My son is going to Phuket Island in Thailand for 3 months to train in Muay Thai at the Tiger Training Camp.
I hate to think of him just training and fighting for 90 days without getting out to at least see some of the country.
Any suggestions from those that have been there? Or better yet, live there?
He will be there from mid-September thru Mid December.
First, he should read up on Thai culture, how to stay healthy and how to avoid scams. Those are big topics but any guidebook will do a reasonably good job of explaining them. Also, he should read about how not to fall in love with a prostitute and end up with a broken heart and empty bank account (this happens to people you would expect to much wiser).
Something to consider: I imagine the camp is fairly expensive. If he is serious and wants to stay longer or come back another time, he can find non-tourist oriented training camps that will be much cheaper (US$100 a month, maybe less) If he makes a few connections and does his own investigations, he can find these places. They won’t be flash, English will be limited but he may get the chance to train with everyday Thai people and fight in small town festivals.
Phuket and other heavily touristed areas are convenient for foreigners but they are more expensive and more importantly, the Thai people there tend to be jaded and a little unfriendly. I recommend going to smaller towns for a taste of real Thai life. Its harder to travel to those places but all it really takes is a bit of research (guidebook, internet or just talking to fellow travellers and locals.) If he is polite and has a smile on his face, he will meet lots of nice people.
The north of Thailand is nice in December - warm (not hot) sunny days and cool nights. I can personally recommend the popular tourist towns of Chiang Mai (development has not ruined it, just dulled its shine), Chiang Rai, Pai and Mae Hong Son. Also interesting is the golden triangle area (intersection of Burma, Laos and Thailand) - lovely scenery, hill tribes. There are some hill towns populated by Kuomintang who fled communism and settled in the hills to grow opium. They mostly grow tea now, but it is beautiful up there (Mae Salong is one example.)
If he wants to watch two chicks do each other, Siam Sam can help you there.
Oh, and he is just around the corner from Krabi province. Very touristy, but beautiful - Rai Lay beach and Phi Phi are amazing.
Um… I could say a lot more - what is he interested in?
I was kindly pointed at this thread by Lieu. I spent several months in Koh Phi Phi in 2005, helping out after the tsunami. I also spent time in Phuket and Krabi, and have returned several times since.
Best recommendation is to get him to read Culture Shock: Thailand before he goes. Will demystify a lot of what’s going on, and help him from making too many mistakes.
Manwich has said a lot of good stuff. I guess if your son is training that hard, though, he may need to stay in the local area, but still explore.
In Phuket I only really know Patong (a dive) and Phuket Town (pleasant but quiet) so can’t really make too many recommendations there.
I would, of course, recommend Phi Phi as it’s stunning. There are lots of outdoor activities, and good nightlife. Tell him to avoid the muay thai challenge in Reggae Bar though, as a lot of the fights are staged, and if they’re not, some of the fighters are hepped up on yabba, and very scary (one of them threatened to kill me, and he meant it).
From Phuket it’s a couple of hours to Ao Nang by road, where Railay is. Very beautiful indeed, and set up for tourists. Krabi town is quite pleasant - bustling little place not really set up for tourists (which I prefer).
Also, south of Krabi town, is Koh Lanta, a laid-back, not-so-stunning beachy place, but with a great atmosphere and great views of Phi Phi over the water.
Further afield, it’s a few hours in a bus south to the Malaysian border, and from there you can get either to Lankawi or the Similan islands.
For more info on the volunteer work, here’s a little video about it.
Thanks for the help, I really appreciate it.
What he is intrested in is training, training, and more training. But from experience I know 3 months is a long time and can’t imagine he will not want to take a break and get out and explore. The camp he is in is about 265 a month, to me this does not seem excessive but i will alert him that better deal might be out there.
He Always has a smile on his face and loves meeting new people and cultures. He spent almost 3 years in Korea when he was younger and still talks about it. Respect is his middle name.
How old is he? Also, where will he be staying? Unfortunately parts of Phuket can be shady - particularly Patong Beach - so I’d recommend he find a good Thai family to stay with while he is there.
I second avoiding Patong Beach. Phuket as a whole I generally dislike, although yes, Phuket town is pleasant. Fortunately, Phang-Nga and Krabi provinces are very close by, both of them much nicer, IMHO.
In addition to the other suggestions here, a good guidebook will help. Lonely Planet just issued a new Thailand guide last month, the 13th edition. That can prove useful.
I also second the recommendation that he see some of the mountainous North, since he’ll obviously be getting his fill of beaches. Mae Hong Son can be particularly nice, especially this time of the year. Well, nice as in green, because of the rains, although the rains can sometimes be a problem. I lived in MHS for some years in the 1980s and have watched it grow. Facilities have improved, especially in the town of Pai, which I remember as a dusty little one-hotel burg; man, has that area ever changed! and Soppong actually has electricity now. Domestic air fare is quite cheap here, good for a quick run up North, although he’ll probably have to change in Bangkok.
The Northeast gets only 2% of foreign-tourist arrivals but still has a lot to offer, but it’s often best to hire your own transport to see it properly. Sounds like that may be a lot of trouble for too far afield if he’s really focused on training, though.
I’ve given other recommendations in the past, so try a Search for my name and something like Thailand in the thread title maybe.
I almost went to Thailand once. Then I just said Phuket and stayed home.
He is 30. Going on 21? 
He is staying at the training camp in one of their “standard” rooms. The pictures of it look nice; TV, AC, Bed, etc.
I suspect someone’s going to be mightily disappointed when he learn’s how “Phuket” is actually pronounced. 
Speaking of Muay Thai and the new Lonely Planet guide, I’m certainly no expert on the sport – simply not a fan – but I see in the new guide a couple of training camps mentioned in the Phuket section: Rawai Muay Thai and Sinbi Muay Thai. I cannot vouch for any camp myself but thought I would throw those out. Might be worth a look. They’re both in the Rawai area of the island, which is at the southern tip, and the book says there are “several well known” schools around there. Also says there’s “one popular (but fairly touristy) training centre in Patong” without naming it. Where exactly is the Tiger camp?
And speaking of scams, there is one that is not uncommon in Phuket: Jetskis. Personally, I loathe jetskis. They’re a nuisance to peace and tranquillity, not to mention an environmental hazard. However, if your son feels like taking one out for a spin, there have been increasing reports of some unscrupulous operators renting one out to a customer, and when he returns it, the operator claims there’s damage. There may actually even be scrapings on the bottom that were in reality already there before, just waiting for a scam victim. So tell him to be careful about the jetski situation. Again, this particular scam seems to be growing, especially in Phuket.
Jetski scam. Got it. Unfortunately, if anyone would fall for it, my son would. And thanks for the alternate training camps.
Doesn’t matter - in my head it will always be the way I want it to be.
Nothing to add except I envy your son, he’s going to have a wonderful time. My one piece of advice: “Sabai, sabai!” 
Unless I get the ref wrong, this is intresting as my son’s other job is a massage therapist.
If he’s 30 I’d suggest he read some of the tales of woe from foreign guys that have fallen for local maidens, both fair and otherwise. He might still make mistakes but at least he’ll have a chance of recognizing the signs when all the girls tell him how handsome he is.
If he were younger I’d have recommended he try to get a room with a good, local family, since there would be some pressure on him to behave himself. At 30 I figure he either will or he won’t; not much you could do about it.
It may be a common saying in both fields. “Sabai, sabai” is what Muay Thai trainers tell their fighters when they get too tense and wound up - they need to relax, be loose and breathe (there’s probably a similar saying in most of the world’s combat sports). If your son already has some background in Muay Thai he’ll probably get the reference.
Koh Samui off the east coast was a great place when I was there back in 1976 while I was back packing through S E Asia. Bungalows only 50 feet from the water went for a $1.00 a night. There was no electricity, but generators would run for a few hours after sunset. Twenty or thirty travellers at most on the island at one time.
Don’t know what its like now.
I second the suggestion to be careful about falling in love with the local prostitutes. I brought a girl I met in Bangkok (at the Atlanta Hotel) with me down to Ko Samui. After three weeks on the island, putting her on the train back to Bangkok while I headed south to Malaysia was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do! The girls are so nice and so beautiful and mine never asked for a penny (or a baht!) Fortunately I was travelling. I had places to go and sights to see.
There’s a story I’ve heard, probably apocryphal, about New York City refusing a license for a new Thai restaurant because it’s name was to be Phuket, and they didn’t realize how it was actually pronounced.
Oh man, you really have not been there in a while. $1 might – MIGHT, I say – get you a sip of water in the airport. The whole island is heavily (over)developed by now. Lots of luxury projects, both hotels and residences. Not really as pleasant a place as it was back then, but I know people who do still like it. I should explain, however, that Koh Samui is off the east coast of the peninsula and not off the east coast over by Cambodia like some of the other islands, such as Koh Samet and Koh Chang.
As for scams in general, the Bangkok Scams website gives a good overview. (Includes the Phuket jetski scam.)
(The sex-show scam mentioned on the website is limited to some second-floor bars in Patpong. The shows in any bar belonging to the King’s Group or Queen’s Group is safe. Bars in all other areas in Bangkok are safe, too. It’s only these handful of bars in Patpong, and again, not all of the ones there, just some outside those two groups. This scam was actually eliminated for a while, but it’s back.)
Thanks Siam Sam that was very helpful, I am forwarding all this to my son.