Koh Tao, Thailand: Island Paradise

Greetings from Koh Tao Thailand! (28 Sept - 3 Oct 2017)

My next stop in Thailand was one I added to the itinerary later on while traveling. I always intended to visit Phuket and Bangkok but knew nothing else of the country other then the party islands which I decided I would pass on, as there's no Jiu-Jitsu there and I don't party much. I found out about Koh Tao and Game of Rolls from Paul who I met in Paris (The Paris Post) and again in Barcelona (The Barcelona Post). Once my attention was brought to the awesomeness of Koh Tao, the home of the amazing card game 'Game of Rolls' I added it to my itinerary and worked out the travel plan.

The trip to Koh Tao from Phuket was an interesting one, at first I tried to call a taxi to drive me around the corner to the bus station but they wanted more than the taxi I got from the Airport. I'm not paying more for a 2 minute drive than what I paid for a 30+ minute drive, especially when it's not that cheap. So I hiked it to the bus station. The Phuket taxi mafia can suck it as far I'm concerned, this is one foreigner they are not shaking down (before you comment they refuse to haggle a lower price). I now had just over an hour to hike almost 5 km and it was all up hill. I was walking as fast as I could with my 25 kg backpack and computer bag but the continual up hill slope was killing my legs. I had to keep the pace as according to the mapped out course on my phone I would make it just 5 minutes before the bus takes off. So many scooter taxis stopped and asked if I wanted a drive, ambitious enough for my money to try and balance the weight of me and my backpack on their little scooter that probably weighs less than me. Although it normally would have been entertaining to try this out I was on a tight schedule and low on money so I declined every one, waving them off over and over while I hurried up the street.

Covered in sweat to the point my shirt felt like I showered in it I made it to the bus stop on time. Luckily they were busy with everyone showing up last minute and were 10 minutes late before loading so I had a little time to catch my breath and cool off by a fan before getting on the bus to head towards Koh Tao. It was a long bus ride to the ferry as we were going North East and Phuket is down on the South Western part of Thailand, but there were some great views along the way and I could really use the rest after that hike. I think I slept half the way although I kept waking up as my seat kept falling apart every time I lay back. Once we got to the port we waited a short time for the ferry, people were given stickers on which island they were going to which determined which ferry they boarded. As it happens Koh Tao was the last island on the list, so I got a nice long ferry ride watching the sun set on the water. Of course that meant I also had to find my hostel in the dark. That wasn't too hard with Google maps and also there's not much on Koh Tao, pretty much one main road through the whole island.

Once I found the hostel and checked in I joined the other few guests on the balcony. The hostel was a big 3 floor building but only the top floor and only our room was used, the rest was empty. There were four of us, a woman from Peru, a woman from Australia, a guy from Iceland and myself. Three of us, all but the woman from Peru, decided to go for food and some drinks. First we went to a cheap restaurant that was just around the corner from the hostel. I ended up there throughout my stay quite frequently. Then we moved to a chilled out bar that was on a hill and pretty much in the trees, it had awesome smoothies and a good view. We talked about our travels, sharing experiences and adventures, tell each other how we decided to come to Koh Tao and recommend places to see. My new friends moved along on their own journeys in the next coming days and although I made new friends almost daily there I was left to roam the island alone for the remainder of my stay. It was a great first night on the island with the other travelers, I could easily see how people fell in love with this place.   

The Sights

There's not a lot of sights in Koh Tao but at the same time it's all a sight to see in itself. There's two small towns on either end of island and a waterfront where the bars are. Koh Tao is a major diving island with over 70 diving schools so there's a lot of tourist life down along the shores.

I did find a wonderful surprise in town as I was walking around, a Canadian restaurant with all kinds of Western food, including the amazing Canadian french fry dish Poutine! I was overjoyed to find Moose Knuckle Koh Tao and ate there a few times.

 
Most of the small island shore is a series of beautiful beaches and one large hill in the center on the island, Viewpoint Hill, where as the name states you can get the best view of the small towns, beaches and surrounding ocean. One day I hiked up the hill to take some pictures and enjoy the views. There's two ways to the top, the old path that's been mostly washed out by storms and is quite the long steep hike, and the new road that goes almost all the way to the top. I took to old path up and the new road down. I got some great shots of the island and sunset along the ocean but paid for it in being eaten alive by the bugs up there, having to find my way down in the dark and being caught in an evening torrential down pour. Still worth the adventure to tell about and pictures to remember this visit by.

As usual you can check out more of my pictures from this and all my other adventures over on my Flickr Account. There's some great panoramic shots I got while hiking up Viewpoint Hill.

10th Planet Koh Tao (Monsoon Gym) 

I messaged 10th Planet Koh Tao early to talk about options for finding a place to stay and soon found a cheap hostel. When I first got to Koh Tao I was burnt out from the hike I had to do to catch the bus so I had to rest a few days and just enjoy the island life. Once I was ready for training I checked the schedule and headed over to the Monsoon Gym, where 10th Planet Koh Tao is located. The gym is set up just like the gyms in Phuket with the main training area with padded floor, punching bags and a ring under a roof but no walls. There's also an air conditioned weight room off to the side and behind it all are the stairs that bring you up to the newly built Jiu-Jitsu room, a padded floored room with a huge diagram of the 10th Planet grappling system on the back wall.

I showed up early and hung out on the stairs until the room was opened up, that's when I met Stefan an american who like everyone visiting Koh Tao fell in love so decided to stay there. He's a brown belt with some great teaching methods. The class was small only about 5 people one day and a few more the next time with students ranging from new students trying it out to experienced 10th Planet players. non of them were locals with all seeming to be visitors to the paradise island, and of course most of them seemed to have some surfing experience with their balance. Stefan started class with some pummeling, neckties and arm drags as warm up drills. His details for the footwork, body movement and control was top notch as they would be the theme for the class for the techniques. We moved into some takedowns, lazy takedowns as Stefan called them, simple techniques like grapevining the leg after the arm drag or just hugging the arm and sitting down. Stefan's classes were an eye opener to what's out there and has been in front of me all this time. 

Rolling with the guys there was another eye opening experience. First class I worked with a smaller younger guy who was pretty quite so I didn't learn much about his training experience or where he was from but I did pick up he was a surfer. When we got to rolling I found out he was quite experienced in the ways of the 10th Planet and liked to do really unexpected shit. He had really good balance and I had a lot of problems getting the upperhand for a takedown. At one point I got a necktie and wrapped his arm for a snap down only to have he pop back up and do some sort of cork screw jump over me and land on my back, quickly stinking his hooks in. I sat there and looked up at the guys on the sidelines with a big "What the giant fuck?!" look on my face, they must've seen it as he all seemed to be enjoying the show.

Another night I rolled with Stefan and another instructor Darius where I worked mostly on leglocks, or rather leglock defenses, as well as learned Stefan's sneaky guard retention from a pressure pass attempt. Most of my rolling with the guys I was just trying to defend or falling into traps and figure what happened. With all the cool techniques I picked up from the classes my leglock game grew exponentially, that is to say I now have a some defense from none. It was an awesome time training with everyone and learning some great techniques and details for my game. The whole vibe training and rolling with them was very chill, even when trying to escape imminent heelhook death. I shot the classes on my GoPro and put together a training montage video, check it out.

If the video doesn't load or if you want to check out my other videos you can head over to the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel. While there share some love, like, comment, share and subscribe!

Game of Rolls


What makes 10th Planet Koh Tao so unique, other than the awesome club itself and being on an island paradise, is the positional training card game the head coach Victor came up with, Game of Rolls. When I first was introduced to the game by Paul in Paris I was blown away by both the concept of the game and the awesome artwork on the cards. I have carried around the pack Paul gave me ever since but only a few times have I actually been able to find people to who will play it with me. It's absolutely fun and a great way to work positional sparring, I recently brought it to me at a BJJ Globetrotters camp and had a number of rolls using the cards, everyone loved it and wanted to know the site for it. By now you must be wondering 'What is this Game of Rolls he's speaking of and how does it work?' rather than write out a huge paragraph to try and explain here's a video with Stefan, explaining how he ended up teaching and training in Koh Tao and how this awesome card game works.

Again if the video doesn't load or if you want to watch any of the other videos head over to the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel.

After an all too short visit to Toh Kao I was off to Bangkok to finally meet Vara. The morning I headed out I noticed my left calf was starting to burn though, a serious problem was about to hit me..

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Buy Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.
Buy a shirt at Panda's Jiu-Jitsu Store.
Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
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Phuket Thailand: Living on Fight Street!

Greetings from Phuket Thailand (23-28 Sept 2017)!

After a great first stop in Asia I flew from Yangon Myanmar to Phuket Thailand quite uneventfully. The flight was later in the day and by the time I hailed a taxi and got to my villa it was already late and the villa owner was in bed. There wasn't a front office to check into and if not for the taxi driver I would have been locked out and in a bad situation. Luckily I saved the contact information for the villa to my phone and the taxi driver called her. After about 10 minutes she showed up, walking down the street in her night gown, and briskly showed me to my villa and told me to settle up the next day. I apologized profusely for not informing her that I was showing up late and kicked myself for not planning ahead and assuming there was a front office open 24 hours.

To rewind this back a bit let's start when I first began planing this visit. I had always planned on visiting Thailand from the start. The mystique of the tropical jungle setting and ruthlessness of the training in Muay Thai gyms make Thailand a very intriguing spot to see, whether it's for training or just sightseeing. Vara is a BJJ Globetrotter and lives in Bangkok, she knows all there is to know about visiting and training in Thailand and happily helps out everyone. In fact she's so good at this she now helps run BJJ Globetrotters for Christian and has her own #askvara Instagram account where I'm pretty sure any time of the day or night you'll get a response within an hour. Anyways, with Vara's help both my stops in Phuket and Bangkok were put together quite easily. For Phuket Vara practically planned the entire visit, I did initially have reservations and questions but she easily answered and shot down every one of them and I eventually went with her suggestions.

Villa pool, sorry I forgot to take pics of the villas.

The villa I rented was a bit out of my usual price range but when looking at the price and time to travel throughout Phuket from the cheap hostels in the tourist area, and really how nice a place I was getting to relax in (I had my own place with air conditioning and the property had a pool!) I was actually saving money by taking the more expensive place that was closer. I only had to walk a few minutes to each gym and there were tons of choices for cheap, or not so cheap, restaurants nearby. As for getting around to sight see I could rent a scooter and pay for a day a fraction what each trip would cost with the taxi mafia in Phuket.

Love the food in Thailand, cheap chicken and rice and coconuts, yes please!

Back to getting settled in at the villa. I was let into my villa, dropped off my bags and headed to the 7-eleven just around the corner to grab some food. Once back in the villa I decided I would take advantage of the TV and check out what Thai television had to offer while I relaxed. I was not disappointed. I found a game show that had a number a people involved, all sitting or standing around blocks used as chairs. They were all talking and after someone would say something some of them would either stand up or sit down. I have no idea what the purpose or rules of the game but it was quite entertaining and made for good time wasting while relaxing and figuring out my game plan for training during the week.     

A post shared by Bob F'N Barker (@pandasodyssey) on Sep 23, 2017 at 10:02am PDT

The Sights

I didn't get out to see many sights in Phuket as Fight Street isn't too close to town or the tourist attractions. I was also paranoid about being stopped by the police and made to pay a hefty 'fine'. There are places like Monkey Hill and Rang Hill that are right in the downtown area that I figured would be a problem trying to drive to there and back. There are also several night markets around Phuket but I didn't like the idea of driving a scooter to a heavily crowded area let alone going at night. That just means I have more reason to go back there one day.

However I did one day get out to the Big Buddha Phuket statue which is on the top of a mountain. I rented a scooter and set out, I was scared of running into a police barricade during my drive out to the statue. I did see one at right the mouth of the street to Big Buddha after the roundabout, which is a usual tourist trap I'm told. As soon as I saw them as I came up to the roundabout my heart skipped a beat and jumped into my throat. The police had already pulled over a group of tourists and were talking to them, most likely asking for them to pay a 'fine'. As my mind raced figuring out how I would address the situation and attempt to make it out without paying too much I made sure not to be driving too fast and blend in with the flow of traffic. I also made the decision I would stare straight ahead without looking at the Police shaking down the tourists on either side of the road. I continued forward, looking forward, saying to myself 'I don't hear anything, don't stop, no one is jumping out in front of me, don't stop, just keep going!' So I just drove right through the trap without ever stopping or looking to see if I was clear. No one chased me so I assumed I was good.

I continued down the road and up the mountain to the statue which I felt was testing the full power of the scooter, moving my 110 kgs up the steep slopes. I felt uneasy on some parts but I made it up without any accidents. There were some great views along the way and at a few spots there were elephant rings where you could feed and ride an elephant around the field or forest paths. I didn't stop for them as I was on a mission to make it to the statue and on the way back I skipped them to save my money for gas and didn't see any ATM's since leaving Fight Street. I got to the top of the Big Buddha and the whole trek was instantly worth it. What a view! And what an impressive statue to be in the presence of as well! From the stairs to the Big Buddha and the railings all around it you can see down to the coastline and far into the tropical forests around us. The temple, souvenir shop and different stores around the statue sold every kind of Buddhist trinket as well as food and drink. It's quite the trek to get up there, might as well take a rest break in the shade and re-hydrate.

All around the Big Buddha on the top of the stairs are the different gods that Buddhists pray to each day. As well as the impressive statues were other stands selling mala bracelets necklaces which were said to be blessed by the monks, all sorts of elephant and Buddha statues and carvings, and a number of other souvenirs. As the statue was still being built you could buy a brick and have your name printed on it for a price to help build it. I would love to visit the place again once it's fully built and see all the names of who helped. Once I was done wandering the grounds, taking pictures, taking in the view and relaxing I was ready to start my trek back to the villa. As I starting walking to the scooter an all too familiar feeling came over. The wind picked up, the air had that humid dew smell and the sky became dark. The afternoon torrential downpour was about to drop on us. Every afternoon for about 30 minutes came in a storm with such power it was like a power hose sprayed on the whole city, and then it would leave and within 5 minutes you would never know it happened. People quickly found cover and waited for the storm to hit and leave. Once it passed I was on my way, now testing my luck going down the steep slopes of the mountain on the scooter while they were soaked wet and pooled with rainwater at some parts. It made for an interesting ride back but luckily no wipe outs or accidents. I decided I had used up my luck getting by the Police and making it safely up and down the mountain, trying my luck to make it into to the city to see Monkey hill was just asking for problems. I passed on pressing my luck and returned the scooter early.

As always you can see more of my pictures of this visit and from all my other adventures over on my Flickr Account.

Fight Street

As Vara laid out in her advise for my visit I found an affordable villa on Soi Ta-iad, or Fight Street as it's affectionately nicknamed. This street is an athlete's dream vacation. On one end is Tiger Muay Thai and on the other end is Phuket Top Team. All in between is everything you could need, restaurants that have meal plans to keep you healthy while you stay and train, massage places to roll out your arms and legs from hitting the pads all day, pharmacies in case you get sick (or more often in Thailand, get an infection) and of course equipment stores for new training gear and scooters to rent. There's a few other Muay Thai gyms across the street as well. A complete athlete's training camp paradise.

I wish I would have jumped in and taken some of the Muay Thai classes at the gyms there but I needed gloves and I wasn't about to spend a bunch of money on bulky gear I can't bring with me for one or two classes. I did however make a video of wandering the street to show you how awesome the place is to visit.

If you can't see the video above or it doesn't load you can view it and all my other videos other on the Panda's Odyssey YouTube Channel. While you're there please show some love by liking, sharing commenting and subscribing.

Tiger Muay Thai & MMA

Of all the conversations I've had about traveling the world and training at different gyms Tiger Muay Thai & MMA came up quite a lot, probably the most named gym in all my conversations. Once I got to the gym and walked around its property I could easily see why it is lots of people talk of visiting and why lots of MMA fighters have training camps there. The front of the compound holds the office and grill restaurant with three different rings and matted areas for kickboxing behind them. Further behind those was an area for fitness classes and off to the side was the matted for BJJ and MMA. It was an impressive place to walk around and watch all the classes being run.The whole place is open with no gates or fences to pass, one can wander the grounds and watch the classes quite openly, although you may be approached by one of the instructors to sign up for classes.

Once I had planned my schedule and picked a day to train at Tiger Muay Thai I set out to sign up for the day and get my pass. It's quite simple to sign up for classes you just go to the front office and pay for either the class, the day or the week. You get a paper to show the instructors or staff coming to take attendance. I made my way to the back mat area where class would be, as I was a bit early so I just sat in the shade and watched the other classes going on. I was actually a bit turned around and thought the fitness mats was where the BJJ classes were held but then ran into some other people also early for class and followed them to the far back building where the mats for BJJ and MMA where. In the far end there is an MMA cage and by the entrance there was an air conditioned weight room, the rest was open mat space for classes under a roof with no walls, just posts holding it up and letting the tropic breeze in.

I introduced myself to the instructor Alex, a brown belt from USA who loves meeting all the visitors that come to Tiger Muay Thai from all over the world. He had heard a little of BJJ Globetrotters before from past visitors so when I told him of my travel plans he was interested in my adventures and learning more about the affiliation and how I used it to get around. When we added each other on social media I saw we had a bunch of friends in common, all active Globetrotters of course. It would be awesome teaching at such a place as Tiger where so many people visit to train as they're traveling, hearing all their stories would be so inspiring. One day I hope to have a job in a place like that.

Anyways, classes are great at Tiger Muay Thai with Alex and everyone but they were also really hot. Thailand is so extremely humid and even with the fans on and hitting the morning or evening classes I was dying in the heat. On the flip side I always felt limber and loose even after classes or waking up in the morning so I guess the constant heat wasn't all bad. The warm up drills weren't as bad as I had feared and drilling techniques was fun with some active resistance and troubleshooting to make it your own or see where it fits in your game. Rolling with the people there widely ranged from inexperienced new guys to top performers with a lot stiff athletic matches. One match in particular during one class was with a very fit blue belt I drilled with, he was fast and aggressive and at one point almost had me in a reverse wrist lock, which mostly was just bending my fingers back way more than they could go. I later saw him online, in a poster for a Bellator pay per view. I didn't feel so bad get my fingers bent considering what he could've done if it were an MMA class.

I thoroughly enjoyed my time training at Tiger Muay Thai and I will definitely return, hopefully for a longer time to really enjoy training there with everyone. Thanks Alex for the fun chats after classes and the great training.

Phuket Top Team

I messed up on scheduling and didn't get to Phuket Top Team until my last night on Fight Street. PTT is another gym I really wanted to go to, especially when I had recently learned that several MMA stars, like Chris 'Cyborg' Justino frequent there. The place is similar to Tiger with a front office and the outside rings under a giant roof, but with PTT the BJJ classes are inside in a matted room that is much cooler than training outside. Being able to train in a temperature controlled room was a welcomed change, even though I had an air conditioner in my villa I didn't keep it on too much in fear of getting a sinus cold. The front office also is where all the gear they sell is and they must have gotten in a big supply as the room was full of gloves and shin pads they ere going through re-stocking. looking at the gear made me re-think about picking something up, but again I passed on it, but now I wish I picked up something from both places to have as a souvenir, perhaps next time I visit Fight street I will try the kickboxing classes and buy some gear from the gyms.

Where as I trained in both gi and no gi with Tiger MMA I only attended a gi class at PTT, the attendance there was much bigger than the gi classes at Tiger. The class was mostly lower belts, I think I was at a beginners class, and I didn't get to talk to many before class but there seemed to be a large portion of them being locals and not just visitors like of the Tiger Muay Thai classes. Warm up was thorough and there were a few movement drills I was completely lost at but in the cooler temperature I was able to survive it and was ready for drilling. We were working a technique from guard, with my partner working the technique, when I see a man walk into the room and make his way over to the instructor where a few black belts were sitting and talking. I knew instantly who he was but my partner saw my gaze and felt it necessary to point out who it was "You know Carlson Gracie? Well that's his son, Carlson Gracie Jr!" Which I thought was a funny way to point him out.

There were a few rolls after class but with the size of the class only half were on the mats to roll each round. The matches were fun, although I'm sure if there were more higher belts I would have been destroyed instead of faring as well as I did. Again I was surprised how even though some matches were aggressive no one was trying to 'test' the new big guy like so many gyms I had been to in Europe. Maybe it's the open welcome culture on Fight Street that changes the overall view of testing the new guys and instead just training and having fun but either way I really enjoyed myself training at Phuket Top Team. Of course after class I asked the instructor if it was OK to say hi to Carlson Gracie Jr and get a picture with him. I wish I had my patches on hand with me to give them but at least I got a picture with a BJJ icon.

Never did I think I'd run randomly into Legend Carlson Gracie Jr on this Odyssey!

After an amazing week living, training and eating on Fight Street in Phuket it was time to leave for my next stop in Thailand: the paradise island of Koh Tao. Catching the bus and ferry to get there was quite an adventure, but that's for next time. 

Until next time,
see you on the mats!
OSSS!!

WAYS TO SUPPORT PANDA'S ODYSSEY!
Buy Panda's Odyssey Patches at The Gi Hive.
Buy a shirt at Panda's Jiu-Jitsu Store.
Follow me and other traveling Jiu-Jitsueros at the BJJ Globetrotters blog section.
Subscribe to my YouTube Channel.
Check out my full photo albums for each article at my Flickr account.
Add me and follow along on most social media @pandasodyssey