Bangkok Floods – Kiatphontip Fundraiser

In late July, Thailand began to experience some of the worst flooding it had seen in half a century. As the rains poured down due to an already overactive Monsoon season; a tropical storm over Northern Vietnam and the effects of La Niña only further exacerbated the situation, allowing no time for already inadequate drainage systems to help dissipate the flood waters. A more sophisticated drainage system in and around Bangkok had previously made the Thai capital pretty much impervious to flooding. However, as the rains did not let up, flood waters began to creep into the outskirts of the city. As flood waters approached from the north, the small suburban town of Salaya would be the northern wall protecting the capital from flooding…but eventually the small town was simply no match for the forces of nature.

Like many other suburbs around Bangkok, Salaya is the home of a small Muay Thai gym where young Thai fighters work hard day in and day out to become stars in Bangkok’s stadiums in order to, hopefully, one day make some money to support their families. Families that were most likely gravely affected by the flooding concentrated in Northern Thailand. The name of this small gym is Kiatphontip. Kiatphontip is owned and operated by our friend Rob Cox. For many in the Muay Thai community, Rob Cox is widely considered to be the true authority on the Muay Thai scene in Thailand and around the world.

During my first trip to Thailand, Rob pretty much became my guide when I stayed and trained at Kaewsamrit Gym in Bangkok, which was where he worked at the time. Later on, when I was chosen by the Travel Channel to appear on the Bangkok episode of Anthony Bourdain’s: No Reservations, my first thought of where I should take the show in order to showcase the very real and human aspect of Thai culture was to take the crew to a Muay Thai gym. At that point Rob had already opened his gym in Salaya and I knew that I would have to check out his gym.

Kiatphontip gym, like many other properties and gyms throughout Thailand, was hit pretty hard by the floods. Therefore, we wanted to announce that our friends at MyMuayThai.com have begun a fundraiser to help Rob and Kiatphontip get back on track. The MTL staff invites you to read this article written by MyMuayThai’s Nopstar and donate what you can to help Kiatphontip (we have also added MyMuayThai’s donate button below). Rob Cox has been an integral part of the Muay Thai community and for many of us, his gym has been our home away from home every time we have made the trip to Thailand.

As the flood waters have begun to recede, our friends in Thailand now begin the difficult tasks of rebuilding their lives and their homes. This is just one way we feel we can give back to a country and culture that has blessed us with our beautiful sport of Muay Thai.