Apr 21 2013

Muay Thai I Bangkok -3-3

Pewe got the killer instinct, check out her facial expressions. She is the female version of Sagat from Street Fighter. Better don’t mess with that girl, hehe. All the video material is just cut together without edits. When I have more time I will use some scenes for a nice video later on.
Global Nanpa should become a video game someday in form of an action adventure, this is really cool, fresh video material/ideas, never been shown before.

“According to Thai folklore at the time of the fall of the ancient Siam capital of Ayutthaya Kingdom in 1767, the invading Burmese troops rounded up thousands of Thais and took them to Burma as prisoners. Among them were a large number of Thai kickboxers, who were taken to the city of Ava.
In 1774, in the Burmese city of Rangoon, the Burmese King Hsinbyushin (known in Thai as “King Mangra”) decided to organize a seven-day, seven-night religious festival in honor of Buddha’s relics. The festivities included many forms of entertainment, such as the costume plays called likay, comedies and farces, and sword-fighting matches. At one point, King Hsinbyushin wanted to see how muay boran would compare to the Burmese Lethwei(Burmese Boxing). Nai Khanomtom was selected to fight against the Burmese champion. The boxing ring was set up in front of the throne and Nai Khanomtom did a traditional Wai Kru pre-fight dance, to pay his respects to his teachers and ancestors, as well as the spectators, dancing around his opponent. This amazed and perplexed the Burmese people, who thought it was black magic. When the fight began, Nai Khanomtom charged out, using punches, kicks, elbows, and knees to pummel his opponent until he collapsed.
However the Burmese referee said the Burmese champion was too distracted by the dance, and declared the knockout invalid. The King then asked if Nai Khanomtom would fight nine other Burmese champions to prove himself. He agreed and fought them all, one after the other with no rest periods in between. His last opponent was a great kickboxing teacher from Rakhine. Nai Khanomtom mangled him by his kicks and no one else dared to challenge him.
King Mangra was so impressed that he allegedly remarked, “Every part of the Thai is blessed with venom. Even with his bare hands, he can fell nine or ten opponents. But his Lord was incompetent and lost the country to the enemy. If he had been any good, there was no way the City of Ayutthaya would ever have fallen.”
King Mangra granted Nai Khanomtom freedom along with either riches or two beautiful Burmese wives. Nai Khanomtom chose the wives as he said that money was easier to find. He then departed with his wives for Siam.

Apr 21 2013

Muay Thai I Bangkok -2-3

→ Go to Site

Muay Thai I Bangkok -2-3

Pewe clearly is the stronger fighter which isn’t surprising. They start fighting a little slow but it gets better the more time passes.

I also enjoy their training session/breaks. There you can see with how much power these girls can strike.

Apr 21 2013

Muay Thai I Bangkok -1-3

→ Go to Site

Muay Thai I Bangkok -1-3

We went to Krudam’s gym on Sukhumvit Soi 24, behind Emporium for some Muay Thai. Krudam is well-known in Bangkok, he won a few titles and opened his own gym. It’s one of the best Muay Thai gyms all across Thailand you can possibly find at the moment. What I really loved about it is the open concept with trees around although being conveniently located at central Sukhumvit. The area of the video looks like being far away outside of Bangkok – but that’s not the case.

Pewe and Guitar are fighting for Global Nanpa. Pewe works for Banyan Tree Bangkok hotel and is training Muay Thai quite often. You might see her around at Krudamgym. Guitar is actually more into yoga, but she had done Muay Thai a bit before. Thanks a lot for joining. This was more a small sports event, the next one is getting bigger again with plenty of girls.

Apr 16 2013

Don’t mess with Global Nanpa

I am a little under time pressure and cannot release that many videos of the recent trip. A few more are still coming soon, but not much edited ones. Finally I got into the position where I can realize more and more cool ideas and one good person refers me to the next good one, etc.. The quality stuff is growing steadily.
Check out those ninjas below. I am not affiliated with them. By chance they just had been at these twin towers where we were doing the little Muay Thai boxing match.

I like to quote Louis Pasteur : “Chance favors the prepared mind” ! I didn’t think 5 years ago that I could do the stuff I am doing now, just check the older videos, that path wasn’t set at all from the beginning.

The pic below was taken around 2 weeks ago. This isn’t an event or a special day. It’s just a normal week at my pharmacy store which is part of my business. And that is happening here since more than 4 years already. Do you know any privately or even corporate owned retail store in entire Germany that had such lines almost constantly for over 4 years in front of their stores ? Hm, that might be a single case retail record to claim. Global Nanpa truly became a role model drug delivery man. Scaling up ? Forget it, I got enough…

Apr 14 2013

Khaosan road I Bangkok

→ Go to Site

Khaosan road I Bangkok

“Khaosan Road is a short street in central Bangkok, Thailand. It is located about 1 km north of the Grand Palace and Wat Phra Kaew.

“Khaosan” translates as “milled rice”, a reminder that in former times the street was a major Bangkok rice market. In the last 20 years, however, Khaosan Road has developed into a world famous backpacker ghetto. Khaosan shops sell handcrafts, paintings, clothes, pirated CDs, DVDs and second-hand books, plus many backpacker items.

There are several pubs and bars, where backpackers meet. The area is internationally known as a center of partying, and just prior to the traditional Thai New Year (Songkran festival) of 13 April to 15 April, water splashing that usually turns into a huge water fight.”

Happy Songkran ! Khasoan is the backpackers paradise. My personal highlight is the delicious and cheap street food there. Guitar gives us a video tour of it. Her communication skills are very good. You feel a cynical undertone about the happenings at Khaosan quite often, I sympathize with her true feelings. Further she knows a lot about backpacking and travelling, having recently done 4 cities in 10 days in India.
Think about Bhutan and their USD 225-250 tourist visa fee per day (!). It’s a different approach of managing tourism. Khaosan would probably not exist if Thailand would charge a small tourist visa entry fee.
Thanks a lot Guitar for the insightful tour.

Apr 13 2013

Mercy Centre – Human Development Foundation I Bangkok

→ Go to Site

Mercy Centre – Human Development Foundation I Bangkok

“The Human Development Foundation (HDF), also referred to as the Mercy Centre, is a non-profit and non-denominational organization in Bangkok, Thailand. It was established by Roman Catholic Redemptorist priest Father Joe Maier with Sister Maria Chantavaradom in 1975. The organization and its Mercy Centre (the first and largest free AIDS hospice in the Khlong Toey slums of Bangkok, founded in 1993) is a declared partnership with the poor, committed to building and operating schools, improving family health and welfare, protecting street children’s rights, combatting the AIDS crisis, responding to daily emergencies, and offering shelter to orphans, street children, and to children and adults with AIDS.”

Mercy is in the slums of Khlong Toey, it was a longer motorbike ride for me. It took around 45min from Sukhumvit (Asok) to get there leaving at 9:30am, with a taxi it might had been around double the time. The people in the area know that place, just refer to searching for “Mercy” when you are close. Those “slums” don’t look like real slums to me, it’s a pretty ok neighborhood. The slums I have seen in Manila, holy shit – now that are real slums and poor conditions for orphans, begging their way on the streets of Manila.

The Mercy Centre is a fantastic, 5-star hotel compared with what I have seen in the Philippines and Cambodia.
The standard of Mercy with around 260 kids is very high, it was great to see it and to get to know a little how they operate. The video tour is insightful. The kids look happy, cheerful and social to me.
The hygiene standard is very high as well, I was impressed. The medicine for the kids gets provided directly from the goverment. A little strange is the brand placement on the ground, like a Ronald McDonald sitting there. It’s good that McDonalds and Coca Coca are donating but international cooperations don’t do that for free : it purely serves the purpose of image polishing.
I made a small donation to Mercy, I mainly wanted to see how the process works. It looks legit to me. I also spoke with a person from Chicago later on. He is smart and he seems to be one of the brains and real helpers behind the place.

Baan Gerda is another interesting orphanage in Thailand. What I really like about it is the the way the kids live there. It’s a smaller place with “only” around 85 kids living there. What’s better than at Mery Centre is that there is no political and religious association. Both have international cooperations as sponsors which isn’t too great.

“BaanGerda is a humanitarian non-profit organization that looks after AIDS orphans in Thailand. It is a project of the Bangkok-based Children’s Rights Foundation. The small village community cares for over 70 children that were born with HIV and whose parents died of Aids. The organization has no political or religious associations. The children’s homes have been built on land donated by a famous monk in the Lopburi province, approximately 230 kilometers north of Bangkok, Thailand. Unlike a state orphanage, BaanGerda has a unique operating model that provides family-style homes for orphans with foster parents looking after the children. All of the parents are HIV positive, thus ensuring they are sensitive to the needs of HIV infected children. It is the only one of its kind in Thailand.
The founders of BaanGerda are Karl and Tassanee Morsbach, who were originally involved in building schools along the Thai and Burmese border. It was built with their own money. In 2006, Germany honored Karl and Tassanee Morsbach for their humanitarian work by awarding them the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit.”

It is common for children infected with HIV to be excluded from school. However, the children of BaanGerda were fortunate to be accepted at a local school and follow the national standard curriculum.
BaanGerda got a youtube vidoe as well. It only got 400 views, although being a well-made video existing since almost 8 months. Considering all the praises for being a role-model orphanage this can only be dissapointing. Poor and sick people simply aren’t popular at all in our society. Most shocking I found how the kids get treated by some Thais with very prejudiced beliefs. Like at 54 seconds :”They come out often, it is dangerous for the village”. And such comments are common around in Asia (excluding maybe only Japan), people really don’t want to see the sick and poor. The Thais might be tolerant towards ladyboys and gays, but it isn’t the general case for sick people. More awareness training needs to be done in Thailand.

BaanGerda and Mercy Centre are the positive exception of places being established in Thailand to help orphans. They are just a drop in the bucket in terms of size yet, but I hope for them they continue the great work at such a high level and to get more support.
From my point of view : Project Avatar 2045 is the long-term hope for humanity. Even the Dalai Lama has given his blessing to Dmitry Itskov’s Avatar 2045 project last year. See the video below.

Apr 07 2013

Park Plaza Bangkok Sukhumvit 18

→ Go to Site

Park Plaza Bangkok Sukhumvit 18

The Park Plaza on Sukhumvit Soi 18 did impress me like I hoped it. I already considered their sister hotel on Ratchadapisek next to BTS Asok to be a very good budget hotel. This newer one now is equally good. Congratulations Carlson group.

This hotel is more hip designed than the other one. The rooms are spacious and are modern equipped. The staff was very friendly and helpful. The benefits are also pretty good, I especially liked to make use of a late check-out (they allow 5pm but I only stretched it to 1.30pm) because of a previous party night. For wild party nights (outside of the hotel) I start to base myself into budget hotels since a few trips. That might sound strange to some but I consider it to be more “safe”. I feel too much watched/observed in the 5-star hotels. As a guest you are considered as work for the 5-star staff, so whenever you hang out at the facilities, you will be approached sooner or later. I really dislike getting any sort of attention at times. That’s 1 good reason why I prefer to have a good mixture between 5-star and budget hotels. Nobody gives a fuck about me at places like Park Plaza and it is still a very pleasent stay there. I can switch to “do not disturb” mode for a LONG time and nobody gets worried. I can sleep/rest out my hangover and nobody gives a damn as well. Real privacy you will much more likely get in budget hotels than in 5-star hotels in Bangkok !

I am a fan of the street Sukhumvit Soi 18 : the people are very friendly there, moreover it’s a great place for hitting the lower Sukhumvit in the night, although still being located at a quiet spot. There is also a little, charming beergarden next to it. The restaurant on the 1st flor is nice for getting the first beers before hitting the bars. 2 white chicks in their mid 20s chatted me up in the restaurant during early evening, asking me about where to go for clubbing. They saw me wearing a Global Nanpa shirt and told me they know the site, laughing. Sweet, hehe. And not to forget : the pool on the roof is very decent as well. This might be one of the best budget hotels of Sukhumvit at the moment. My next stay is already booked.

Apr 07 2013

Pullman Bangkok King Power

→ Go to Site

Pullman Bangkok King Power

This hotel is located next to the King Power shopping mall. It’s a rather isolated but quiet spot. BTS Victory Monument is just a short walk.

The best about this 5-year-old hotel is the friendly staff. I really liked the people I came across. The new Pullman G on Silom road might be more hip, but the Pullman King Power is a more solid hotel from my point of view. It only lacks a restaurant like Scarlett…

The botanical garden is a very nice idea. They have a lot of Kois swimming around there. This is my favorite place of the hotel. The pool is ok, not great. The room itself was alright, there is nothing positive or negative to tell about it.

Apr 07 2013

Idyllic Concept I Koh Lipe

→ Go to Site

Idyllic Concept I Koh Lipe

Idyllic Concept might be the best resort of Koh Lipe. It is located at the one end of Sunrise beach. It’s a truly beautiful area.
The staff is friendly, just don’t ask too many questions – you will confuse them. I think they are very ok for such an island.

My room there had a nice view but of course you hear all the guests from the pool area as well. The air-conditioning is working non-stop against the heat and is loud itself.
Overall the room is ok, the 2 pools of the resort are mediocre. I really liked the trees around the resort.

Idyllic Concept looked better to me than all of the other places I visited and I walked around, to Sunset and Pattaya beach as well. The design and location is quite good. With a score of 63% I rated them not that bad.

Apr 07 2013

Koh Lipe

→ Go to Site

Koh Lipe

Koh Lipe might have some of the best beaches you can possibly find in Thailand. Having said this, Boracay, Philippines still used to be a lot better in its golden days. Thailand just isn’t the prime destination for beaches.

Travelling in Thailand usually is very convenient. Getting to Koh Lipe isn’t fun and it might be the nastiest travel route I have taken in Thailand so far. I flew Thai Airways to Hat Yai, yes you will have to take the one at 6 am and the machines are old, the business-class is a joke but that isn’t a problem. The actual short flight I care less of than simply hanging out at airports which I hate, it’s almost always a waste of the entire day in terms of feels. From Hat Yai it’s around a 2 hours drive to Pak Barra pier. The ferry and speed boats go 3 times per day to Koh Lipe and it takes around another 90 min by “speedboat”. When I realized that the little boat will be fully packed with all 30 passengers, I tried to organize a private speed boat but that’s not easy to get this fast. I gave up on that and got pretty annoyed of the waiting at the pier and of the actual boat ride full of cheap charlie tourists. The first thing I did when arriving at the hotel was organizing a private speedboat for going back. There isn’t a pier or a floating pier when you arrive, so you get dropped off directly at the beach. A helicopter isn’t possible to get in that area, otherwise I would have “escaped” with it earlier already…

I am getting too old for this shit. I am neither a big beach person, nor a backpacker. I backpacked a little once in my life, in Australia and New Zealand in 2004 and I will never do it again. I don’t understand those people who seriously enjoy such a travel mode ?!

Koh Lipe is a place for people in their 20s. Yes, there are young families and older couples around but it’s mainly a way for them to have a very nice beach for low costs. I have all options, I don’t need to be there. Watching this video it might look a little fun but that isn’t the case when you are sweating like a pig and have no real clue what to actually do there when you are not into watersports. I also have to mention that there is quite a lot of trash flying around at several parts of the island and at the beaches.
Let’s see if at least Koh Lanta can satisfy me in terms of a luxurious island beach resort stay.