Any Ronin in Thailand?

[Joe Yunker]

I will be spending 2015 in Phuket, training at Phuket top team. I know Eddie is giving a seminar out there at Tiger Muay Thai and wonder if any one attending is on the forum. It would be cool to have some people out there to train with, as I don't know PTTs policy on 10p or how much I'll get to work on the system specifically there. Thanks in advance.

[singer]

I've trained a lot all over Thailand (Phuket, Chiang Mai, Bangkok) so I can offer a bit of input.

Training jiu jitsu in Thailand basically sucks. Unlike regular gyms where the trainer has an incentive to slowly grow his gym over a long period of time and cultivate a good environment, what I call "traveller gyms" are just the opposite. A large number of the people who show up have never trained before and the trainers are hired employees just there to work a job and live in a nice place. People usually stay for a few weeks at the most so it's hard to get to know anyone really worth training with (non-spastic, skilled, friendly). There's a lot of white-belt fever (guys who really need to "win") and the trainers don't put much effort in unless you already have a higher belt level or maybe try hard to buddy up. Roger Huerta (who is awesome) is the clearest exception to that but I don't think he teaches much. The good trainers tend to be Brazilian and likewise trend toward the gi; although the climate and increasing overall interest leans toward no-gi. I really want to like training in Thailand (having spent around five years there) but it is invariably disappointing. Anyway, there's plenty of freedom to work whatever game you want because nobody cares.

Training in Thailand is about the whole package, I guess; if you're into doing Muay Thai, Cross-fit, being in Asia, augering into the training lifestyle etc.

I don't know if this is your first trip or not but:
1. Don't stay at the gyms. (costly, noisy, smelly)
2. Don't stay, and avoid eating, on the road the gyms are on. (costly, food isn't the best)
3. Get a motorbike and find a place within 5 or 10 minutes, toward the hills is best.
4. Cooking can save you a lot of money. If you can't find a place where you can cook, bring/buy a camp stove and hit up the Villa Market and local markets for produce.
5. If you're staying for any amount of time, it really benefits you to try and learn 50-100 words of Thai. Memrise.com is an excellent resource for that.

Happy training.

[Joe Yunker]

I expect some of the tourist nonsense, but I'll be there for a year so I'll find my little niche. Their jj program is run by Carlson Gracie black belt Olaveu Abreau and their no gi is taught by a Nova Uniao black belt. I'm just checking if any 10th planet fam will be in the area in 2015. Thanks for the tips.

[feZ]

Hey wassup Joe!

I trained at phuket top team the year they started, back then it was Olavo and another Nova Uniao bb who thought the grappling/bjj classes. I can tell you one thing, Olavo is the man...he's humble, funny and a real good teacher. He's also very open minded because I played a lot of rubber guard back then. He supported it and when I did a private with him he showed me a lot of stuff that was very compatibel with rubberguard. I asked him just some basic stuff, like escape kimura and stuff, but he told me he had been watching me and had some really cool stuff for the type of game I had. It was one of the best lessons I had.

I found Phuket top team nice, but I guess it all depends of the people who are there at the moment. Sometimes there are douchebags, but you can't do anything about that. I guess there are a lot more at tiger muay thai though, a lot bigger that PTT and I dont think you'll get as much of attention there.

As for the food and stay, singers is right. Don't book at PTT (no airco, not so clean as the other places, a friend of mine complained about ants...), in the street alone you got a lot of other and better options, rent a bike but be carefull, a lot of people had accidents when I was there. I didnt have a bike, but I only trained, slept and eat.

Enjoy it though its gonna be awsome. Ah man Olavo, he's such a nice guy!

[Axel]

I lived in a hut out the back of PTT for 5 months, Olavo is a solid black belt who is more than open to all forms of bjj. As mentioned above I would avoid booking in advance and find your room the day you arrive.

[Bryan Gore]

Are you there now? I'm strongly considering spending May-July there at PTT to do their Blue Belt curriculum thingy.

[Joe Yunker]

Are you there now? I'm strongly considering spending May-July there at PTT to do their Blue Belt curriculum thingy.

I'm here now. Very good instructors. Olavo really is one of the nicest guys ever. Hes a great teacher, and the no gi program is really strong too. It's an awesome place to come and train, I highly recommend it.