Above is an excerpt of episode 3 of my Kaimuay Diaries documentary series which takes a fly-on-the-wall approach to capturing the real (if you can’t see the embed above, watch it here), often very casual nature of the life of Thai fighters in a traditional “kaimuay” (Thai camp), in this case my 3rd generation gym Petchrungruang in Pattaya, which is one of the few remaining recognized kaimuay in the city which do not get their priority of its earnings from western students. In this 46 minute episode you get behind the scene of the full trip down to Lumpinee, where our fighters fought this week, everything from the blessing given outside our gym at 4 AM, to weigh-ins, even a fist fight with a gambler in the parking lot, the long rest at the hotel, fueling up at a food court, and the pre-fight massage. You get to see the real world casualness of the life of a nak muay, as a Bangkok stadium fighter, what Lumpinee is really like for most of the fighters who fight there.
If you’d like to support my documentary projects like these you can become a patron at patreon.com/sylviemuay – $10 patrons get access to the full Kaimuay Diaries series, and a treasure of exclusive content beyond that, including the entire archive of the Muay Thai Library which holds now more than 55 hours of documentary commentary footage of training with legends and krus all across Thailand. Many feel it’s the best Muay Thai resource on the internet. See what is in the Muay Thai Library here.
The Kaimuay Diaries documentary series is special to me because it presents the largely unseen nature of a traditional Thai family style gym, my gym, and allows you to see what the life of Thai fighters there is like. These are the episodes so far:
Kaimuay Diaries – Episode 1 | Maintenance Mode (29 min) – a quiet look at the top stadium fighters at the gym in a typical maintenance mode day. With no fights coming up the training is light, communal and playful. watch it here
Kaimuay Diaries – Episode 2 | At the Edge of the Gym (46 min) – in this episode I follow the training of young cousins Gang Gat and Bao, two Thai fighters working their way into becoming fighters for the gym. The oldest one Gang Gat is contracted, the younger Bao is just developing. It’s a chance to see how it is that Thai boys work their way into becoming stadium fighters watch it here
Kaimuay Diaries – Episode 3 | Going To Lumpinee (46 min) – Lumpinee fighting isn’t always what we hold in our imagination. Come with my gym to Lumpinee Stadium and learn what it is like for our Thai fighters, from 4 AM in the morning when we leave, til fighting at 7 PM and back in the van. watch it here
click to watch
More of the Series
Below are trailer excerpts from episodes 1 and 2:
episode 1, above
episode 2, above
Get full access to all the episode in this continuing series, one of the many benefits of becoming a patron supporter of $10.
You can follow the happenings at my gym, and our fighters through the Petchrungruang Facebook Page, and it’s Instagram.
