This is the first look at the
brand new Tiger Muay Thai in Chiang Mai Location. Before I went to see it for myself, all I knew were the rumors. It's supposed to be HUGE, bigger than TMT Phuket. It's also supposed to be an hour and a half away from Chiang Mai city. In my mind I was imagining a jungle camp in the middle of no where, miles from any town and in the middle of a peaceful forest. You would wake up to the sound of birds chirping and pads hitting. The air would be clean and fresh, and there would be absolutely nothing to do but train, eat, and sleep. After class you would relax in the swimming pool or go for a hike in the nearby forest.
Unfortunately, there wasn't much information on where the heck the new TMT campus is. All I knew was that it was
somewhere in the Mae Rim valley, but supposedly it was way north of the actual town. My friend Erica from Canada was in town visiting me, so after having lunch at the Huai Tung Thao Lake near Chiang Mai, we were already on the road to get to the new Tiger Muay Thai Chiang Mai. We drove my motorbike up the 107 highway and kept our eyes out for Mae Rim and any signs of the new gym. Within half an hour we got to the town of Mae Rim but I was so convinced that the gym wasn't going to be anywhere near the city that we must have not been looking very hard and flew right past it. Not having a map, GPS or any modern technology, we just kept driving north on the 107. T
he city disappeared and suddenly an hour later we were in the windy roads of a forest. I was convinced the new gym was here somewhere as it was exactly what I had imagined in my mind, the setting was perfect. To my disappointment, I came across a sign that informed me we were now in Chiang Dao, which was about 30km past where TMT was supposed to be.
Luckily, on the way back we spotted the gym, literally right off the main road in the city. Here's a video tour of the brand new, still under construction Tiger Muay Thai Chiang Mai.
Watch in 720p HD
So it turns out
TMT Chiang Mai isn't quite as far outside of Chiang Mai as we thought. We timed it and it took us exactly 35 minutes on motorbike to get to the city's edge and around 45 minutes to get to a destination in the city center. The gym definitely isn't in the hidden country side I had imagined it to be in, and the main road it's off of is actually quite busy with traffic as you can hear the cars zoom by as I'm filming. But the good news is the land is actually quite big so the rooms and training area are still quite a ways set back. I'm pretty sure TMT wanted this location on the main road so people could see it while driving by, but honestly, it would have been better if they had bought land further back away from the main road, and invested in some big street signs pointing the way instead. They could have gotten even more land, had room and money left over to build a swimming pool and really turned it into a destination gym. I have a feeling it'll still be a very good gym, but only time will tell.
How to get to Tiger Muay Thai Chiang Mai, Directions:
From the city center of Chiang Mai, drive around the moat until you get to the most northern point and go up the Chang Phueak Gate road past Chang Phueak Hospital. Follow that road until it turns into the 107N Highway which goes towards Mae Sa, Mae Rim, and Fang. You can also take the road towards Tiger Kingdom and then turn onto 107. Keep driving until you see the town of Mae Rim, it'll be quite a busy little city. Tiger Muay Thai is on your left hand side less than 10 minutes after you pass the town of Mae Rim. Look for the orange building. Here is a
google map with coordinates of where the gym is.
Watch in 720p HD
I'm sure the new
Tiger Muay Thai Chiang Mai will still be a very popular gym when it opens, and people will now have the option of going into the city more often. Personally, if I trained there I would save it for the weekends and actually get a cheap 120 baht ($4US) dorm room for the night especially if I was drinking. I'm looking forward to seeing the rooms as well as in the indoor MMA are when they finish it. They have no immediate plans to build a swimming pool, which would have been a nice addition. But they do have a lot of land, so I believe they will be adding an outdoor crossfit type area as well.
The Muay Thai area is currently open for training but you'll have to find your own accommodation. They discounted the prices for unlimited training to 5,000 baht a month while the gym is under construction. The good thing about training there now, besides it being a bit cheaper is you'll have more 1 on 1 time with the trainers since there are only a few people there. The day I was there I saw 3 trainers and 4 students. The bad thing would be the lack of sparring partners, lack of onsite accommodation, no MMA area yet, facilities, and social life. Personally I would wait until the budget rooms are finished building to train there. They were scheduled to open in February 2013, but I doubt it'll be complete for at least a few more months after that, even with the speed of building in Thailand.
Keep checking my blog for updates, I'll keep tabs on the progress. Until then, Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket is running in full swing with close to 400 guests training there at the moment, and if you really want to do MMA in Chiang Mai there's always Team Quest until the new Tiger Muay Thai MMA area is complete.
Warm Regards and happy training:
Johnny @ My Fight Camp
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