Camps in Thailand

[Ryukyu Damashi]

When I first went to Fairtex Pattaya in 2007, I thought it was awesome. I went back in 2009 and thought it sucked. Honestly I don't think the training was that much better in 2007. It's just that I had trained at a shit load more camps since my first trip and my expectations were higher.

I also went to Fairtex Bangplee in 2010 and found the camp empty. I didn't stick around to train, just hit their pro shop.

 

[GoatyP]

I visited (not trained) the Emerald gym in Ao Nang this past December. I think that gym is pretty "Thai" as you can get:

It's a pretty spartan gym with most of the gear held together with duct tape. It is a 5 minute drive off of the main road in Ao Nang. The gym is at a quiet location and is enclosed by trees and shrubbery.

Ao Nang is a chill seaside town where you can find $10 bungalows. It's becoming more and more touristy but whatever.

Edit- I forgot to mention, but make sure to bring your own gear. I thought Thailand had MT shops on every block... Unless you stop in BKK you may have a tough time finding anything.

 

[gotobread]

The pro shop in Pattaya is small, but I was able to grab a nice Fairtex t-shirt pretty cheaply. The pool is nice and the restaurant was pretty good. There's also a decent massage joint right behind the "sports" wing of the hotel. Of course the air conditioned gym is great, as well. But the training was... not good. The trainers really didn't give a shit about me or the buddy I brought with me and they seemed infinitely more interested in selling us tickets to fights than they were improving our muay Thai. This was in 2010 and I believe I wrote a bit more extensively about it in a review I posted here.

 

[Ryukyu Damashi]

Wil, the owner of Emerald is a nice guy. I really need to get out to his gym sometime.

 

[Deathstriker]

What about Koh Phangan? Heard it's quite the seasonal party island with stuff to do.