advice on thailand trip please

So this is what's going on with me, I have to do one more semester of school and then I'll be finished , I should be done around January. After that I've decided to get a job and save as much money as I can for a year or two and train hard at the same time, I'll try to get as many amatuer kickboxing fights as I can. Then I plan to travel. I've been seriously considering a trip to thailand to learn Muay Thai, I know it's not the only place to learn but I've wanted to go for a long time, I just want to travel and get out of my home town for awhile, better yet my country, I've never even left Canada before. I currently do Kickboxing but I want to make a transition to Muay Thai at some point. And since I've been wanting to go backpacking or something I found a site www.lonelyplanet.com and on the thailand forum I looked under sports and found a list of sites to thai boxing gyms with accomodations and such, many of them specialize in training forieners.

www.bestmuaythai.com - Phuket
· www.fairtexbkk.com - Samutprakarn (35~45 minutes north of Bangkok)
· www.horizonmuaythai.com/index.html - Ko Pha Ngan
· www.lannamuaythai.com - Chiang Mai
· www.phuketmuaythai.com - Phuket
· www.sityodtong.com/home.htm - Pattaya
· www.thaiboxings.com - Sor.Vorapin, Jakapong Rd (near KSR), Panakorn, Bangkok - article
· www.wmcmuaythaicamp.com - Ko Samui (Lamai)

I know it's alot to look at but I would be really, really, really thankful to get opinions on these places, especially from people who have trained in thailand before, and especially Taison who, as I understand lives in thailand and has trained in Muay Thai for years. If anybody has heard of these gyms please tell me what you know about them.

Some things to consider: I wouldn't be going for about two years or so, I only speak english but I'd be completely willing to learn how to speak thai, I'd want to stay and train for at LEAST a few months.

I'm thinking ahead right now, I figure I'm young and don't have major obligations to stay here so why not take advantage while I have the chance?

thank you in advance! thank you, thank you, thank you!

....Taison help?

i've been to lanna muay thai myself. since it's up in the north in chiang mai, the weather was much cooler than bangkok, which made training bearable.

i think you have to take into account the weather in your choice. from what i remember, parts of thailand go to rain seasons, especially in the south (phuket).

and take note that some cities like pattaya is known as a city built on sex tourism... not sure if it'll be your kind of city for a few months.

do drop by at lumpini stadium in bangkok, and feel the energy of the thai crowd...

Thank you for your reply! I have taken in to consideration the weather and I sure won't be going during typhoon season . By the way when did you train with lanna muay thai? and for how long? did you have one trainer or a bunch while you were there?

i stayed about a week in chiang mai and trained for 3 days... it was a typical vacation (2 weeks long) so i didn't have more time to train. But being able to train in MT in thailand was one of the main reason why i chose to go there. That and things are insanely cheap from a canadian standard... (also from canada )

the owner of the lanna muay thai (a brit i think) was absent during my stay there (off to teach in seminars or something) which was kinda unfortunate as it was obvious that i couldn't be made a MT fighter in 3 days so i wanted to focus on elbows/knees to compliment my usual kung fu training. Except the owner the other trainers speak little english, and i was unable to specify my needs. regardless, i learned a lot in those 3 days.

there were about 4 trainers total, i'm not sure how it works in a typical gym, but they'd come to me and we'd do pad work. i didn't have one specific guy with me...

i think Chiang mai > bangkok. the polluted air in bang kok is killer.

be safe in thailand... u dont' want to bring a STD as a souvenir.

So did all the trainers speak english?

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Except the owner the other trainers speak little english, and i was unable to specify my needs. regardless, i learned a lot in those 3 days.

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very little... but they know "training" words. my favorite trainer kept saying balance! balance! whenever i kicked.