Thailand Training Guide Table of Contents THAI CUSTOMS......................................................................................................................................2 VISAS........................................................................................................................................................5 COMMON SCAMS...................................................................................................................................9 SAFETY...................................................................................................................................................19 THAI WOMEN........................................................................................................................................21 FOOD & SUPPLEMENTS......................................................................................................................27 TRAINING IN PHUKET........................................................................................................................33 MUAY THAI CAMPS IN PHUKET.......................................................................................................34 ENTERTAINMENT IN PHUKET...........................................................................................................38 GETTING AROUND PHUKET..............................................................................................................41 COST OF LIVING IN PHUKET.............................................................................................................44 TRAINING IN PATTAYA.......................................................................................................................47 MUAY THAI CAMPS IN PATTAYA......................................................................................................48 ENTERTAINMENT IN PATTAYA..........................................................................................................51 GETTING AROUND PATTAYA.............................................................................................................53 COST OF LIVING IN PATTAYA............................................................................................................55 TRAINING IN BANGKOK....................................................................................................................57 MUAY THAI CAMPS IN BANGKOK...................................................................................................58 GETTING AROUND BANGKOK.........................................................................................................62 ENTERTAINMENT IN BANGKOK......................................................................................................66 COST OF LIVING IN BANGKOK........................................................................................................69 Copyright Notice All contents copyright C 2009 by FightPassport.com. All rights reserved. No part of this document or the related files may be reproduced or transmitted in any form, by any means (electronic, photocopying, recording, or otherwise) without the prior written permission of the publisher. So having got this book, you’re clearly thinking about coming to Thailand or you’ve already decided, booked your flight and now you’re just anxiously awaiting your departure date. If it’s your first time coming, you’re probably a little nervous since you have no idea what to expect. The first time I came to Thailand was towards the end of 2007 and I had the trip all planned out with a buddy of mine. We had been planning it for months. About a week before we were supposed to leave I started getting a little nervous. You know - just the fear of the unknown kicking in. With each day that passed - and as my departure date grew closer and closer - my levels of anxiety gradually increased. The night before I was booked to leave I was sitting in my room, just adding some last minute items to my suitcase, and my phone rang. It was my friend - and fellow ticket holder for the Thai airways flight to Bangkok - and he had some bad news to deliver. I’m sure you know where I’m going with this. He called me the night before we were supposed to leave to tell me that he changed his mind and wasn’t going anymore. At least he had a good reason though. He was bailing on a one-in-a-lifetime trip to Thailand because he couldn’t bare to be away from his girlfriend at the time. Genius, huh? Since then, he’s obviously regretted his decision and prior to my second trip, he actually bought another ticket but ended up bailing again for the same reason! But it all worked out for the best. He ended up breaking up with the girl and at this very moment, he’s stuck in a snowstorm working a ridiculous rent-a-cop job while she’s at a resort in Cancun with some other guy. So the lesson here is that if you have the chance to come, take advantage of the opportunity. It can be scary (especially if you’re coming alone) but I guarantee you won’t regret it. As you grow old and look back on your life, you’re definitely not going to regret traveling the world. You will however regret it if you don’t. It’s a big world and we’re here once, so you might as well take the time to see it while you can. THAI CUSTOMS Thai people love their King, as indicated by the hundreds of portraits of him displayed throughout the country. Do NOT disrespect this man. Alright, before you come here, there’s a few things you need to know. The first - and without a doubt, the most important - is the fact that the Thai people love their King and if you disrespect him publicly, you can expect everything from dirty looks, beatings, and even jail time. Before Muay Thai fights and even before movies at the cinema, they play a tribute to the King which you had better stand your ass up for. If you don’t, you actually run the risk of being arrested and thrown into Thai jail - which they refer to as the “monkey house”. Just stand up and save yourself the hassle, it’ll make your holiday a lot more pleasant. And speaking of respecting (and disrespecting) the King, you also need to be aware that all Thai currency has an image of him on it. Because of that, you want to avoid crinkling up your bills and you certainly want to avoid stashing money in your shoe because in Thailand, the feet are considered to be dirty and the lowest, less sanitary part of the human body. So needless to say, placing something with the King’s image on it underneath your “dirty” feet won’t go over well - although I doubt doing so will trigger the same uproar as refusing to stand during one of the tributes or verbally bashing him to your foreign buddies and having Thai people overhear what you’re saying. Interesting story. During my first trip here, I strolling down one of the side streets (soi’s) on Bangla road and I saw this unbelievably hot girl dancing on one of the table tops. I obviously wanted to talk to her so when our eyes locked, I did what I thought would be a smooth move to entice her to come sit with me - I kicked out the stool a bit from under the table to signal here to come sit down. When I did that, I didn’t quite get the reaction I was hoping for. Rather than hopping off the bar and rushing to join me, she gave me a disgusted look and turned the other way. Wow I thought, rejected by a bargirl (aka prostitute) in a third world country - it’s time to just give up on life. Might as well stop showering and break out the mustard-stained sweatpants because I’ve officially hit rock bottom. Okay, that’s a bit of an exaggeration - but I probably rushed to the washroom to see if I had anything funky in between my teeth. From there, I don’t remember all the details but I did end up talking to her and as it turned out, the reason why she got offended was because I directed the bottom of my foot towards her as I kicked the chair out. Girls - so emotional, huh? So just keep that in mind. You don’t want to point the bottom of your feet towards Thai people. In Muay Thai it’s obviously alright, but aside from that, they consider it to be very disrespectful. Actually, if you go to watch the fights at the stadium and you see a Thai land a high front kick - or “teep” as they call it - to another Thai guys face, there will be a major uproar throughout the crowd since it’s considered to be so disrespectful. Buakaw does it quite often to his opponents actually. In addition to respecting the King and not pointing your feet towards people, you also have to be aware that it’s considered disrespectful to touch a Thai person on the head. While the feet are considered to be the lowest/dirtiest part of the body, the head - being the highest point on the body - is considered to be the most sacred. Now I don’t know if I’d classify the next piece of information as a “custom”, but it’s definitely worth pointing out that in Thai culture, nothing is considered to be worse than “losing face” as they call it. What that means is that you don’t want to do anything, either directly or indirectly, that will cause a dent a Thai persons credibility and respect amongst their peers. I was at the immigration office in Phuket one day and I overheard a foreigner and an immigration officer in a dispute regarding a long stay visa. I don’t recall all the specifics but I got the impression that the foreigner was right by the way he was thoroughly explaining not only the details of the visa regulations, but also the steps he’d gone through and the paperwork which he had obtained