In 2019 I spent a week on the politest street in the world. No, it isn’t some small-town culdesac, it is called Soi Ta-iad, a street in Thailand that is home to some of the biggest fight gyms in the world. While calling it the safest street in the world may be a little bit of hyperbole, I don’t think it is that much of a stretch considering how nice and respectful everyone was to each other. You might ask, how can it be so safe if everyone there knows how to fight? Well, that’s exactly why, alongside the tourists and hobbyists like myself, there are professional fighters from all over the world who have wins in the UFC, ONE Fighting Championship, and a host of other fighting organizations. If you’ve ever watched any combat sports, you know that the biggest, baddest-looking people aren’t necessarily the best, and so does everyone on the street, and that’s why everyone is so polite.
This post isn’t going to be an in-depth review of all the gyms I visited or a guide of exactly how to prepare for a trip there, but more of a memoir of what it was like visiting there from my personal experience, and why it was one of the best training experiences I’ve had. Of course, there are plenty of places to train Muay Thai across Thailand, and many of the best gyms are in other parts of the country. But what makes Soi Ta-iad so unique is the concentration of gyms in one small area, and the whole economy and services that have grown up around it. For some background, I have been training Brazilian JiuJitsu consistently for over 5 years, and kickboxing off and on since I was 18, but with a total training time of only about 3 years. I’m not that good at either, but I love visiting gyms when I travel, and this was my first trip solely dedicated to training.
Soi Ta-iad is about 20 minutes from the main tourist spots in Phuket, it is inland, away from the beaches, and has all the amenities you need for a great training experience. The entire street is only about two kilometers long, but as you walk down the dusty road, you’ll find all kinds of shops you won’t find anywhere else in Thailand. There are supplement stores selling big tubs of protein powder, sports massages, salad bars, keto restaurants, and even cryotherapy. There are only one or two bars, and you definitely feel you are in a healthy paradise that is another world compared to most other places in Thailand where foreigners gather. Not only are there fight gyms, but there are also CrossFit gyms, regular gyms with lifting and cardio equipment, and even fitness camps with everything from spin to yoga. The restaurants in the area are of full of options like grilled chicken salads, poke bowls, protein pancakes, egg-white omelettes, and acai bowls; completely different than the standard tourist grub. I even tried my first cauliflower crust keto pizza there!
I arrived at Soi Ta-iad in the late afternoon and just had time to check into my hotel before taking my first walk down the street to a BJJ session at Phuket Top Team. As I took in my surroundings I was amazed that every shop I passed was fitness or health related. Not only that, but virtually every person I saw, eating in restaurants, riding by on scooters, or walking along the road like me, was obviously fit and there to participate in some form of training. As I neared Phuket Top Team I started hearing the unmistakable thwack of hard shins hitting heavy bags and grunts of exertion as the fighters put every ounce of effort they could into their strikes. The check-in process was easy, as all the gyms there are used to drop-ins, and soon I was stretching on the mats of a padded room waiting for the session to start. It was a pretty big space, with tall ceilings and the flags of Brazil and Thailand hanging on the walls, the stink of old sweat was heavy, as is the case in most good gyms. Soon the room started filling up with people of all sizes and nationalities, with many walking around and shaking everyone’s hands before they started their own stretching routine.
The class was great, and I was feeling exhilarated and looking forward to the week of hard training as I started heading back to my hotel. It was a Friday night, and as I walked back there were groups of people at various restaurants along the street. I decided to grab a kebab, and when I went inside to order I first noticed this environment of utmost politeness. There were a few groups of big guys sitting around the tables, talking loudly and eating their dinners. While I waited for my food I noticed there was none of the posturing or sizing up that happens in many places, especially with large groups of guys on a Friday night. Instead, when new people walked through the door, most guys ignored it, or casually looked up and then went back to their conversations. I realized that everyone knew that any one of these guys, no matter what they looked like, could be a professional fighter. And in addition to that, all the aggression and competitiveness was used up on the mats or in the ring, so there was no reason for anyone to be anything but polite outside of the gym.
I ended up training at 4 gyms during my week there, and it was the same story at each one, everyone was polite and friendly to a fault. Whenever I happened to meet someone’s eye in a restaurant or walking down the street, there was nothing but a slight smile or respectful nod. It really showed me that not only were most of the people confident in their abilities, they were also in control of their ego and understood that there is always someone better, and you never know who that could be. Maybe if more people in the world trained martial arts, everyone would be more polite wherever they went instead of just this special street in Thailand.