Muay Thai, Thailand

I think it’s the wannabe Charlie’s Angel in me, that draws me to Muay Thai boxing. It is something to do with the precision and control, mixed with the ability to deck your opponent effortlessly with an exotic ‘Slaying Dragon Climbs the Mountain’ something or other move. Now wouldn’t that be cool?

Our Muay Thai experience started in the unlikely venue at the American Women’s Club of Thailand Oscars event. Being a newbie in Bangkok no-one actually told me that a morning on the red carpet required a sustained training program or that it was akin to a black belt survival camp.

These Oscars women are seriously hardcore…

For a start, the timing of the Oscars meant that I had to be up in my best black and white party frock, with no bed, or humidity hair, face on, and at the venue by 7 am.

On the table are four bottles of fizz and women from all the International Women’s groups in Bangkok arrive clutching more bottles, AND with perfect hair.

This function goes on until lunchtime, or later if you hit the after parties. At various points in the proceedings, the chatter is stopped for announcements of Best Actor and the like… With this aspect of gaining control of the audience getting harder and harder to achieve.

So it was little wonder that when I came home and Mr Wren said ‘who won Best Picture?‘ I didn’t know.

The event is a lot of fun and a major fundraiser for the AWC sponsorship program, helping underprivileged girls in rural Thailand. A big part of the fundraising is the raffle and silent auction. I duly bought some raffle tickets and happy days won a men’s hamper full of gifts: tie, wallet, shaving foam and included six VIP tickets to Muay Thai ‘The Legend Lives’ show at Asiatique. 

Perfect I thought. There’s Mr Wren’s birthday all sorted. So here we all are front row watching Thailand’s version of Rocky meets Jackie Chan.

The show starts when Muay Thai Boxing was invented back in the days when Thailand was known as Siam and the capital city was in Ayutthaya, not Bangkok.

Muay Thai originated in Thailand as a form of hand-to-hand combat in times of war. The Muay Thai boxers had eight weapons: elbows, fists (strikes), knees, and legs (kicks). Muay Thai has been the fastest growing martial art in the world for the last 80 years.

It’s a high action show, which uses most of the auditorium including some diving from on high and just as you think you’ve seen enough of men in skimpy shorts performing Action Man acrobatic maneuvers, the show switches to skinny jeans and modern-day Bangkok, a damsel in distress and more Muay Thai fighting skills…

I have a lot of respect for the fighters as I once took a Muay Thai Class in Krabi it took me longer to get my hands bandaged up to be supported under my boxing gloves, first swing, a couple of Kneesies, the odd elbow slam,  a loud owwww and that’s my Muay Thai career over and done.

My friends who go to Muay Thai classes say it’s the best form of exercise. All over Thailand, you will find Muay Thai gyms, there is no air con, it’s not for the faint-hearted and that’s before you’ve tried an ‘Emperor over the Moon’.

At the end of the show, we got to see two real live shows, which were a lot less exciting than the choreographed show. In fact, the second fight was blink and you missed it, well done Mr Muay Thai from China!

The Muay Thai live Boxing show gives it’s audience a greater understanding of the history of Muay Thai, it is hard not to be impressed by the skill and athleticism.

My experiences with Muay Thai show that I have neither the control nor the athleticism and can be found in my previous post: Muay Thai in Krabi  Where I decided I should stick to yoga for my fitness!

Would you fancy learning Muay Thai boxing?

M is for Muay Thai, Thailand and part of Blogging from A to Z April (2018) Challenge.

Click here to see the list of all participants!

Thanks so much to the organisers.