Charn Chai Muay Thai (Pai)

Pai = Mosquito heaven. And at night... the crickets take over. They are so damn loud. Fortunately by the time my head hits the pillow i am too tired to care. But if you are a light sleeper ear plugs would be a must. I arrived at the gym during the evening training session yesterday. There were a hell of a lot of people there. It wasn't the most welcoming atmosphere, but then gym's never are. Everyone has resting bitch face cause they are tired and stare at the fresh meat because its just a new face in what is often a tightly knit community. Either way, found Kerri-Ann who I had chatted with via email and she sorted me a place to stay and explained the training regime. She told me that the next day would be much quieter as a lot of the trainers and students were heading into Chiang Mai the next day (friday) as they were fighting Saturday night. I'd seen the flyer when in Chiang Mai so already knew about the event. It did mean that todays training, my first session at Charn Chai, was missing the head coach Bee and all the killers. Which I gotta say I am very happy about. It was really nice to have my first session without that pressure. Find my feet a little and get over the unexpected without the fight level guys in the room/barn. Without a clock or any perception of time sometimes you need to survive that first training session so you know how much to give. I went a little easy on the pad rounds because i didn't know how many we were doing or what came next. Now I know I can do everything, it's about working harder.

Tips: Packing notes

Things I regret not packing: 

 Rash guard - it's so sweaty and i don't want to go shirtless. 

Hand wraps - The ones i bought are elasticated and I wrap too tight. 

 Things which have been amazingly useful: 

 Re-usable zip ties - dealing with my luggage these are amazing. 

Aerosol Bug repellant - spray yourself and it clears the room your in.

Chiang Mai - Temples

During my walk around the old city i took some snaps of the various temples. Seen one you have pretty much seen them all. I realise thats slightly rude. But its the same with Christianity. Walk the streets of York or London and you pass churches constantly without realising it and they rarely differ. Some are slightly more ornate, some are slightly larger. But they follow a theme. Granted its a very pretty theme.

And check out these lovely tourists who didn't fancy walking between the beautiful sights. Hilarious. Lazy buggers or just mad efficient?

Chiang Mai

Chiang Mai was a lot of fun but very brief. Managed to cram a lot in without getting sucked into the backpacker stuff I had always planned on avoiding. 

 I had booked 2 nights at place called 'Eco Resort' when I bought my flights. Nothing wrong with the place but it was over priced. Usual case of when you buy something Thai in England it costs you twice what it would if you just showed up. 

 First day I wondered the streets and bought some clean shorts, a T-shirt and some underwear. Managed to find a Thai boxing gym and joined in for the evening session. They were nice enough to lend me shorts and hand wraps so I didn't need to buy them before mine arrived. Session was good, only new experience was the one on one rounds with the main teacher. You do three rounds of pad work. This was extremely exhausting, all my prep has been endurance running. So all of sudden doing high intensity bursts was very taxing. Seemingly a different energy system. I would recover quickly but my power would fade so fast through the round. 

Best part of the experience is when the teacher shouts when you hit the pads, its this shout of "Whey!" followed by a smile and a chuckle. At the beginning of the round he would shout this when I threw my right high kick. It's so encouraging. Crosses the language barrier perfectly.

 Training session over I went back to the room got showered and changed and headed out to Thaepei Stadium to watch some Muay Thai fights. This stadium is so different to what I have experienced in the past in Bangkok (Lumpinee). This is basically a ring surrounded by bars and totally aimed at drinking tourists. The calibre of fighter very much reflected this. No one really seemed bothered about winning or losing their fight and they had a 'half-time show' where 5 blind folded 'fighters' got in the ring and had a round of blind folded boxing. They were like clowns. But people seemed to enjoy it.

 The fights that stood out as exceptions were the lady fight, 2 young boys (12), international fight (Poland vs Thailand) and the main event. The polish guy was much bigger than the thai... But notably older. If I had to guess I'd say 40. So fair play to him. But for all his efforts the thai guy was just playing with him, laughing and takin his time. But when the Polish guy got aggressive the Thai ramped it up, knocked him down with punches then ended it moments later with body kicks. Liver KO. Brutal.

 The main event featured a fighter from the gym I had trained at during the day. I was sat nearby and they recognised me as they approached the ring. A few bows and hand shakes later I was sat with them in his corner. I don't speak any thai so i wasn't helping. But it did allow me to get some good photos... and soaked during round breaks when they covered their fighter in ice cold water. He won his fight with knees to the body. It was a good fight, good way to end the evening.

 The next day my bag arrived from the airport so I checked out and jumped on a mini bus to Pai. 3 and half hours north into the mountains we went. The surroundings changed dramatically. Especially after the first hour. We started to climb and it was clear there was a hell of a lot more moisture in the air. As we climbed the plant life flourished and we went from arid city limits to full on jungle. If you have seen a vietnam war movie then you can picture what it's like. Muddy, slippy, dense with fog rolling in from the mountains and rain showers once or twice a day where the sky just falls. Sounds way worse than it is. It's not the Thailand of post card fame. But the temperature remains so much more bearable.

British Airways - You Suck

I had three flights yesterday. British Airways managed to lose my bag on the first flight from Manchester to London. So the bag never made it onto the flight to Bangkok, or the subsequent flight to Chiang Mai. The 45 minute flight from Manchester to London was delayed by 70mins and that seemed to mean the 3 hours arriving in Heathrow and leaving for Bangkok wasn't enough for them to find and move my bag from one plane to the other. This was less than graciously told to me as i stepped onto the 11 hour flight to Bangkok. I spent the next 4 hours sat in my seat stewing about it before eventually getting some sleep. The Thai customer service teams in both Bangkok and Chiang Mai have been great (especially in comparison to the rude UK team) and I have been told the best case is my bag will arrive at 21:00hrs tomorrow... or 21:00hrs the next day. I'm only planing on being in Chiang Mai for 2 days, if this bag doesn't arrive then I'll have to look at staying a little longer to wait for it. Guess I better go find some cheap stuff to do that doesn't require a change of clothes. After being so clinical with my packing having to buy new clothes and wash stuff is very frustrating. But in a more positive light... I'm now in Chiang Mai! Off to find breakfast and explore little.

Packing complete.... I leave tomorrow at 13:24.

I have just finished packing 90% of what i planned on taking into my back pack. I have had to cut down on the protein and the shaker cause it just took up too much space. 

But things i have added are: 

 Knee support x 2 (road running has taken its toll a little) 

Books (topics including Norse Mythology, Buddhism, Hindu and the fighters mind.) 

Mains power adaptor 

Surge protected extension lead 

GoPro Camera 

 Yes thats right, a GoPro camera. 

 As a leaving gift my brother decided to buy me a GoPro so I can film bits of my weird and wonderful adventure. It is an awesome little toy and a massively appreciated gift. 

 Now the pressure is on me to actually do something worth filming. 

 I downloaded the GoPro studio software and had a little play. It's incredibly basic but should do the job for basic media management. The camera comes with a little clip so you can attach it to the front of a backwards turned baseball cap. I'm going to embrace the little beauty and try and film little bits of my journey tomorrow so I can cut it down into a little flash frame of the 30hours on the road. Hopefully that will give me some media to play with and also show you guys where I am and what the place i'm staying in looks like. 

 But yeah toys aside its go time.

One way plane ticket and that hat and bag. Simple.

Light Packing for my one way trip.

Now that I have booked my flights i have focused on my packing. My original intention was to limit myslef to a hand luggage sized bag to allow me to hop on and off flights without the risk of lost luggage and the subsequent delay. It would be pretty awful to miss a flight due to waiting at a carousel for your luggage to be off loaded from the last late flight.

 I could have made the size limit but unfortunately due to limitations on how much liquid you can carry in the plane and also one single pressurised can (aerosol bug repellant) I have accepted I will have to check my bag. As a result I have planned for a small, rucksack with dettachable compartments (molle) to allow me to pack in sections and strip off the little side bag which will contain my hand luggage for in flight entertainment.

 Below is a video showing what I have prepped so far. Any good ideas please shout at and suggest. still image:

 

Content: 

3Kgs Whey Protein

iPhone running case

Massage balls

Foam roller

Flip flops

Protein shaker

Shin pads

Knee support

Multi vitamins

BCAA pills

Calcium supplement

Cod liver oil

Caffeine pills

Herbal diarrhoea medicine

Gaffer tape

Unlocked mobile phone (burner)

Glow sticks

iPhone battery pack 4000mAH

Waterproof iPhone case

Fabric plasters

Latex gloves

Medical kit (sterile gauze, bandages, scalpel, medical tape etc)

Scissors

Water purifying tablets

Poncho

Para cord

Whistle

Fire lighter kit

Head torch

Bush hat

Tiger balm

Voltarol (muscle pain relief gel)

Deep heat (adhesive patches)

Painkillers (all types in quantity)

Anti bacterial cream (for open cuts)

Hand steriliser

Anti septic spray

Insect repellant (x4, 1 without DEET)

Insect bite cream

Energy tabs ( to add to water)

Sun screen

After sun moisturiser

Thai Baht ( cash)

Passport

Bank pin generator 

Headphones x3

MP3 player (separate to iPhone)

Apple TV

Lap top

Mouth guard (fitted)

Sunglasses

Paper copy of itinerary

Wash bag (very basic)

Combination padlock

Weight lifting gloves and straps

Tactical gloves

And survival kit.

(Contents listed below in images)

Planned purchase once in Thailand:

Decent knife (strap to bag)

Loose clothing

Muay Thai gloves, hand wraps, shin guards.

Muay Thai fight shorts.

Ticket Purchased - I'll be flying on a jet plane, not sure when i'll be back again.

So my dates are now set in stone. 

 My brother has settled on October 18th for his engagement party and as a result I have booked my flight out of Manchester for the 20th. I figured 1 day for hangover recovery was a sensible move. 

 I fly from Manchester to London Heathrow. Then have a few hours in the airport before onto Bangkok. Here I transfer again for an internal flight up to Chiang Mai. Each flight is a seperate flight with a different airline so I'm going to be checking in and out a fair few times. It's inviting lost luggage and delay issues but its the only way to get where i'm going. But 3 flights to catch should be fine. Failing that hopefully my holiday insurance covers any major screw ups. 

Talking of holiday insurance, I have paid for 6 months up front covering my Muay Thai training. Damn was this an unexpected expence. £295. Did not see that coming. But thought it best to buy it now whilst it's still in £'s rather than get there convert it to thai money and then be too tempted to go without knowing what it could aford me in Thailand. It's not a good risk to take so thought the better of it. 

 For the 3 flights, each transfer is between 4 and 6 hours wait time in the various airports. This adds a great deal to the journey time but seems unavoidable. At least it breaks things up though and i can walk around and get the blood pumping rather than risk DVT sat uncomfortably cramped for an extremely long haul. Longest flight i have ever done was 14 hours followed by a 1 hour break and then a subsequent 9 hours. Really cant face ever doing that again. Anyway I digress... 

 Travel time is as follows. Leave home Monday 20th at 1300hrs. Arrive Chiang Mai 1900hrs on the 21st. Ignoring the time difference thats 30hours travelling before i have to try and find the place i'm staying. Thats pretty bad, but it will be fine. Done worse. It does mean that I have booked 2 nights in a Chiang Mai hotel for when I arrive. That will give me time to recover from the travel, have a decent shower and get my head around how I'm going to get that last 120Km too Pai. 

2 days to sort one bus trip... easy. 

 Then I'll be there... Charn Chai Muay Thai... 6 months of insurance, 6 months of visa's and no return flight. I guess after 6 months we'll see where the wind takes me.