Lanna Muay Boxing Camp was one of the highlights of our trip. This is a real deal training camp and not a tourist-oriented shop. They have a tradition of developing championship fighters and most of the boxers there are in Thailand from 2 months to 2 years to train in earnest to compete.
That's being said, it's a great place to take a one day class to get exposed to the sport. I really enjoyed my experience and have started to take class back here stateside.
A little bit about Muay Thai boxing. There's a lot to like about MTB. It's a great work-out. It trains you cardiovascularly, improves your flexibility and your power. It's also incredibly practical. Unlike other martial arts, in MTB you train to fight, and only to fight. It's incredibly practical so that if you are in the position of needing to defend yourself, unlike karate, or even jujitsu, you are pretty well-trained to handle yourself. That being said, you can train and never fight at all. The owner Andy Thomas has been training for over 10 years. He fought three times before realizing he didn’t enjoy that aspect. He’s continued on training, sparring, etc. without any intention of entering the ring again.
Finally, I wanted to comment on the intimidation factor. I showed up to the camp and the first guys that I encountered were a bunch of 6’3”, 200 pound, 4% body fat guys eastern European guy who had tats on their biceps backs and shoulders. A little intimidating. Four Japanese tourists actually arrived to that scene and promptly left. It turns out however, the instructors and the Thai boxers (50%+ of the population) are incredibly friendly and hospitable. A lot of them want to practice English and are generally happy to have you there. So after that, I felt quite comfortable as a semi-out of shape 30 year old. Also, there were a handful of women there as well, so for you female athletes, you should definitely not feel intimated about joining the camp. That being said, most of the westerners were as advertised. I generally tried to stay away from the tatoooed gringos.
Logistics:
The camp is on the western side of chiang mai near Chiang Mai University. The class are either in the morning 6:30-9 or 4:00-7:30. To find out more: www.lannamuaythai.com
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