airport, the humidity hit me! I could feel my jeans steam up and it was a feeling i havent felt before. He took my bags and loaded them into a new VW van with a huge foto of Yodsaenklai on the side of it.
As we drove around, i noticed that we were driving on the opposite side of the road which the US is normally used to. We ventured out to bangplee and it looked very rual. I noticed the repetitive ammounts of 7/11s.
As the driver pulled up i could see the mysterious gym I have only seen fotos of. Illuminated by streets lights, It was captiviating to finally be in the mecca of muay thai. I was sent to my room and i started to unpack. I tried to sleep but was so excited to hit some pads.
I woke up at 7am and thought about running, but didnt see anyone else around that was running. I decided to wait for marc, the PR rep that hooked me up, so I could pay my fees for the fairtex training. I was greated by marc around 8am and to my surprise he was half thai guy from NY/NJ. Hella cool. We chatted a bit and found out he was new to fairtex and went to school out there. I told him I wanted to train with Ja-Krit, but ja krit was book with 2 female aussies. I was taken on a tour of the compounds and discovered peacocks, and other animals that Mr wong has. Rumors have it he has lepards and dobermans.
After the tour, I was introduced to Ja-Krit. Marc told him I was from Fairtex SF and that I run with Jongsanan,and Ganyao. He then offered to train me after the aussies. Ja-Krit reminded me of my dad, Real gangster looking with a scar on his face. Tattoos and earrings. I can tell he was a Gangster back in the day just by his deminor.
I told marc that i would want to train with rambo, who was mt views visiting trainer. He took me in the ring and told me to warm up. I started to shadow box and I was dripping with sweat. I decided to remove my tank top and train shirtless. after the 2nd round i gassed out. The humidity was killing me. I was told to start ruining in the morning and told me to start 100 sit ups. After 4 rounds with Rambo i was drainned. DYING. He told me to shower and get food. After that he would take me to a market called Super C.
I showered in my room and i was sweating while i was in a luke warm shower. Its thailand so im not expecting cooling or heating. I showerd and took a 5 minute break before I went to eat.
I went to the dinning area, where i was greated by a nice guy from florida trainning there as well. He told me how things were and what happens on a regular basis. I went to eat and to my surprise the food was delicious. We has some SPICEY chicken basil, some rice, and some really good eggs and green onions and pineapple chuncks. I was surprise how good it was.
After I finished eating rambo and a fellow i met from texas wanted to go the market. I didnt have money because my ATM was blocked because i wasnt smart enough to let them know i was traveling to thailand. Marc, being the nice guy he is, drove us to the super C market.
Once we got inside i was crazy, cell phone vendors, indoor frying of goodies, clothers and on the upper level, was the market. Rambo took me to evey ATM available in Super C and i was denied all day. I went and bought some water and headed back home. Rambo told me to sleep and see him at 3:00.
I went to my room, contacted kristina to help me out with all this craziness with my ATM and verizon. After that was settled I went back and slept in my room.
I woke up to the sounds of cracking pads.I woke up put on my thai shorts and headed to the rings. Rambo told me to warm up and again i was sweating like crazy. The first two ronds were strong, 3rd round started to gass. I had to do multilpe sets of 10 kicks left and right in humidity. I was DYING again. The last round, Rambo wanted to clinch with me and commensed to slamm me all over the floor. This is what i was looking for. to learn the clinch and be strong in the clinch. After teh 4th round, Rambo grabbed the water and started to rub my body cuz i was dying of exhaustion. He told me i was really strong, told me to run and jump on the tires. I felt good about it. Rambo is a really nice guy aka saen chai.
I showered and went to the dinning area for din din. We had chuncks of water melon, chicken and salad and a very very taste noodle dish with chicken. SOOOO BOMB. it really does taste like thai lola cooking.
I decided to start photographing, and found an interest with the kids. In my opinion, the children are the stars of fairtex, they are the future champions. Most of the peopole that fight stop fighting in their 20s due to taking soo much injury. I took my hassey and saw this lil kid working with Rambo who was going to fight in JUNE. Rambo calls these guy "Man Boys." Rambo pushed him really really hard. to the point where i felt sorry for this kid. As his father watched, rambo started to drill and yell at him to work and what seemed like to hit harder in thai. AT one point the kid started to cry, I dont think he wanted to train this hard. Something inside of me wanted to give this kid a hug, but its muay thai, cant take it.. dont do it.
I shot a portrait of this kid and some action shots of him doing pads. My next shoot will be with Ja-Krits son. This guy is 12 years old and he is super swole, six pack hella cut and nasty on the pads. He is already a 3x champ and will be fighting soon. This kid is a beast, by the time hes 18 he should be just as good as yodsaenklai.
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