2013 + 2014

I started to review my year, or better, my journey so far yesterday and want to continue with this today.

After I suffered the injury, I didn´t fight for six weeks. This interfered with my plans to fight once per month as long as I am in Thailand. But after this break, when I started to prepare for a fight again, an idea came up in my mind: The Thais fight so much, even several days in one week. Who says I cannot do this as well?

As I already mentioned in older posts, the Thai idea of fighting, that it is something you simply do instead of making it a big deal, is something I really, really like. And I envy them for this, for it seems to be a ´natural´ attitude. Muay Thai is the national sport so it is strongly connected to the culture of the country and to the people. Combat sports in Germany are far from being mainstream. When I came to Thailand the first time, I was used to having six weeks for preparation for an upcoming fight. What made me kind of stunned, when I was asked if I want to fight in a couple of days – thus I didn't fight here during my first stay.

But this year, I stay longer and I have time. In addition I try to learn the language, get to know the culture and try to understand the Thai way of living and of course the Thai way to teach, train and fight Muay Thai. I will never completely understand this martial art; simply because I didn´t grow up with it, it is not a part of my culture. But I can try to make it a part of it by copying behaviour and routines. So why just fighting 12 times in a year? If my physical condition allows it, I can fight more than that.

And so I did in December three fights in 14 days, being succesfull in all of them, even accepting a fight on one hour notice, what was a completely new experience to step in the ring without being focussed 100%. For me it is special to fight so many times in such a short time, but for the Thai fighters it´s just business as usual. Still, I am proud of the five fights I did here. I got a lot of experience and I definitely want to go on with a high pace – so maybe one day, it will be normal to fight every couple days.

Even if I wasn´t able to have a MMA fight so far, what is basically what I like to do even more than fighting Muay Thai, I am really, really content with the outcome of my first four months in the country of smiles. I learned a lot; the fighting is going well; I always performed as good as I could, even when I lost; I didn´t get hurt really badly and besides the sport I met many, awesome people. I am able to speak at least a bit Thai and there is nothing that tells me, that the next year will not be as good as this one.

So what are my plans? First, I will fight on the 5th of January again at Loikroh Stadium. The fighting on a high pace has to wait because I will have a two weeks break afterwards from training. My body needs it (maybe I will write a detailed post about this) and my girlfriend will come here. The perfect time to get some distance between me and the sport in order to come back refreshed and relaxed.

In the end of February I have to do my next visa run – I will use this to travel, get some more input at other gyms and maybe return afterwards to Team Quest or end up in a gogo bar in Pattaya... no, not really. I will keep my focus on fighting in 2014 as well. But don´t ask me where I will go, where I will train or what ever happens. The only thing I know is there will be a lot of training involved.

So after an awesome 2013, what are my good resolutions for 2014?

Simply put: same thing as last year. Training my ass off, seeing new places and fight, fight, fight. Hopefully I can do five more fights, before I leave Chiang Mai at the end of February. I´ll keep you up to date!
Happy New Year and thank you for following my blog!

 

My Buddha (middle) will keep an eye on me in 2014 - at Wat Doi Suthep

2013

The year 2013 is about to end and with that the first four months of my journey passed already. It really didn´t feel like four months, the time passed by so fast. That means it´s time to look back and assess this journey so far – did everything work out as I planned it? Were my expectations fulfilled?

If you are already following my blog for a while you may already know the answers that come with these questions, but I also want to come to a conclusion so far and furthermore I want to look ahead. Since I arrived everything worked out perfectly, from travelling to Chiang Mai, to finding a flat and to getting the training started.

As far as I can judge my own performance, I think I evolved in several parts of my game, I did in Muay Thai as in MMA and grappling as well. It is amazing how fast you make progress when you train so much. It is way easier to concentrate on a specific technique or weakness because there are no long timeframes between the classes. After practicing one and the same movement for one hour, you realize at the end of the morning session, that if you change this little, tiny thing it may be the key to making the movement way more effective. There is no time to forget something either. A few hours later you will step on the mat again and simply continue where you had stopped before.

I had only two pure boxing classes per week in Germany because all the grappling, wrestling and Muay Thai classes had to fit into my training schedule as well. Now, while I was injured, I had 22 classes in two weeks. Even if I wanted to train so much (boxing), I neither had the time nor the possibilities to do so in Germany.

For example: On Monday, one of the coaches tells me to do this and that while sparring and try a new way of movement or so. By Friday I had improved visibly. Goals are reached way faster and it feels like training on a magic drug. It is not like I didn´t train much before since I trained six times a week for the last three years; but this double up of the classes leads to a whole new pace of effective learning.

But there were also disappointments. The worst thing that bugged me, or still bugs me, is the knee injury I suffered during a sparring session. I have no idea what really happened because it began to hurt the next morning. The pain is still there. Even if I don´t think anything got badly injured, this injury has affected my schedule even after two months. There is absolutely no problem during training, and even competing, Muay Thai. However, I barely did any grappling in the last weeks – bending the knee and sitting on my lower legs, as you do in all the top positions in grappling, causes pain after a few minutes.

I have this fantastic opportunity to live my dream, but the time for that is limited and I don´t want to waste my valuable time with resting and recovering from an injury. What I want is to use this time for the sport, to get as good as possible in this year and learn a thousand other things.

On the other hand, I guess, this is part of the everyday life of all the professional fighters: Dealing with injuries and adjusting your schedule around these.

So if being hurt will be usual (even more usual than it already was in the past few years) I should view it in a positive light: The injury made me concentrate on my boxing and on the Muay Thai. This has given me the opportunity to compete a lot in the pass weeks.

Well... that doesn´t hide the fact, that I missed dozens of grappling classes and, with that, opportunities to make my ground game stronger. But at least there is something positive about the situation.

I keep telling myself that thinking positive helps with everything. I am not sure yet if this is true; but until now, it worked.

Tomorrow, I will continue my review - I´m not finished with you yet, 2013!

Goals

When I started to do this sport I was sixteen years old and had tried a couple of hobbies before such as soccer, badminton, dancing, acting and playing the guitar. It’s not that I didn´t like these activities because I did all of them several years (especially for playing theater I spent a lot of my free time). But when I stepped on the mats for the first time to participate in a Thaiboxing class, I realized that this sport was something totally different. The training was way harder than anything else I have ever done before and, of course, I was fascinated by the concept of being ´strong’ and ‘tough’.

I started to work out at a local gym a few months before I entered a martial arts gym the first time. However, after the first Muay Thai training, moving barbells only was not satisfying anymore. All the time I was doing strength training I wished to kick some pads instead.
Literally, I fall in love with this sport from the first moment on.

After half a year of training three times a week Muay Thai I added Grappling to my schedule. This came due to being introduced to MMA and I liked it even more than just the stand-up fighting. With this second sport added to my list, I started to train six days a week (what caused, of course, some trouble with my parents – "only if it works out with school!") From this point on, the sport became the center point of my life. From this time on, I began to ask myself: What am I aiming for? What are my goals?

When I discovered MMA and became a grappler, I was sure about that I want to compete one day – not only in grappling tournaments but also full-contact fighting. While other say that they want to fight once only, I wasn´t that sure about that before I entered the ring the first time. If I liked it, I would do it again.

And I liked it. And did it again. And again. And again.

Now I made the decision to come to Team Quest and concentrate a whole entire year on fighting only where I could compete a lot and train as much as possible. Where do I want to go? I cannot deny that it is a dream of someday being able to fight at bigger events and that it would be great to fight at a more professional level. Maybe 95% of the people who compete and fight seriously have this dream, so why should I not have this dream too? I am young and I have a lot of time to improve. But what if this does not happen?

Well... who cares? I have fun doing what I do; I don´t have any pressure on my shoulders that I have to feed myself from fighting and to be honest. I don´t want to put any pressure on my shoulders by telling myself that I have to reach this and that level, fight at this and that promotion in order to build a record that is good; or that I want to become the best ever. Of course I want to be good; of course I want to be the best I can be. And as long as I train a lot and step into the ring with the maximum level of preparation while being in excellent shape, I am not willing to blame myself for a loss, as long as I gave my best in- and outside the ring. 

enjoy.

 

 There are so many really tough guys out there. So many of these guys could finish me without using any effort. So why become so results-oriented? I think this could make me overlook the fun at competing if I catch a losing streak or get hurt badly.

Right now, I can step into the ring with a smile on my face – willing to win while giving everything I got to achieve this goal. All this I do without having contracts or other events or whether or not I impress someone with my performance and all this stuff in the back of my head.

I just like fighting... maybe that is the only goal I need. To have fun.

To be on a budget - part VI

After a few weeks it´s once again time to continue this series. Today I want to talk about the things that are expensive and which are cheap here – so you know what you should bring with you and what you can leave at home.

What to bring and what to buy here?

Thailand is way cheaper than many western countries. Nonetheless you should be careful because you cannot always find a good bargain here. Before coming to Thailand, you may think that you can leave some stuff at home, because you can buy it here instead and save some money. Well... that works... in some cases.

You want to leave electronic devices at home? Don´t do that! Electronics are the same price or even more than in Germany. So if you are from the US, you will pay more than at home for sure. The same goes for supplements. I checked out every single pharmacy and supplement store in Chiang Mai – for a 5lbs protein bucket you pay approximately 10€ (~ 400 Baht) more. Only fish oil capsules and mineral- /vitamintablets are slightly cheaper.

On the other hand drugs are really, really cheap here. You can get all the basic medicine you need for when you catch a cold or accidentally cut yourself. These can be bought 24/7 at the supermarket. A box of painkillers, pills against a sore throat, wound disinfectant, tigerbalm or other ethereal oils cost around 1€ (~ 40 Baht).

Clothes CAN be cheap, but at the mall you easily pay the same price as in a mall at home. The huge supermarkets, on the walking streets and on the night bazar you can get some seriously cheap tshirts, shorts, jeans etc. You can get good quality t-shirts from 100 Baht on up and some good, simple sports shorts from 120 Baht and up.

Of course Thailand is famous for its tailors and because it´s cheaper here than in other parts of the country, even Thais travel the 700km from Bangkok up here to get a tailored suite. I haven´t tried this yet but I have seen advertisements and two friends got themselves shirts: They paid 1300 Baht and one of the tailors here advertises that you can get a set which includes a suite, shirt and tie for 120$.

Food Basically, is the cheapest thing you can get here. It is super awesome. There are thousands of restaurants in Chiang Mai and you can get healthy, good quality food at every corner – even a few minutes walk away from Team Quest. For a delicious plate of fried rice with vegetables and meat you pay 30 – 40 Baht; in the city center around 60 Baht. A huge, deepfried chicken breast costs around 40 Baht; a snack of barbecued prok on a stick maybe 15 Baht and a fresh made papaya salad is 25 Baht here. As long as you eat Thai food, it´s nearly impossible to exceed your budget even if you eat a lot. If you prefer eating burgers and stuff, have fun paying more than 200 Baht for one BigMac.

But from time to time you need the fatty fastfood (At least I do - just had an awesome XXL pizza at ´Duke´s´ for Christmas). It´s way more expensive to eat western style food, but still cheaper than at home – for a HUGE pizza I paid 450 Baht, for an Irish breakfast at a pub it´s around 200 Baht. A sushi buffet is approximately 300 Baht and a Thai BBQ buffet around 180.

Thai food - simply delicious

Alcohol is ... well... if you think it´s cheap or not really depends on where are you from. Alcohol is super cheap in Germany so 60 Baht for a 0,6l bottle in a supermarket isn´t cheap for me, . But most of the people I meet consider drinking to be cheap here. At a bar you pay slightly more, maybe 90 Baht, and for a small bottle of the cheapest whisky, you pay 200 Baht at a supermarket and 300 or more at a bar. But if you take training seriously you will not jeopardize the succes of your effort by wasting your money for alcohol. Of course you won't, right?

For now, that´s it – I hope this helps you by estimating how much money you need here. If you have questions -> leave me a comment!

Learning Thai

When you make it to Thailand to stay long-term it is highly advisable to learn at least the basics of the Thai language. As I already outlined in my post ´to be on a budget – part V´ it is not only a great way to save some cash but it also opens the doors to understand the culture and the people. Many Thais don´t speak English well, so mastering all-day situations is a lot easier and more fun when you are able to communicate with the people in their own language. Furthermore my experience is that you have the approval of most of the Thais because it shows effort and an honest interest in the country.

The main difference between western languages and the Thai one is, that Thai is a tonal language – one and the same word can have different meanings depending on how you pronounce it, e.g. in which tone you say it. There are five different tones: Mid-tone, low-tone, high-tone, rising-tone and falling tone. For example the word ´naa´: Inter alia it can mean ´rice field´, ´face´, ´thick´, ´page´, ´in front of´ and ´next´... depending on the tone you use when saying it.

This may sound complicated and could make you think it is simply not possible to master this language, but it is easier than it seems it is. What makes Thai a lot easier to learn is its simple grammar. There are no declensions and conjugations. If you ever had Latin in school you know that complicated grammar is the worst thing ever. But not in Thai – after gaining a feeling for the sentence structure it is easy to build correct sentences over and over again.

So after encouraging you to start learning a new language, the question is where to do so. When you train at Team Quest Chiang Mai you have tons of choices. There are dozens of language schools in this city and I want to share my experiences with you. First I had a couple of single classes with a friend who owns an English school. This didn´t really help me. The system of learning the pronunciations by simply repeating what the teacher says doesn´t work well because there will always be gaps; for example, you are not sure how to pronounce it right, because there are no letters in western languages to write it down correctly.

After this I decided to participate in a six weeks course at A.U.A. Language Center at Thapae Gate, right in the old city, a ten minutes bike ride from the gym. I finished this first term a few days ago and I am really happy that I made this choice. The system of the American University Alumni Language Center is a completely different one. In the first couple of lessons they teach you all the different vowels and pronunciations the Thai language has and introduce you to "new" letters which stand for a specific pronunciation (these letters are easy to learn, like for example two turned around cc´s). Then they make you learn how to say the different tones correctly and how to tell the difference between them when you hear them. Basically the first week is more like a singing class.

A nice place to study - the A.U.A. site

 With these basics it is a lot easier and less frustrating to learn vocabularies. The schedule of the six weeks course is based on everyday use, meaning you learn the grammatical patterns with examples atoned to real life situations, such as asking for the way or ordering food. I was able to apply the newly learned stuff to my everyday life real quick and with the book they offer I’m still improving my Thai.

The price for a six weeks course is 4800 Baht plus 250 Baht if you buy the course book. You don´t really need the book but I highly recommend buying it because it´s great to review the lessons. The lessons take place daily for two hours from Monday to Friday and there are a maximum of 12 people per class. Because A.U.A. is an officially licensed school by the government, you can even get an education visa through them.

I already signed up for the next course at A.U.A., starting in January – it is a great feeling when you are able to talk to the people... I kind of feel more at home here now.

If you have questions about learning Thai at A.U.A. or in general, simply leave a comment!

One of these mornings - Part II

In the first part of this blog post here I described one of those mornings, when you would do anything else than stand up and go to the gym. The question I ask myself is why do I do this? Why do I do things I don´t want to do?
It is kind of crazy to take one year off to simply concentrate on what I like the most and, when it isn’t fun anymore, to continue.

Of course, if it is only one day on which you don´t want to train, it´s easy to say that you should just keep doing it. But when there are a couple of days in a row – when you go to bed in the evening thinking already about the next morning, not wanting to stand up early and being everything else than excited for the workout or days on which your body tells you that it is time for a break – then what? Or may it be just your mind trying to convince you that you should listen to your aching body but in fact it´s the laziness inside you?

Sometimes there is just the problem of being able to motivate yourself. Times that once you’re on the mats, you´re realizing you’re having fun with drills and exercises. But during a bad week it isn´t even fun to work out: I step on the mats feeling tired while checking the time way to often, waiting for the two hours class to end. And when doing padwork, I curse the padholder when he makes me do 20 fast middle kicks.

What is it that keeps me doing it? I can do whatever I want; I have no obligations and the freedom to go where ever I want to. No one is stopping me from lying on a beach and having an ice-cold beer; no one is hindering me from going partying or forces me to train twice every day. So basically, in a bad week, I am doing something I don´t have to do. And, add to that, I don´t even enjoy participating in the training twice a day, six days a week.

That sounds... weird. Maybe stupid. And don´t think that I am already completely aware about my reasons on why I do this! But I have some idea: The easiest answer may be to say that I simply want to get better - wanting to get better means that I have to work hard for it. Then you might wonder: would it be that much of a difference if I would take a day off or just train once a day?
For me, it is. What keeps me motivated on these days is that I want to be sincere – I want to be honest to myself.

I don´t want to be one of these guys that go to the gym once a week and tells everyone about what tough fighters they are but what is waaayyy more important, is that I hate having the feeling that I tricked myself into skipping a class.

In my opinion that is what makes fighters and serious, competitive sportsmen different from most of the other people: There are no excuses. We believe that every missed training session due to a lame excuse is a sign of weakness – a weakness your opponent will use against you to beat you the next time in the ring. Having a bad excuse for skipping the workout will make it easier to skip the next one too and so on. It is as if I fear this process, this process of becoming lazy.

isn´t always fun - padwork

I am not one of these talented guys that watch a movement once and can copy it nearly perfectly – my body control is quite average as is my talent for this sport. To overcome this lack of talent I simply have to work harder. And not to train because I just don’t want to, means failure to me. Not to train means never becoming the best I can be. It doesn´t even make me happy not to train...

... because I know it´s wrong. Deep inside, I feel that I’ve cheated myself of a day’s training and, with this, an opportunity to become better. A feeling of hatred, even a little guilt, eats me up and I cannot even enjoy the day off. Instead, all I do is think about the training I’ve missed.

So, to answer the question as to why I get up every morning, rain or shine, motivated or not; I do it for myself. I do it to improve; to push myself to the limits and test my boundaries. I want to be better, no, not even that, I want to be the best I can be. When I step into a ring, I want to be able to say that the fighter in the middle of the ring is the best fighter I can be – that I am in shape and there is nothing I forgot to prepare for.
Then... it doesn´t matter to lose anymore.

"Let´s go and watch some fights!"

It is Wednesday night and again I am at Loikroh Stadium and the air is filled with the mix of the traditional Muay Thai music and the electric sounds of chart songs. But this time I am not preparing to step in the ring as I did just on Sunday, but playing pool with a friend – but maybe it would be better if I would fight instead of playing pool: Basically I do not have any skills for this game.

Anna from Sweden will fight her 6^th fight tonight which is the first one for Team Quest. Even if I should be relaxed because it is not my show time tonight, I am slightly nervous. Anna seems to be quiet relaxed and is joking around while she gets her hands wrapped but for me it is always weird to see a friend fight. It may be the feeling of being powerless or of not having any influence on the fight that causes this restlessness. After having had a bunch of fights, the body got too used to switching into fight mode - now the mirror neurons trick me to make me wanting to fight myself.

I am leaning over the pool table and aiming with the billiard cue at one of the balls, when I hear Ni shouting my name behind me. When I turn around he beckons me over: "One of the fighters didn´t show up. You want to fight tonight?" A few seconds I stare at him and think about it. Back in Germany I always took one week off after fights but since I am here the pace is a completely different one. Sunday was fight night, and while on Monday I did not train, I already trained on Tuesday and today – two training sessions and a fight on the same day?

"Well... I don´t have any equipment with me" I reply. Ni grins at me and the promoter simply says: "No problem! Just go and get it from your flat!"

Back home it is difficult to get a fight. Weeks before the event you have to tell the promoter that you want to fight on the card and then you hope that you get an opponent and he does not get hurt while preparing for the fight. And now, they offer me a fight right away? I cannot let this chance slip through my fingers.

"Okay! I´ll fight!" The promoter starts laughing and gives me a thumb up.

"Nat can take you home on the motorcycle – get your stuff and come back!" Ni commands.
We jump on the motorcross bike and race along the Chiang Mai nightlife, avoiding big traffic jams in the center by speeding through tiny side alleys. I get my stuff and we return to the stadium. Ni wraps my hands in a hurry – Just when I start to warm up, it is already time for Anna to enter the ring. She delivers a good fight and finishes it in the fourth round.

Then it is my turn. My opponent is quite aggressive and attacks me with furious attacks of flying kicks and a spinning elbow. It is a huge difference if you have time to focus on a fight or if you step in the ring on short notice. I am physically in good condition, but I am far from being completely focused. I get distracted easier by the audience and in the second round my opponent makes me nervous when he becomes more relaxed, drops his hands and goes forward without being scared of getting hit.

I switch into a more aggressive manner and use more boxing – the fight becomes faster, less technical and harder. It works: I can cut off his way, land a huge boxing combination and when we end up clinching he goes down. He does not get back up so my hand gets raised by the referee.

Anna and me after the work is done

Another fight, another victory and more experience in the ring on my record. I am glad that I accepted the fight. It was still fun but I definitely prefer to have time to focus. That I got nervous shows me that I lacked self-confidence.
The mental preparation is quite important – maybe I should accept more fights on short notice in order to get more experience in focusing faster during fights ;)

BBQ Chips

It is one o´clock in the morning and the night is mild, even though it rained the entire day. With my legs stretched wide before me, I am sitting on the stairs of the 7/11 supermarket and have a bag of extra spicy BBQ chips. They taste so unhealthy, so damn salty and are full of flavour enhancers, glutamate and other chemical stuff – but I enjoy it. Even if it is an early Monday morning, there are still a lot people around and besides the chips I was able to get some fried rice with pork and sweet, Chinese dumplings.

The noisy sound of hundreds of cars on the highway has gone and has been replaced by the concert of a thousand-frog-choir and a million-cricket-orchestra playing the background music. I smile – I may pass this 7/11 every day and could sit here whenever I want to, but this moment feels special. It is one of these moments when I realize that I made it to Thailand to live my dream; and not just for a few weeks. It is when I realize that the life I live here is the best I can imagine: Full of opportunities, without any duties and as much training sessions as I want to.

It is one of these moments you will remember for a long time. It is just this picture of me sitting there with a friend, watching the people, enjoying my massively unhealthy cheat-meal and being absolutely content and happy. And for sure, I will not have a bad conscience for committing that BBQ-sin. Because I earned it.

Today I won another Muay Thai fight and got a lot of experience out of it. My corner told me, or let´s say they basically forbid me, to rely on my boxing. I had to concentrate on my Muay Thai skills, trying to clinch and knee a lot instead of taking advantage of the lacking boxing skills of many Thai fighters. Back in Germany I fought under K-1 rules (which do not allow clinching and elbows) and MMA, but the clinch in MMA is completely different to the one in Thaiboxing.

Well taped hands - ´If you did this in the US, you´d go to jail, man!´

So my corner told me not to do what I feel confident in but to concentrate on the part of the game I have hardly experienced yet and I would say I am not that good at. Furthermore, my opponent was a Thai, so he knows how clinching works – fighting the shark in the ocean. This made me worried a bit when climbing over the ropes but I accepted the challenge.

The opponent was tougher than the last one but I followed the instructions of my corner (´Don´t let him kick you! Kick first!´) and, instead of avoiding the clinch as usual, getting into it. I was far from controlling him easily, getting dominant positions or breaking his balance, but I was able to shot many knees to the ribs. Even if they were not the hardest ones... many lighter ones start to hurt after a while too.

But what I am really proud of is that I landed a couple of elbows – before I came to Team Quest I barely trained them because they are forbidden in the most German MMA events. I hit him with short right elbows in the clinch to the forehead and finally made him go down with a bigger one to the temple in the third round.

I am glad that my corner gave me the advice to go without my boxing and play the game of traditional Muay Thai. Three rounds of good clinching experience are worth a lot because I think I will soon face opponents that will not be impressed by my boxing and force me to clinch with them... might be better to have some skills then...

I am not really hurt, so I will look forward to fight again soon!

One of these mornings

I am running through the jungle, jumping over old, fallen trees and green plants I have not seen before. My feet find their way through the brushwood, avoiding puddles, holes and stumbling blocks like I have trained this for years. The midday sun is slightly shivering through the roof of leaves – outside of the forest it may be hot, but here there is a pleasant cool. I feel free and deeply relaxed, running without any effort and feeling like I could do that forever.

An annoying and loud beeping, one of those you would never hear in a beautiful and silent environment, jolts me out of my dreams. I turn around – outside it is dawning but still dark and the sky is overcast. Then I reach for my mobile phone, turn off the terrible alarm (the software developer who gave the ringtone the name "good morning" must be a cynic) and check the time: 6 a.m.

The training starts in one hour and I reach under my bed for the box with the BCAA´s. Still lying in my bed I swallow two capsules with some water. Already exhausted I place my head back on the pillow. Standing up now and going to the Team Quest gym and train for two hours? Running, pad work, bag work. When I stretch my body carefully it does not feel like it is ready for a workout. My neck is aching from the clinching classes the day before and bruises and other small injuries hurt.

I hide in my sleeping bag, hoping that a wonder will make the time stop so I can get more sleep. 10 minutes later the second alarm reminds me, as unpleasantly and ruthlessly as before, that no miracle occurred. Morose I work myself out of the comfortable bed and scuff into the bathroom. Today the tiles seem to be colder than on other days and my muscles stiffer. Today is one of these days. I train two times a day since months without a considerable break – even if I love what I do, today I am barely motivated to train.

It is early and it is not as warm as it should be (means wearing two tank-tops is necessary while riding my bicycle to the gym. Nothing compared to the German weather but already too cold for me) and my body is aching. Again, going for a run; again, doing pad rounds; again, doing bagwork; again, doing sparring; and again, doing dozens of push-ups. There is nothing I would like to do more than just go back to dreamland.

But somehow I manage to pack my backpack, to prepare my after workout shake and have some bananas for breakfast. If you would ask me, why I do this, right after I stepped out of my door, I could not answer you. Is it because I got used to the routine? Is it because I just do not know what else to do?

training preparations

It is one of these – I don´t want to mornings. Finally I end up in the gym, kicking the pads, the bags and my training partners. And I did not really enjoy it. But somehow I still did it.
If you train you know these kinds of mornings. These types of mornings when you do something you do not have to do. You do not like these mornings. A strange situation.

Why do we do this? I want to think about this in a whole entire post, next time.

- This post is from mid of this week, I just did not have time to bring it up. So I will continues this story after the next post, because I will have to wirte about my fight tonight first ;) -

The gameplan

"He will try to catch your left middle kick! Be careful with these and prepare him with feints, whenever you attempt to kick him!"

- "What about high kicks?" I ask Dylan, the MMA coach of Team Quest Chiang Mai.
"No problem. As long as it´s part of a combination or you trick him before."
- "Ok." I shake out my arms and try to relax my fingers – my hands are already wrapped and I can barely move my fingers. "Anything else?" I look at Dylan with a questioning look in my eyes. Ping, one of the Muay Thai trainers, joins the conversation: "No waiting tonight! Put pressure on him from the first minute! Since his condition isn’t good, rush at him.” I nod.

Being careful with the kicks – ok; this was my plan anyways since I hurt my foot in the last fight after I kicked right into the elbows of my opponent. Feints – ok. We have done that in training. If that is all, I am prepared for the fight.
"Oh!" Dylan adds, "And boxing of course. You should definitely throw some nice combinations. He may have problems with that." That is what I wanted to hear. Because of a knee injury I mainly focused on boxing during the preparation for this fight; so this fits my game plan quite well.

Again I get the pre-fight Thai-oil massage on the concrete floor of Loikroh Stadium and again Ping puts vaseline on my face. Again I wear the Mongkhon and again I dance my Wai Kru. But I feel great – my last fight was just six weeks ago, but it felt like ages. I really wanted to fight again. We face each other in the middle of the ring, bump our gloves and the fight starts.

I do what my corner told me: Put pressure on him. Even if I am not rushing forward, I am still going forward. After the first combination of punches I realize that boxing is definitely not his strength. He goes backwards, barely attempting to counterstrike my punches. We clinch and suddenly he stands right in the corner. There I go forward with a four punch combination and the uppercut hits him right on the jar – he collapses.

I walk back to the white corner, not sure if I really knocked him out or not. Only as the referee turns around do I realize that I did. He raises my hand. When I leave the ring I feel the impact of the punch on my right knuckle. That may have not been the most exciting fight or a fight I could gain a lot of experience from, but it is nice to earn my first real knockout – this felt a lot different than when I won my first fight.

My next fight is already scheduled for this Sunday. When I asked Kru Ni if he can work something out with the promoter so I get a stronger opponent, he grinned at me: "Ok, no problem! Up to you! But don´t cry if you lose!"

I won´t. I promise.

Here is a video of the fight - enjoy!

Thoughts before a fight

I open the door, put my keys on the cupboard and throw my backpack on the small chair in front of the make-up table. Then I connect my new camera with the laptop since I had taken some pictures for the blog when I was in the city and have to upload them now. While the device does its work, I have time to empty my backpack: New toothbrush, some postcards and my Thai language books. I put everything into place and sit down on my bed.

I stare on the opposite wall and take a deep breath: Thai classes are done for today, I bought everything I needed and had lunch. Everything I had to do is done, now it is time to relax in order for me to be focused and recovered for tonight – it is, after all, fight day. With my headphones on, listening to the rhythmically, fast sounds of electronic music, I look back on the preparation for this fight. I trained as much as possible, I did not skip one session, I did not quit with the excuse that I was hurt. There is nothing I could have done more - no excuses, no blame.

All the hard work is done - time to watch the others train

I am happy that I can fight again tonight and I am also already excited to step into the ring, to face my opponent, to stare each other down, both with a slight grin on the face. Fighting is such an awesome experience; it is unique! I have done rollercoasters, freefall towers, paintball and bungie jumping – but nothing is comparable to the feeling one gets when facing another man one on one in a fight. It is a huge adrenaline kick when you jump from the top of a tower, hoping that the rope tied to your legs will save your life, but there is a difference: You do not have any control over what happens. The only thing you have to do is to convince yourself to jump and then enjoy the rush of hormones and chemical messengers in your blood.

But fighting is different: You decide what happens! You do not only decide to get in there, but you make the decision not to quit again and again. With every punch that lands square on your nose, with every knee to the stomach that takes away your breath, with every minute the fight lasts longer and you feel like there is no more power left in your body and with every second your opponent is pounding the shit out of you, you have to make that decision again: Fight or flight?

You could quit, you could simply tap, it is not a fight for your life since it is something you do voluntarily. But you do not. You accept the pain, you take the punches and you fight back. For weeks and months you stood up every morning with aching muscles, trained twice a day, got to bed early, followed a strict diet and got hurt and dominated in training.

And then you climb over the ropes, knowing that you worked hours and hours and hours and now you will have only a couple of rounds to realize the benefits. So much work and now you want to quit? It is not worth it. The way was too long to get here. You did not quit when you were at the gym, then you will not quit when you are inside the ring.

Sometimes, on the bad days, I ask myself: Why do you do this Felix? Is it worth it? All this pain, all this exhaustion, all the sweat, all these tasty things you cannot eat, all the nights you do not spend on a dancefloor or drinking in a bar with your friends because you have to get up early the next morning for training? Is it worth it?

And then I touch gloves with my opponent, I hear the cheering crowd, feel the raw canvas under my feet and start to trade punches with my opponent. Then I know that it is worth it. Then I feel how much I love this sport and how much I enjoy it to fight. It is not even so much about winning; that is just the cherry on the top of the cake. For me, fighting is the ultimate challenge. When I fight, I cannot hide. I show all the people my skills – everyone can judge me. When there is a guy, trying to knock you out there are no excuses.

And there is no reason to be afraid of stepping in the ring: Nothing can happen to you that is worse than what happens to you in the gym. The everyday grind and what your teammates do to you while sparring is much harder than fighting.

But fighting is more fun.

Fighting is pure awesomeness.

To be on a budget - part V

After giving you a general overview over your expenses while you stay in Thailand in the last episode, I want to start getting into details. How to save money every day? I don´t need to tell you that it´s advisable to buy the no name cornflakes instead of the more expensive Kellogg’s if you are on a budget. But I want to try to give Thailand specific tip; things that I had to find out first and things I wasn´t used to from home.

The ultimate advice to save money

This is a point that needs some time to be accomplished. But it´s totally worth it to invest the time and work because it comes with many other benefits AND you save a few bucks: Learn the Thai language! Often you are charged more because you are a tourist – not always but quite often. Make the prices drop just through being able to have short conversations. It works best with Taxi drivers, but also the prices for fruits dropped in my neighbourhood once I spoke a bit Thai.
Furthermore there are often different prices for farang and locals at touristattractions. It is often enough to be able to tell them that you live (and work) here to pay the regular price – which can make you save a few hundred baht easily.

Besides the money aspect don´t forget all the benefits you have when you speak the language: It´s a completely different experience in everyday life!

Taxis

There are different kinds of Taxis. The most Thailand typical ones are Tuk Tuk´s, which are small auto rickshaws. Even if they are not the cheapest way to get somewhere, they are definitely the most fun way. At least once you should have enjoyed the ride in one of these when you visit Thailand. To make it cheaper, you have to bargain with the driver – they are tough negotiating partner but if they don´t want to lower the price to an acceptable level you can still simply leave. Most of the time, they´ll prefer taking you for less rather than receiving nothing. Otherwise you can just try your luck with one of the hundreds of other drivers.

Then there are the "regular" Taxis, comparable to western ones. They have a taximeter and a basic price you pay additionally to the driven distance – in Bangkok the basic price is 35 Baht. You can really go everywhere quite cheap, for a 30 minutes ride you may pay approximately 100 Baht. Be aware! Many taxi drivers try to give you a fixed drive before which is always much higher than the taximeter one would be. Insist on that the driver activates the meter and if he doesn´t want to do that, simply tell him to stop and leave. When I did this, another driver already stopped behind us. They know this "game" too.

In Chiang Mai you have red pickup trucks, which are shared taxis. They are cheaper than anything else most of the time. It may take a bit longer to get to your destination because they pick up and drop off other guests too. You have to agree with them about the price before and if you speak Thai you get the “non-tourist” price most of the time.

These were the first "real life" hints, more will follow soon!

The Visa Run

I jog around the corner and already see the waiting silver van – I check the time: It is 06:50 a.m. I am right on time and the van of the tourist company is earlier than me. Surprisingly, I already expected some waiting time. The driver waves at me: "Mr.Felix?" - "Krub!" I answer (this is the Thai way to say yes). He opens the sliding door of the small van and I find a seat in the first row behind the driver. How wise this decision was, I will realize later.

Approximately one hour later, after picking up eight others, we are on our way up north. Unfortunately we are not going to have a vacation – we are taking a four hours ride. Then get off the bus, walk a few hundred meters, turn around and walk back, do some paperwork, get back on the bus and head back to Chiang Mai. What sounds a bit confusing is what we have to do to keep our visas. If you stay longterm in Thailand, you have to leave the country, depending on what kind of visa you have, at least every three months. "To leave" means to get a stamp and turn around to enter again with another stamp. Do not ask me who invented this law and why!

The landscape is hilly, the streets are winding and the driving style is typical Thai: The road markings are more a suggestion where you could drive if you want to. Most of the people do not care... to be honest, literally they do not give a #%?&. Driving through bends in the road through the oncoming traffic? No problem. Passing before and IN bends of the road? No problem. Attempting to pass over a long row of cars with a minivan before a hump? Well, most of the time not successful, but the attempt – no problem.

I think I have to thank this monk who took care of us during the ride – he kept watch over us from the top of the dashboard.

Actually it was not that bad nor was I in fear of my life (maybe sometimes). But if you are sensitive with rapid car rides, you should definitely get a place in the front row.

While I could enjoy the landscape during the ride, the visa run is a slightly annoying procedure. First waiting in a queue then showing the officers at the immigration office my passport and the departure card (You get this one when you arrive in Thailand, it is important to keep it!). And here it is: The stamp that proves that I left Thailand. I am happy that I have the stamps necessary and just go to the next line to re-enter Thailand again. After waiting a while they tell me that I have to enter Myanmar first to get some more stamps.

Okay - I cross the bridge, enter a small, stuffy room with a few plastic chairs and an old table. A few soldiers are sitting around and laugh and chat. Behind the table sits a corpulent officer in a way too tight uniform. I greet him smiling - "Passport" he grunts. I give him what he asked for – "Sho pin?" he mumbles. While I am still trying to figure out if this was supposed to be Thai, English or even Burmes, he repeats it even more unclear but louder in the same effortless mumbling voice. Anyways, it helps. He asks if I want to go shopping on the market on the other side of the border. I answer no and he presses two stamps on my passport "500 Baht!" - two expensive stamps but at least I get them easily.

Then I walk back to the Thai immigration office and fill in another pair of arrival and departure card. A big Sign says in red "Death sentence for drug smugglers" – even if it is very unlikely that anyone put anything in my bag, I still check it. I do not want to end up being executed (and the Thai government is serious about drugs, no matter where you are from). When I open it everything looks fine, I take a closer look and spot something: A plastic cup filled with white powder. In my backpack? First I am confused, then I am stunned and then I am alarmed, realizing what happened: I forgot to have my protein shake. Damn it. Have to do that before we leave.

I get all the stamps I need and am allowed to stay in Thailand for another three months. Awesome. If you know what to do and the lines are not too long, the procedure can be easy.

Finally I even get a little bit of Christmas feeling while buying some roasted chestnuts. You only get them on the Christmas Markets in Germany – and they are totally overprized. I really recommend getting them; they definitely make the ride back to Chiang Mai more interesting.

In shape

After being able to do boxing only for more than two weeks due to injuring my knee during a sparring session, I was able to start doing Muay Thai in the beginning of this week. Even though the knee still feels stiff sometimes when I do not move it for an hour or so, I can throw kicks again. It is amazing how fast the body adapts to new circumstances – in good and in bad ways.

Monday – I carefully started to throw knees only on Saturday, so now it is time to see if I can kick. Basically I have to because my next fight is already scheduled for Sunday, the 1^st of December. I did not fight in November even though I am aiming to fight at least once a month while I am here. However, it would not have been a good idea to step into the ring hurt.

Pai holds the pads: "Ready?". I focus, turn my hips in to create power and kick as hard as I can. The shin hits the pads and there is no weird feeling in my knee; no pain, no aching. I shake the leg to see if I feel something abnormal. Nothing. We go on and after two rounds I am sure that my knee has healed and is in good enough condition for this. But something else has changed: I am out of breath. Just after two rounds. The pace is high but I still should not feel the way I am feeling right now. It reminds me of my first rounds on the pads after I arrived in September. I do not feel as bad but I am still kind of dizzy and exhausted.

Two days and four pad rounds later: As fast as the body seems to ´forget´ how to do a certain movement in high repetition effectively is as fast it seems to remember how to do the movements right. Okay, my calves are aching from the hundreds of kicks done in the last days but my stamina has returned after working kicks on the pads. The pace is even higher than ever before. Additionally Pai, who is supposed to fight on Sunday, while my fight has been rescheduled for the 4^th of December, and I are doing extra pad rounds and sprints after training.

This combination basically killed me at the arrival at Team Quest, but, as I suspected, it is just part of the ´special attention´ you get when you are preparing for a fight. And I am doing well.

My legs know how to kick again, my boxing has really improved in the last weeks and the conditioning did its work too. Finally I will step in the ring again and I am hungry – it feels as if my last fight was decades ago.

I´m motivated! Can´t wait until Wednesday!

To be on a budget - part IV

So far, where are you right now? You’ve got your visa, you arrived in Thailand and you found a nice flat to stay at. Basically you have already accomplished more than most of the people who are still sitting in front of their laptops, dreaming about training in Thailand but found a good reason to skip the session at their home gym today.

It´s time to talk about what the title of this series indicates: Staying in Thailand on a budget and saving as much money as possible. In today´s episode I will give a general overview of the monthly costs for living and training in Chiang Mai (!) as a farang (!). Why exclamation marks? The first one exclamation is in reference to Chiang Mai: a very cheap city compared to the capital and the south. The second one exclamation emphasizes the high chance that you look as foreign as I do, which makes many things more expensive for you here.

Many Thais believe that foreigners are rich in general. This assumption is kind of right most of the time. Nonetheless, especially for those who stay long term or work here, the assumption doesn´t really fit. Sure, my living standard is still far away from the one of a factory worker but the budget I´m living on (excluded are the costs for training) is, according to worldsalaries.org, the same as the avarage salary of an auxiliary nurse. When I was here the first time on a four weeks vacation I spent more than twice as much in this time than I do now.

When I have to buy something I don´t convert the price to Euro, as I did last year, and think "Oh, wow! These shorts are just 10€". Instead, I think that "well, 400 Baht... let´s hope the quality is good." What I mean to say is, if you want to stay long term, you have to stop thinking like a rich Westerner and start to adapt a Thai-style middle class life. (At least, this works best for me).

The costs of living

1. The flat – 3150 Baht including electricity, water, Wi-Fi and a rented fridge. For more information check out my last post here

2. The training – depending on how long you stay and/or how long you are willing to commit yourself to one location, this may vary. I pay 8000 Baht.

3. Food and other requirements – This includes basically all the other costs - everything you need to live here. Food of course but also things like a new toothbrush, new flip flops, drugs, deodorant, a pair of kneepads for training etc. Also included are going out sometimes, having sushi for 300 Baht or going to the cinema for around 350 Baht. You may say "I just want to concentrate on training! I don´t need this shit!" Believe me, you do. Even including those expenses the budget is still tight, but it is enough to have a good life and be able to buy a few things "for fun".

So how much is it? 11.000 Baht.

As you can see, training in Thailand is expensive compared to the other costs – even for western standards. The prices for training are quite the same all over Thailand, it is always around 7000 – 10.000 Baht with discounts if you stay long term. But for what you get it´s totally worth it.

All in all – my monthly expenses

~ 22.150 Baht per month

More details on how to save money will follow in the next episodes.

24/7

My opponent is right in front of me and only a few inches out of my range. But I cannot see him clearly; just blurred. Maybe it is not even an opponent but a trainings partner – Yes: The location we are at is quite bright and the ring has white canvas, as the one at Team Quest. But I cannot spot anymore details. Suddenly he hits me with two jabs. I duck under his jab, make a step forward and throw a left hook with a lot of power, right to his face.

I breathe out quick and blink. My hand is somewhere over my belly... and I did not punch. I am not in a ring. I am lying in my bed. Grinning quietly to myself I place my hand back onto the mattress. This is happening quite often to me in the last weeks– no matter if I am falling asleep at night or I am going to have just a small nap. I have always tended to flutter my legs or arms while falling asleep, but these uncontrolled actions where barely connected with dreams.

Always when this happens (and it happens nearly daily) I dream that I am boxing. But why do I have these dreams suddenly?

Maybe it is because I have been only training boxing since more than two weeks now. Two classes per day with a lot of work at the focus mitts and many, many rounds of sparring. If this were my job, doctors would tell me that I am overworked since I’ve lost the ability to relax and forget the work for a few hours.

If I think about this, they could be right... somehow. But it is not like that I cannot think about anything else than the sport the whole day. I have a few "projects" that I concentrate on in my free time. Like learning Thai (changed to American University Alumni recently, where I attend classes every day now), looking after my bicycle I really have grown fond of (learned to wrap handle bar wraps like a pro) or bringing my nutrition to the next level and learning more about nutrition theories and science.

It seems more as if the sport has reached my sub-consciousness.

I feel like I breathe this sport instead of air. The last training was just a few hours ago and I am already excited for the afternoon session. How can I improve my game? What will I do better this time than this morning? I do not have to motivate myself to go to the classes. For me it has been routine. This whole process of training so much feels natural. It feels right. It feels great.

Furthermore I do not think this training-even-when-I-sleep-thing is something bad. I interpret it as a sign that my body and mind are united and both completely focused on the sport and my performance. I am taken in what I do – I love the exhaustion, love to reach my limits, love to see the improvements.

And that is why the next fight is already scheduled. After an injury caused a short competition break it is time to step into the ring again. 1^st of December, Muay Thai at Loikroh.
Finally! I feel like I haven’t fought in ages!

A little bit of holidays

One, two, three – I bend my knees a bit to have more power, swing my arms back to build up momentum and jump. It seems as if my stomach moves up inside my body, closer to the heart while I am falling. Just a two seconds adrenaline kick and then my feet hit the water. Completely surrounded by water I immediately feel refreshed from the burning heat of the sun. It is absolutely quite, there are no legs of other people swimming and there are no children diving here. When I look downwards I cannot spot the white tiles covering the floor of the pool – I just see an endless blue.

I come up again and swim closer to the coastline, where the others are standing and sitting in the shallow stretch of water. We are ten or fifteen travelers from different parts of the world who just met here by accident. No one else is here. When someone randomly asked, "Where are you from?" the answer was "Citizens of the world." It would have been just too complicated to figure out who is travelling with whom, who met whom where and where we are originally from.

We chat about our travel experiences and dozens of other things while cooling down in the refreshing, but not too cold, water. After a while I climb up the stony shore, find a nice, big, flat stone to sit on and have a sunbath again.

And again I marvel at the location: Crystal-clear, turquoise water that is amazingly warm, palm trees whose leafs move in the slight breeze and the sun is shining from a cloudless, blue sky. Red cliffs rise up from the water and with heights up to 20 meters they offer the chance for a little bit of adventure: For the leisure time cliff jumper and risk takers.

We are not somewhere at the ocean or somewhere far away from the city. Chiang Mai is a beautiful city with tons of sights and beautiful nature but it lacks something. It is missing a tropical beach and the sea. But being at the Red Mud Quarry makes you forget that. This old, flooded quarry is just a 30 minutes bike or red car (Chiang Mai´s taxis) ride away from the city. 

 

It is a perfect place to relax from a week of exhausting training at Team Quest for me. Peace, a sunbath, a refreshing swim and a small adrenaline boost when jumping from the cliffs. 

I will definitely return to this beautiful place!

To be on a budget - part III

Once you have made it to Thailand you need an acommodation. It is no surpise that the tourist quarters of cities are the most expensive ones. So try to avoid these when you are looking for a hotel. You don´t have to get far, far away from the city center either. If you avoid for example in Bangkok the hotels right at the Kao San Road (the backpacker quarter) you can already save a few bucks.
Even when it says in the Lonely Planet that it is really cheap around the Kao San, my experience is the opposite. For the same price we stayed at a, instead of shitty, small hostel in this area, an awesome, nearly luxury hotel a 10 minute taxi ride away.

You will stay long term and want to rent a flat? Before I came here I found a few websites in English which offer flats for rent – unfortunately just a few flats were as cheap as the one I have now. Especially if you don´t speak Thai, I recommend getting the help from a local if you want to rent a flat (you don´t know anyone? No problem – just do couchsurfing: You´ll meet new people and finding a flat is quite easy here, so it is not much work.).

Most of the housekeepers don´t speak English and I didn´t even recognize most of the apartments that have flats to rent out, because they are just advertised in Thai. But Joel from Team Quest knows all the places around here so he just took me from one to another and it didn´t even take more than 20 minutes until I had my first own flat. It´s not as complicated as in Germany.

Just getting there, having a look at the flat - bed, cupboard, chair; everything is already in there – asking for the price and signing a contract I can´t read.

Where I live, you pay your rent in cash every month and I had to deposit 2000 Baht. If I want to leave I just have to tell the owner one month before.

So what does it cost to rent a flat in Chiang Mai? (Be aware! The north is cheap! Bangkok is more expensive and the Islands are waaayyy more expensive!). I live on 15m² with a small balcony and my own bathroom. Included in the monthly rent is a queen size bed (brand new matress), a fan, a chair, a wardrobe, a small cupboard and – really important if you are a male fighter -- a make-up table. Because you want to look handsome when you step in the ring.

Basic Rent: 2200 Baht
Fridge: 250 Baht
Wi-Fi: 250 Baht
additional costs: ~ 450 Baht

All in all: ~ 3150 Baht/month

Too small for you? You can get houses a 10 minutes bike ride away from the city from 7000 Baht a month.

Here are some pictures of my flat: It´s really nice, clean and extremely close to the gym.

See you in Chiang Mai soon!

Outside the city

Colorful lights are stretched right and left of the narrow street, dozens of naked bulbs dangling over the various foods offered by the small stands. Hundreds of people , mainly Thais, slander between balloon sellers, grills on wheels and game booths. A brutal bass from the oversized sound system near a big dance floor travels across the festival area. The stairs to the dancefloor are guarded by three important -looking policemen with "MP" armbands and helmets.

It's Wednesday evening and we are a group of about 20 Team Quest members who have travelled about a half hour outside of Chiang Mai to a village festival. The village festival is not a cozy, small and quiet one. Rather, it is one of the larger ones and a few thousand people are here .

Piak , the 17 year old Muay Thai fighter will have his most important fight later tonight – he will fight for the Northern Thailand championship -50kg.

We pass our time with exploring the festival area: While having ice-cold coconut juice we try to pop balloons with small arrows at one booth or shoot with plastic bullets on cuddly toys at another one – I am far from being successful in doing this.

Adrien, who fought at Lumphini Stadium several times seems to be well known in the Muay Thai scene here. He shakes hands here and there... but maybe it is just because of the Angry Birds balloon he tied to his wrist which is floating over his head all the time.

I am still not sure.

When the fights finally start you can barely hear the traditional music played because the loudspeakers at the ring are nothing compared to the huge sound system at the dancefloor. But this is trivial because already the first fight is a really good one – from round to round the reactions of the few hundred people surrounding the ring become more emotional and extreme. It is very even fight - until it is ended by a surprising knockout.

The second fight is as thrilling as the first one and every hit is followed by a loud "OOOIIII!" of the crowd. Hands are raised quickly to show how much you want to bet and people are hectically looking for a bookmaker to accept their bet.

Then the third fight is on. Piak´s chance to win the title. Many of the Team Quest guys join the gamblers and we provoke a hustle and bustle when both bookmakers ("500! Wanna bet?") and gamblers ("Is he good? Is he good?") try to find out why the few farang are all betting on this one guy.

We are all nervous: It is not only a friend who fights, but it is a title fight – that it is also about money is just the cherry on top of the cake. These three things together are the most thrilling combination to enjoy a fight (right after stepping in the ring yourself.)
Already in round one Piak and his opponent go hard. With the bell for the first break, the Team Quest fighter even gets hit by a brutal shot which nearly knocks him out.

But Piak does not surrender and fights five rounds straight, trading punches, kicks and dozens of knees while clinching – It is neck and neck. The crowd goes nuts.
An absolutely awesome fight, it is really really hard to say who is better.

When the judges call the fight, my hands are sweaty.

Unfortunately, Piak loses by a split decision. But a lost fight means not he lost the war: I am not the only one who thinks the fight was great. The promoter already scheduled a re-match for the end of December.

Then, the belt will be Team Quest!

Watch the fight – it is worth it!

A flourishing street

The Soi Chomjan is just one of the dozens of small side streets of the highway 108 in Chiang Mai. It is the street I live at, just a 2 minutes bicycle ride from the Team Quest gym. Here are no sports stadiums, no cinemas, no big markets or schools. There are no office buildings or a trainstations. Mainly it is a typical Thai style residential area with the biggest mall of the city, the Airport Plaza, several food markets and the huge Tesco Lotus supermarket within the reach of a 10 – 15 minutes walk.

You can get everything you need within a range of one kilometer – but never the less, the Soi Chomjan has developed a life of its own during the last years. Locals told me that 2 – 3 years ago there was not much on this street. Now, you can get nearly everything you need, at least for your daily life.

I described my neighbourhood in an earlier post, right after my arrival, and was especially happy about the big choice of restaurants I have here. Since I have arrived, now two months ago, this street is still growing: On two construction sites, houses are built that have flats on the second and third floor while the first one is built for small businesses to open up there. Nearly weekly new stores open up along the street: Two are specialised on selling animal food, two new pharmacies and a new milkshake and coffee place are just some of those that started their business since my arrival.

When I walk along the street after the evening training, the tempting smell of rotees, some kind of pancakes, typically sold by members of the Thai muslim community, work up my appetite – even if I had dinner in one of the many small restaurants already. Right next to it a stand offers waffels in chocolate sauce and on the other side of the street a man sells spicy meatballs, right from the grill. There are more stands, offering dried fish and seafood, fancy meatball soup, sizzling barbecue or slightly sweet, deep fried dough.

All these opened up just a few weeks ago and the people appreciate it: Especially in the evenings the street is busy ( but not crowded like the city centre or the saturday walking street), the small parking lot in front of the 7/11 supermarket is filled with a couple of motorbike and everyone is buying things. The people are having dinner in the restaurants together or sitting in the outside areas and having a few beers, cheering and laughing. The Soi Chomjan is flourishing – my favourite restaurant even opened up a second branch even closer to my flat – YES!


You can really get everything you need here. In addition to the 7/11, there are two more "private" supermarkets, 2 hairdressers, 1 massage salon, 1 butcher, maybe 15 restaurants and 15 food stands, 7 places you can get coffee at, 1 bar, 2 pharmacies, 1 shop where you can buy everything from umbrellas to forks, 2 motorbike repair shops, 3 laundry mats, 2 shops for clothes, 1 mobile phone seller and many more I cannot remember.

It is great to live in a lively neighbourhood and not in a boring multi-storey. The best? The gym is in this area as well. Just Perfect!

10 weeks

Waking up from a Saturday midday nap, I feel a flash of inspiration: Writing is known to make you think about things and get a new perspective; a view from "outside". I know that I’ve been having a goddamn awesome time here; but I want to think about in in detail and review my stay so far.

For me it is not only the first time of my life to be so far away from home for so long but I also started to live on my own here: Own flat, own budget, own responsibility. Well... I did not have to do a tax return or so but basically I do not feel like this whole "you stand on your own feet now"-thing is so much different from living with my parents. It is nice that I can do whatever I want to and that I am independent but it is not really difficult. Some people (around the same age as I) overestimate this.

I arrived ten weeks ago and since then I have seen many awesome places in and around Chiang Mai: Temples, student cafés, coffee shops etc. But the most astonishing thing has been, and still is, the nature here in the north of the country. The hills of Doi Suthep are a few-minute bike ride away from the city center and you can explore breath-taking waterfalls there, enjoy a broad view to the end of the horizon and find silent places hidden in the jungle. It does not matter in which direction I leave the city, I always find silence and exclusive, relaxing locations. Absolutely awesome!

But I have not only seen things, I’ve met dozens of new people – people from all over the world. Most of them have a comparable story: They quit their jobs to come here and are having the time of their life now. Not only the fighters at the gym, but also "ordinary" people who now teach English to earn additional money to their savings to stay as long as possible.

It is great to meet so many young people in such a short time. Everyone is interested in making new friends. Everyone wants to enjoy his travelling and everyone is eager to hear stories from other countries, lifestyles and cultures. I love this and wish more people at home would have this easy-going attitude as well.

“What about the sport?”, you may ask. The main reason why I came here is to train. I train two to three times a day at Team Quest Thailand, six times a week and not once was I not motivated to train. All the technique classes, all the sparring sessions, all the rolls, all the bag-work, all the conditioning – everything pays off already. I can name the techniques I have clearly improved, I can tell which specific punch is harder, faster and more precise now. I see how my game in sparring improves, how much more stable I am while doing takedowns and how my positioning has gotten much better in these situations.

There is a team spirit. You can get brutal all-out sparring or a relaxed technical round – whatever you want. Just talking to the teammates and everything is good.

I fought two times and gained a lot of experience from both fights. I learned and performed my first wai kru. Kicked some ass and then got mine kicked.

There are so many other things I enjoy here. Examples being the polite behavior of the people, the weather (I have seen some pictures from Germany right now – I really do not miss the winter), the food, learning about the Thai lifestyle every day and much more.

What is my impression of the last ten weeks?

I love it – and recommend it to everybody!

So, gosh damn it! Why are you still sitting in front of your computer? Book a flight, pack your things and come here!


Felix – still as in love with Thailand as on the first day