WELCOME TO THE LAND OF THE SURFSKATEPARKS
Thailand! Paradisiacal beaches, temples, street food… and surfskate ‘Mecca’?
Let’s put everything in context:
During the first months of the pandemic, the world of individual sports boomed as it never did before. Surfskating went along with it – popularity of which, skyrocketed after the first lockdowns. And between all the hype, madness, boat blocking the Suez Canal, shortage of raw materials, etc, one country stood up as the very epicenter of the surfskating movement.
With more than a hundred surfskateparks built in less than 2 years and hundreds of adepts joining the movement every month, Thailand became the place to be for any concrete-surfing passionate. And we couldn’t miss that party.
2022 started with the best possible news: Thailand was reducing the mandatory on-arrival quarantine to 24h starting in March – quite a difference respect the previous (impossible to handle) 14 days quarantine. Calls were made, route partially planned and flights booked. Soon enough we were eating bretzels in Frankfurt’s airport while waiting for our flight to Bangkok.
The first 24h went as smooth as covid let us. After receiving the last covid-negative test, we headed towards the outside world for a mandatory neighborhood check, surfskates in hand. We managed to skate a few spots nearby before it was too hot for our habitué to the european winter bodies and got to visit a few local markets for our delight.
We headed south after 48h in the big city and established our base in Khao Lak – cheers for the comfy beds La Vela. In between fire dances and one or two cocktails, whispers said there could be some waves at Memories Beach. Surfing in Thailand? Yes, please. We rented a few bikes and drove north to find out there was a surfskatepark in front of a small fun wave at the pointed location. We shared the funnest surf with the warmest welcome from the local community and threw some carves and airs in the park. Drove back to Khao Lak, met the YOW Thai team and spent the rest of our day at the resort’s surfskatepark – demo included – until our bodies couldn’t respond anymore. First day was checked. What a time to be alive.
We spent the rest of the days in the south driving around exploring the natural surroundings, visited a couple paradise beaches and threw another demo at the amazing The PlayYard surfskatepark near Phuket.
The calmness and utopian life from the south was good, but we needed to experience the madness and authenticity of Bangkok. We spent our first day back in the capital touring around the popular and less popular areas seeking for street spots and consuming all the Thai classics. Som Tam, Pad Thay, Chicken Satay… bring it on. Life is good in Thailand.
We visited the most awaited surfskatepark the following day, the Farmer Surfer. A ridiculous amount of cement extended in a big rural area just one hour away from the city. A long snake run with walls up to 7m tall, multiple “wave pools”, bowls… the surfskaters wettest dream. Of course, we spent close to 10 hours on location with the rest of the Thai team: Papang, Proud, Pek, Nook, Makam and Nay.
We spent the last days of the tour roaming around the city trying to skate some of the classic spots we have seen many times in skate videos. Got kicked out of the movie-ender spot before we even got to skate it, c‘est la vie. Mandatory visit to the main temples, a night cruise around China-town, more Pad Thai. The vibe was high.
The tour ended with a big demo and party thrown at the surfskatepark indoor and restaurant-club Moldna Club with the premiere of our ‘La Isla’ movie and a concert from one of our favorite Thai bands Khana Bierbood, and of course the classic mad neighboor calling the police.
Back in the airport and with our hearts full, we sayed see you soon to the country that gave us all.
Infinite thanks to the Thai community, our riders, distributor and anyone who helped us along the way. One for the books.
