You're gonna get your ....... head kicked in!

What a chant! Anyway the reason for such tuneful musings is that Samantha and I attended a Thai kick boxing extravaganza! We were keen to see what Muay Thai was all about and so paid our 400 baat each (5 1/2 pounds) and in we went. The place was obviously a training centre in the day, but there were a couple of bars in the building as well and tables and chairs laid out around two sides of the ring. We were positioned one row back from the ring, but as I discovered later on, no-one cared if you went right up to the ring and stood there taking photos. There were lots of tourists in the seated areas and lots of Thai's leaning against the ring on the other two sides, shouting madly as every punch and kick landed. Having never been to a fight and always disliked English boxing I wasn't sure how I'd react, but having always loved martial arts I was fairly sure I'd enjoy it, even more surprising was how much Sam loved it, but I wonder if it was really the oiled up, incredibly fit young Thai lads on view!

There were 8 fights in total, with fighting weights ranging from 30kg-65kg (I know!), the first fight being between a couple of kiddies who must have been about 10. The good thing was they weren't allowed to punch and could only kick, thus saving their tender young brains. Each fight is preceeded by a ram muay or "boxing dance." This ceremony lasts for about five minutes or so and expresses obeisance to the guardian spirit of Thai boxing and also to the fighter's guru or khruu. This series of manoevres is performed to music from a Thai oboe. All fighters wear sacred headbands and sometimes armbands for divine protection and good luck. The headband is removed after the ram muay, but the armband, which contains a Buddha image, remains.

The remaining fights were adult affairs and they were really exciting. Some amazing moves, really high kicks, round-house kicks, the lot. The ref's were all good and stopped the fight at the first sign of a fighter looking dazed. There was no kicking, punching or kneeing to the balls allowed, but accidents happen and a couple of the fighters looked like they might have had a tear in their eyes, I certainly did! There were also a couple of fights between a westerner and a Thai. One fight was between a Canadian and a Thai, the Canadian fella looked amazingly hard with a massive tatoo on his back and actually beat the Thai bloke within 2 rounds. The other fight was between an Englishman and a Thai and on this occasion, the Thai chap won, fairly convincingly, in fact, he seemed to be showboating towards the end of the fight, pulling out some spectacular kicks. It was a great night, except for the English boxer and we'd certainly go again, given the oppurtunity. As a special treat for you movie lovers out there I've uploaded two mini fights for you :)


Fight 1
Fight 2