Muay Thai

In talking to people about my trip, I've found that very few people who aren't already into martial arts know what Muay Thai is. Literally transltated, Muay Thai is Thai Boxing. Though it is not quite as popular or as stylized as other arts such as karate, kung fu, or jiu-jitsu, Muay Thai is prevalent in Southeast Asia. Muay Thai is the national sport of Thailand -- similar to what baseball, basketball, and football are to the U.S.

Muay Thai has been practiced by the Thai people for centuries. One of the most traditional stories about its rise in popularity originated in 1774. In the Burmese city of Rangoon, the Burmese King Mangra organized a series of fights. One of these fights involved a Thai prisoner named Nai Khanom Tom and a Burmese champion. Nai Khanom Tom performed a traditional cerimonial ritual (Wai Khru) at the beginning of the fight to pay his respects to the King and to the crowd. When the fight began, Tom quickly leveled his Burmese opponent. The referee ruled that the champion had been too distracted by the pre-fight ritual and the King asked that Tom fight nine other champions to prove himself. One-by-one, and with no rest periods in-between, each champion fell. The King gave Nai Khanom Tom a choice of either women or riches -- being as awesome as he was, he chose the women saying money was much easier to find.
[Full History]

The biggest difference between Western boxing and Thai boxing is the amount of strikes. Known as "the art of eight limbs", Muay Thai makes use of hands, shins, elbows, and knees whereas traditional Western boxing uses only hands. The "clinch" also differs with Muay Thai. When opponents enter the clinch in Western boxing, they are seperated; Thai boxing allows opponents to continue fighting while clinched.

Thailand

I've always entertained the idea of going off somewhere and training martial arts full-time. Even when I was little, the idea of training day in/day out and becoming a warrior, so to speak, was particularly enjoyable. But I never gave it any second thought; it was something like a movie fantasy.

A few months ago, at the beginning of August, I was doing a bit of Googling and found out that there were actually a few camps scattered around the world that offered full-time martial arts. An idea that was once reserved for my imagination suddenly materialized. I actually could do something like this! I took a step back and thought about which martial arts particularly interested me. Having taken karate for the past two years, I enjoyed it but I didn't want to limit myself to just one style. Muay Thai had always interested me, so I Googled some more.

A few clicks later I had browsed a comprehensive list of Muay Thai camps in Thailand. One camp that seemed to stick out from all the rest, Tiger Muay Thai in Phuket, offered a great training environment at a very reasonable cost -- and an exceptional locale. So I decided to investigate things a bit more and see what this place was all about.

I corresponded with a guy named Will at Tiger Muay Thai. Through various emails throughout the following months, I discovered that Thailand was exactly what I was looking for. I could train in an art that I was now extremely interested in, I could immerse myself in a new culture, and I could do it all in a particularly beautiful country whilst traveling the world. Really, what else could I ask for?

On January 3, 2009, I’ll be headed to Thailand for a tentative three-month stay.