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@Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu has plenty of experience re stitches hopefully she can give an overview. All I know they usually have a doc ringside and I've seen people being stitched up after fights at location (no hospital).. Weigh in is fuzzy. I have limited experience but. Depends on skill level. Rajadamnern (I think...) and Lumpinee weigh in same day (early morning). Other places no clue but if you're not that experienced they probably won't check weight at all. A friend of mine is fighting at Lumpinee tomorrow and weigh in is around 6am fight around 8pm. It is very common at less prestigious fight venues to have weight difference. A guy at my gym (64kg) fought at Asiatique BKK yesterday, weight (never checked though) was 70kg. I've been asked to fight someone 15kg heavier than me. Hopefully you'll have a trainer you can trust and consult on this. It's not super easy getting a fight in Thailand so you might not have the opportunity to be picky about it.

I went to Sinbi around 4 months ago. I thought I should do a review as it seems to be quite a popular gym. Class Format - 3.5/5 Classes are 2 hours each and usually follows this format: 15 minute running or skipping -> stretching -> hand-wrapping -> shadowboxing -> bag work & pad work (5 rounds of each, usually 3 mins each round but may be 2 if it gets too busy) -> sparring or clinching or technique (I didn't like this format as technique is only ever taught as the same time clinching (morning) and sparring (afternoon) happens) -> cool down exercises and stretches -> Sinbi cheer Overall, I think the class structure is just ok. As mentioned above, I didn't like having to choose between sparring/clinching and learning techniques. I also thought sparring every day was excessive, even if it alternates between boxing and MT. Although Sinbi does have a weights room, there also doesn't seem to be much emphasis on conditioning or repetition -> sometimes, we are told to do 50 sit ups or to do 50 kicks on the bag as part of the cool down exercises but its definitely not like other gyms that make you run 10km or do 200 knees/push ups (you are only required to do hundreds of kicks/knees if you are fighting for them) Instruction - 3/5 On paper, the krus are extremely well-qualified with hundreds of fights each and numerous belts between them. There are also some (shoutout to Dee, Cookie and Bao V) who are very experienced coaches and who are very patient and generous towards students. Most of them knew at least enough English to teach. Unfortunately, there are some newer, younger coaches who don't care much about the students. They will make you do the same combos again and again and won't provide you with much correction at all. They will tell you you are doing "good" even if you feel like your technique isn't quite hitting the mark. The worse bit is that once you've had a trainer a few times, you are likely to be pushed towards him for the rest of your trip. I did somehow manage to correct this problem by having a few PTs with my assigned trainer. I didn't like him much but my friend said things will change once you do PTs with them. Lo and behold, my friend was right. After only two PT sessions, he started putting a lot more effort in. He not only became much more alive while holding pads but would even deliberately walk up to me while I was hitting the heavy bag or when shadowboxing with suggestions. He turned out to be a very knowledgeable teacher with a very sharp eye. Too bad he could only be bothered teaching me when there was more money involved and would keep asking me to do a daily private with him. Overall, there are around 15 trainers on staff. The ratio is at around 3 to 1 so that's pretty good. My friend who went a year ago though said there was a thai female trainer/fighter there. There isn't. Big boss Sing also seemed to be absent most of the time I was there. Facilities - 5/5 This is probably the best aspect of Sinbi. The gym itself is massive and very clean. I didn't count the heavy bags but there must be at least 20 to 25. There are also 3 full sized boxing rings and at least 5-10 exercise bikes. There is a large weights room too with everything you'll need as well as a very well stocked (but expensive) shop. They can take care of your laundry, organise airport pick-up for you, organise taxis and day trips - name it and you'll get it. Accomodation is also very, very good for a gym - legit, the Sinbi Apartment look and function like a service apartment and is very safe and very clean. It also has a swimming pool. Location - 4/5 The gym/accomodation is located in an area where you can get anything you need within 3-10 minutes walking. This includes massage shops, laundromats, thai and western restaurants, a 7-11, street food, cheap clothing shops, a barber and even a Thai language learning school (as well as a scuba diving school). The only downside is that you will need a scooter to get to the beach, to nightclubs or to a large shopping mall like Central Festival. Female-friendly? Yes While I was there, the male to female ratio was around 2:1. Like the men, they were given fight opportunities if they were up to the required standard. Women often trained in their sports bra and were not made to enter the ring via the bottom rope. They were not made to do pad work last and were allowed to clinch/spar the Thai boys if there weren't enough women or there were odd numbers. There was some friendly flirting from the coaches (stuff like "you're beautiful!" or "pretty girl!") but nothing that crosses the line. Overall: 7/10 - its what you expect from a Thai gym but not much more. Will go again if I was in the area but would not plan another trip around this gym.

@RB Coop I have private insurance and have to pay out of pocket when seeking medical care which has given me an idea of what things cost. I've never had surgery in Thailand or got stitches but I go to the doc frequently and compared to other countries care is very affordable. I also recently needed to be taken by an ambulance to nearest hospital and got some urgent check and treatment done after an obstacle race injury. The event organizers took care of the bill so I don't know the exact amount but I don't think it was that much judging by the look at the guys who accompanied me and insisted to pay. Anyhow at international high-end hospital in Bangkok I've payed 20 EUR for expert consultations (orthopedic, ENT, cardiology, dermatology). 30 EUR for X-ray. 90 EUR for ultrasound scan plus surgeon consultation. 28 EUR blood test. Most expensive was a thorough heart check including stress test and loads of other tests for 1200 EUR. I had to drain my clinch ear, total cost 60 EUR. Physiotherapy following a muscle strain was 40 EUR/session. Treatment for the shingles was pretty expensive, medication cost me around 100 EUR. In general, imported medication will be pricey. But this is at a really expensive hospital and I could've opted for cheaper clinics or cheaper medication. They usually inform you about pricing before you say yes to anything. When I lived in the EU as EU citizen I managed to get really affordable and great travel insurance for when traveling outside of Europe, around 8 EUR/year. I would go for one of those that will cover emergency care. You might already have insurance if you booked your trip with visa or Mastercard, worth looking into. Depending on location you might need medevac (but it's not like an helicopter will airlift you out of the jungle, you'll still need to find your way to nearest airport). Thailand has excellent hospitals and doctors. I don't have any stats but my impression is that most common issue for tourists are scooter accidents.