Tuk Tuk's, Shopping Malls and the home of Professional Muay Thai...

Tuk Tuk's - They'd make a fun GTA/Saint's Row 2 side mission!



I wonder if Tuk Tuk travel is covered by travel insurance? for the uninitiated they didn't go that fast, but the only thing between you and the bitumen was air and the drivers own sense of control.

MBK Shopping Mall Bangkok



MBK Shopping mall in Bangkok. I was told that the King's Birthday weekend was the biggest shopping weekend in the world. It was busy compared to an average day in a Melbourne shopping centre, but it was relatively quiet. When this photo was taken Bangkok airport had only just opened, and they were working around the clock to get the backlog of travelers home safe. Lucky for us while the last Bangkok International Airport blockade started while we were over there, by the time we got there, the airport was a ghost town, we checked in, ate, shopped and boarded with time to spare and the flight arrived half an hour early in Melbourne.

Lumpinee Stadium Bangkok



This is a video of a couple of knockouts that we witnessed in Lumpinee Stadium. Unfortunately we weren't there for one of the big fights when Lumpinee is packed to the rafters and the place goes wild. The first fight in the video was probably the most fun. There were two girls behind us barracking in true Thai fashion for the fighter in the red trunks. I could only imagine what it would be like when the whole stadium is alive.

The second fight was between a Thai and an English guy. The Westerner started really strong, probably too strong. After 2 weeks of watching fights you notice when two Thais fight they take the first round to just test their opponents. It's sometimes kick for kick, while they see what each other are made of. Anyway, I guess for westerners it's a case of trying to knock the Thais out before they can wear you down. Because their bodies are so conditioned they can take a thrashing like a rent-a-car. In any case, this westerner got winded at the end of the second round, and the Thai fighter exploited this in round three with devastating consequences!

sityodtong & multimedia

The other week I had the privilege of training for one day at Camp Sityodtong in Pattaya Thailand. Trying to explain it would not do it justice. Been the spiritual home of Muay Thai in Thailand it has a certain electricity about it. I had concluded it was the sound of the place, but that would deny the sight, smell and the people. Before we got there I had no intention of training. I had seen Sityodtong in documentaries and I knew it's reputation around Pattaya. But walking in was a whole different story. People call it basic, but when your training muay thai fighters you don't need much. A couple of rings, a whole lot of bags, a good number of trainers and 20 or 30 students training. It was lucky i had brought my gear with me because once i drank that place in i couldn't resist becoming part of it...

The camp is instrumental in changing lives. Adopting young orphans who have nothing but a bleak existence to look forward too the camp teaches them what it is to be cared for, respected and how to respect themselves and each other.

One 2 hour training session was not enough at Sityodtong, I hope to return there in the future for a longer period of time.









A side note about the Sidebar
I've set up the sidebar with a slideshow from my picasa web albums and my personal youtube channel. I'll try and keep these updated with new pictures and videos next year. There are no videos showing because i think it displays a minimum of 4 clips. Seeing i have only uploaded one, none appear.