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If anyone had told Clare and I when we left Australia in 2014 that by Mid January 2015 we would be in Thailand I would have been surprised. If they had then said that we would be living and training daily at a Muay Thai Kickboxing gym for over a month I would have outright laughed. Therefore how and why we came to be here warrants explanation. Strangely, it was actually the influence of two completely unrelated friends from completely different angles. One of our mates back in Sydney, a self described "retired backpacker and international roamer" who now works for a major investment bank simply lives for his four weeks a year. When he began talking in early 2014 about a trip to Myanmar I dismissed most of his talk as daydreaming but added that i would never say never. Well, he got his four weeks and then he bought his flights. Seeing as his timing worked out perfectly with our intended departure from our brief visit back to Sydney in Decemeber we decided to go along with him. That's how we came to be travelling in Asia in the first place. Then, assuming we needed an exit strategy from Myanmar just to get our Visa approved we also booked an onward flight to Bangkok, Thailand. This is where the ideas from the two mates collide. Road tripping around the UK in November last year we caught up with one of our many former housmates (and serious Muay Thai fighter) in Brighton, England. After a heavy meal and part way through way too many beers either Clare or myself must have lamented the toll that living too much of the good life was taking on our physical health and no doubt our physical shape as well. Having told us stories of Thai training camps in jungles or near tropical beaches our mate then suggested we might be able to work a bit of healthy living and physical training in to the next phase of our journey. Once we visited him again at the gym he was training at just outside Bangkok right after being in Myanmar the rest of the plan took shape. Now, that's exactly what we're doing only near some very nice beaches down south in Phuket.
A month or so into our time here in Thailand I have had enough time to reflect on the differences between the first two South East Asian countries I have spent considerably more time in than just a short holiday. Where our time in Myanmar was made fascinating by the multitude of cultural differences and experiences our first month in Thailand has been almost the opposite. I recognise and understand that this is due to having spent only a week in the capital Bangkok followed by a week on the beach in Phuket and then a month at a gym. However, it has still given me the opportunity to become familiar two quintessentially Thai cultural past times. At first glance they seem completely unrelated but given time to consider them a little more closely I find the similarities are fascinating.
People in the past have told me that I am uncultured because of my interest in anything sports and lack of interest in music, dance or anything else that falls under the classification of "the arts". To them i say, sport is a form of culture. People's love, devotion and interest in it makes them cultured as well and the Thais are a perfect example. Muay Thai or Thai Kickboxing as many know it is to the Thai people what four codes of Football are to the Australian people. Kids start training and fighting as we start training and playing when we're old enough to walk. It's not uncommon to see a couple of kids in their front yards with the first up either shadow boxing one another or even lightly sparing. It is fought in the biggest stadiums in the biggest city in Thailand right down to your grass routes rings set up in a dusty empty plot near the gym we're living in. For those that are unaware, Muay Thai is one of the most brutal and dangerous of all the martial arts. It is described as the Sciene of Eight Limbs because unlike other forms of kickboxing, not only are you allowed to hit your opponent with your fists and feet but your knees and elbows as well. Kicks, punches and knees to all parts of the body are permitted but the most effective and brutal strikes are the elbows to the face and other parts of the head usually leading to large bloody cuts and knock outs. Brutal. The history of this sport does go back hundreds of years to a time when it was taught to soldiers of the king's army for both attack and self defence. I guess this long tradition of regarding the best fighters as your finest warriors and then wanting to watch them in competition is the root of today's cultural obsession with Muay Thai.
The second stereotypically Thai cultural past time is c*** Fighting (cue lady boy jokes). It turns out there's a small arena very close to the gym where we're staying. It was definitely more out of curiosity and a desire to witness a cultural activity that drew me to the fights rather than wanting to enjoy the spectacle of two unwanting animals engaged in a death match. Having now been, i stand by that rationale. These c*** are the prize posession of their owners. They are bred specifically, well trained, fed, massaged and generally pampered to ensure they are in tip top fighting condition come match day. When the time arrives each has a shackle fixed to each leg with a three inch spur facing backward and up at a 45 degree angle. It seems this is used not as an attacking weapon as the c*** don't appear to be able to strike backwards but more as a way to end a fight in quick time. As you may be able to imagine in the flurry of small wings and feet most fights end with the critical wounding of one of the c*** as it gets entangled on the spur. Not all wounds are fatal but many certainly are. A number of people I mentioned the fights to had no interest in watching as they saw it as too cruel, brutal and unfair on animals that had no say in whether they fought or not. Not too dissimilar to Muay Thai in some ways.
On the saturday night of Valentines Day we went to the local Muay Thai fights (yeah, i made sure Clare knows how lucky she is) . Our gym had four or five fighters competing that night. One of the fights early in the night was between a confident and highly competent looking young Thai of about 10 years and his opponent, a young Russion boy of about 8. Whilst it can be deceiving, to most of the spectators the fear on the young Russian boy's face was plain to see (hopefully the photo is posted for you to decide for yourself). The parents sitting in front of us seemed to share none of the concern of the rest of the spectators. At one point, the guy sitting next to me exclaimed 'I can't watch this' and got up and left early in the first round. Most of the other fights were between grown adults, some of whom had been training for a matter or months, others that had been training all their lives since they were the same age as the young Russian boy. Like most contests, the best ones to watch were the ones that were closely matched. Most were fascinating spectacles of dedication, skill and at times sheer determination. In some cases it shares similar characteristics with the western sports that we know and love. In other cases it shares more similar characteristics with the CockFights. I doubt whether the young Russian boy had any more say in whether he got in that ring than the roosters do. Depending on who signs up for each fight and how the promoters pair them, the Muay Thai fights might be just as mismatched as some of the c*** Fights. Fortunately, in the case of Muay Thai, combatants have the opportunity to hone their skills, strengthen their will and even throw in the towel if they ever really fear the outcome. The same can't be said for competing roosters. They have their survival instinct to fall back on along with genetics and in many cases, nothing more than dumb luck that they don't accidently get fatally wounded if they happen to get caught on their opponents spur.
Ultimately it was of no consequence at what stage of my stay I went to visit the c*** Fights. I would be equally sensitive to and somewhat put off by watching animals forced to fight one another regardless. Myself and those that i've become mates with here all agreed we had no interest in going to watch the dog fights or cow fights (yeah i could hardly believe cow fights existed either) thereafter. The Muay Thai however is different. I am thankful that Clare and I didn't go to watch the fights in one of the big stadiums early in our stay. Not because we wouldn't have been prepared for the brutality but because we could not have appreciated the skills on display. I'm led to believe that at the bigger stadiums in Phuket many of the fights are between tourists. Some dedicated to the sport, others are tourists there to train for fitness who decide that they should put all their hard work to the test and get in the ring for an actual fight. These definitely would not have been the best viewing fights for anyone wanting to get an authentic feel for Muay Thai and it's cultural significance as it is in Thailand. At the time of writing i've managed to keep myself from giving in to the urge to test myself and rationally speaking hope to continue to do so. It was also nice for us to go to small village atmosphere fights where a ring had been erected earlier that day in a dirt plot by the side of the main road. It meant you could walk right up to the ring, get as close to the fighters as you wished and wander around to see everything that was going on around the makeshift arena. It also meant that the majority of fighters were Thai.
The other thing that has really struck me whilst i've been here is a concept or rather an industry that had never previously occurred to me. Health Tourism i think they call it. Not only do the majority of Muay Thai gyms in Phuket cater to train dedicated fighters but a significant portion of their commercial enterprise is aimed at catering to tourists that want to use Muay Thai and the gym facilities for their general health and fitness. As it turns out, that's the category we fit into. Training tourists serves two purposes. One is obviously the financial gain of the gym but i'm told that the money is also used in some cases to support and train for free some of the young local fighters. When we were driving around the island when we first arrived we noticed that not only are there a lot fighting gyms but also fitness clubs, health retreats etc offering all manner of services to clients that stay anywhere from a few days to a few weeks and in some cases I know of even up to an entire year. There's one such Englishman at our gym. A very large man that in the last six months has lost over 50kg and intends to do the same again over the next six months. This has been achieved primarily by training twice a day. At least one time Muay Thai, sometimes two depending how the body is feeling each day then swimming or doing some weights at other times. Combined with learning to eat appropriately you can see how remarkable the results of Health Tourism can be. To the big man, if you're reading this, you've been an inspiration to Clare and myself. Stick with it and don't go home until you've reached your goals. We know you'll get there. To anyone else considering a healthy holiday whether it be in a Muay Thai gym or completely different type of facility i would recommend it highly. Not only can you immerse youself in a stress free environment for a few weeks but you can get fit, get healthy, clear your head and i'd suggest meet some fantastic people at the same time. There's a whole bunch of you Clare and I have had a ball hanging with. You know who you are. For a while it felt strange going out to dinners with new people and not having a few beers at the same time but now it's starting to feel like the norm. Besides, around this part of Thailand it always felt that having just one beer might lead to having twenty. In some people's cases it did. Stories for another day.
I have never been one for going to the gym. Apart from doing the City to Surf one year i've never really been one for physical exercise like weights, running etc. If there wasn't a ball to chase then I didn't want to know about it. The Muay Thai training is a great way to get into it. I've never worked or been worked so hard in my life but we both enjoyed the challenge of learning something new at the same time. It distracts from the pain. The gym itself that we're staying at is relatively modern. You can see that it caters for large percentage of foreigners. Some of the more authentic thai gyms are a much tougher rougher affair. That's just how it goes around here. Train, eat, sleep, repeat. Twice a day for those who are serious. That's atleast four hours a day of cardio, strength and conditioning, pad work, bag work, stretching and technique usually beginning before 7.30am for those of us that take a little longer to get moving. The second session finishes around 6.00pm. Seeing as becoming fighters is not what we came for Rawai Supa Muay Thai gym was the place for us. The staff are used to dealing with foreigners, they're always smiling it seems and always quick to want to add you as friends on facebook then go out to the local clubs on a Saturday night with you also. Sunday is a day off at the gym. All that said, it is also far from being one of the big tourist gyms on the island. There are much bigger gyms which sound like you're far less likely to develop a rapport with trainers and staff which for us would have been a negative. Meeting a few of these guys has been the only real contact we've had with any of the locals.
Staying at the gym has been a wonderful experience for us. The bungalow we stayed in has A/C, a fan, tv, ensuite, fridge and somewhere to hang your clothes. Not surprisingly this was the first thing Clare did after roughly eight months on the road. Sure we could have found somewhere cheaper, we could have seen more of Thailand but neither are what this part of our journey was about. In my case I am stronger and leaner and i'd like to think internally healthier than ever before in my adult life. Clare says the same. Clare and I are both weighing close to what we did when we arrived six weeks ago. The differences lie in increased muscle mass, significantly decreased body fat and much improved fitness. I expect that once we stop battering our bodies on a daily basis in training we'll even get to feel the benefits. I definitely attribute alot of this to staying on site at the gym. Had we not, I never would have been in there doing weights or running during the heat of the day. I would have skipped Muay Thai sessions and come up with all manner of excuses not to do any extra work. Being here has meant that when we get bored with chilling out we just step into the gym to occupy ourselves. Hard to believe you could ever get bored of chilling out but by the time we leave we will have done this for seven weeks. One of the best parts about this part of our trip is that it feels like we've given ourselves a fresh start from a physical perspective moving towards the future. I suspect all that we've learned about training and nutrition will also stand us in good stead going forward.
To the staff at the gym here, the management and the trainers we'd like to say a massive THANK YOU. We've trained hard, achieved our goals and had a ball doing so as can probably be seen in the fact that we've extended our visa and our stay by an extra four weeks. If reading this has inspired anyone to consider doing something similar on your next holiday think seriously about coming here. You can find info by searching for Supa Rawai Muay Thai. It's also been a heap of fun meeting some of the fighters that train here. On the whole a different bunch to most of our mates back home. Slightly more mad, adventurous and prone to insane moments of hilarity and a large part of the reason we've continued to extend our stay also. There are many that we'll be staying in touch with. It's gonna be hard to leave all this behind but it might actually be a relief to leave the bruising behind.
Malaysian here we come.
- comments
Carol Sounds like a lovely place and you enjoying your self you both look great xx
Martha Crummy Great to read how much this place and people have touched your lives, possibly forever , re healthy aspects and life choices. On to the next adventures! xx Martha