A Muay Thai gym in rural Thailand can change a child's life. This is particularly true in Thailand's North East region of Isaan which is home to some of the country's poorest families. In such communities, Muay Thai offers an option for the children who have few. A Muay Thai gym in a small, rural community can make the difference between a child securing a future and a child choosing gang membership and/or substance abuse. Almost a month ago, we released that MBSB contributor Frances Watthanaya, in conjunction with her husband Boom, and longtime family friend and Muay Thai trainer Dam were opening a gym in Boom's hometown in the Muang Yang of Nakhon … [Read more...]
Capturing The Root And Soul Of Muay Thai With Jacob Klensin
I realized that I was seeing things that should be shared, and when I found myself learning how to do that properly, and feeling like I was good at it, I never stopped. -Jacob Klensin Through his detailed and emotive work, Jacob Klensin allows us all a deeper peak into the world of Muay Thai and MMA. The photographer, filmmaker and writer took time out of his busy schedule in Philadelphia to let us in on his work and his world. You're a photographer, a filmmaker and a writer...what drives you? I studied history in college and was always fascinated by the creation of the material that will one day define how the future remembers the … [Read more...]
A Brand New Muay Thai Gym Is Being Built In Isaan
MBSB contributor Frances Watthanaya has been busy lately. She and her husband Boom have left Buriram to open a Muay Thai gym in neighbouring Nakhon Ratchasima Province (Khorat). The new Muay Thai gym is located in Boom's hometown (village) in the Muang Yang district. The village is extremely isolated and lacking the infrastructure common to larger villages (for example, paved roads). Additionally, plagued by a lack of governance, there isn't a local police presence in the area. Like many other villages in Isaan, adults from this village migrate to Bangkok to take up menial labour while those left behind tend to be the elderly, children, and those with addictions who … [Read more...]
Samurai Armour From The Edo Period (1603 – 1867)
On my most recent trip to New York I spent the better part of two days at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the greater part of my first day being spent in its Arms and Armour department. The museum boasts a Japanese collection that is considered to be the most complete outside of Japan.¹ The following series on concentrates primarily on the Edo period - this wasn't intentional, it just seemed to happen that way. Shooting the following photos proved to be an interesting task. I'm an amateur in all aspects of the process. My post production play tends to be a sort of let's see what happens when I do this in Photoshop type of process mixed with a hey, I wonder if there's a … [Read more...]
2014 – What Happened, What’s To Come and The Year’s Bests
Good Bye 2014, Hello 2015 2014 brought with it a lot of change to MBSB and with it, growth. The time had come where I decided to spend more time working behind the scenes of Milk.Blitz.Street.Bomb. in an effort to expand readership. Additionally, I needed to fix site related weaknesses that I was unaware of creating when I built the site. With that decision came the desire to add new voices; 2014 was a year of multiple perspectives. I'm incredibly grateful for all the contributors who took the time to let us all into their worlds. We worked hard and it paid off. Traffic to MBSB has increased and with it, my commitment to continue the trend. In … [Read more...]
Download A Free Thai 2015/2558 Calendar
Every year Thai Visa puts out a printable, full-sized calendar for download. Their 2015 / 2558 (Thai) year calendar is now available. This is an incredibly useful resource for those of you planning a trip to Thailand as it includes all public holidays which may affect your travel plans (as establishments may be closed) and/or may give you new options to experience. Check out for local holiday festivals wherever you find yourself in The Land Of Smiles. Download your 2015/2558 Thai calendar here. … [Read more...]
Bali, Indonesia – A Photo Series
MBSB contributor Charles Brandon Stauft's recent piece on the Indonesian martial art Silat inspired me to look into my archives and pull out some photos I shot while in Indonesia. I believe I spent approximately three weeks in Indonesia; the following photographs were taken while in Bali. In 2009 I received a message from a friend from Toronto. He was hanging out on the beaches of Bali with people he had met there. At the time I was living in Bangkok spending most of my days training muay thai at Chuwattana Gym and recovering from training alone in my room. No internet, no furniture (I slept on a mat), no air-conditioning and I shared a bathroom with two Thai … [Read more...]
Giatbundit Gym Muay Thai Shorts Now Available
Giatbundit Gym, in association with Monster Muay Thai, have released a series of muay thai shorts in support of Giatbundit Gym in Buriram, Thailand. 100% of the proceeds will go to Giatbundit Gym's efforts to build a muay thai ring for training. The Details: The ring, featured in the video below, was originally purchased to rent out to fight promotions as a means of income for Giatbundit Gym. This is common practice in Isaan as promoters often rent rings for a fight and gyms, particularly traditional, family run gyms, often need the additional income to survive. Giatbundit Gym however, has only one functioning ring. This means that … [Read more...]
The Boxer’s Soliloquy – An Interview With Author Matt Lucas
Matt has hit the nail squarely on the head with his depictions of the life of a foreign fighter in Thailand, writing with an authenticity that could only come from someone that has experienced it first hand. It makes for a very engaging and entertaining read! -Rob Cox, Muay Thai Focus American author and nak muay Matt Lucas' first release, The Boxer's Soliloquy is a collection of fifteen interconnected short stories that follows the lives of muay thai boxers in Bangkok. Matt has made a considerable amount of trips to train muay thai in Thailand. He's fought at the esteemed Rajadamern Stadium in Bangkok, in addition to other locations across Thailand and … [Read more...]
A Call For Authenticity In Muay Thai Blogging And Journalism
For those of you who have asked me how I feel about Sylvie von Duuglas-Ittu's highly debated GoFundMe initiative, this is my response. To begin, a bit of history on my time in the muay thai blogging landscape... Aside from a handful of posts on my now defunct MySpace page in 2007, I began blogging about muay thai in 2008. I had sold most of what I owned to fund living and training muay thai in Thailand until my course changed. Nopadon Wongpakdee of My Muay Thai was in correspondence with my friend Ange. Ange and I were making the trip together and Nopadon offered to support us by allowing us a voice and setting up a donation button on the site. … [Read more...]
On Traditional Muay Thai – The Teachings of Ajahn Suchart
"Muay Thai is not only a sport but it is a philosophy and an art that is deeply entrenched in history." -Ajahn Suchart, from his entry 'Naming A Muay Thai Camp Or Gym' Earlier this year, Ajahn Suchart Yodkerepauprai began sharing his teachings of muay thai publicly on his blog. Born in the early 1960s, Ajahn started muay thai at the age of nine in Thailand's Karin village of Maethoe, in the province of Mae Hong Son near the Myanmar border. Currently Ajahn Suchart is based in Toronto, Canada; he has been instructing muay thai in the city since 1987. Ajahn is the founder of Siam No. 1 muay thai gym and is responsible for shaping a number of champions who have … [Read more...]
Two Men. Two Bikes. Two Continents – The Motorcycle Ride To Help Street Kids In Mongolia
By the time you're reading this, Australian pilots Nick Harbison and Dominic Prezwanski will be somewhere along their 18,757km (approx. 11,655mi) plus motorcycle ride from Vladivostok, one of the Easternmost ports of Russia to London, England. Travelling on two BMW F650GS Dakars, Nick and Dom's transcontinental motorcycle ride is estimated to take approximately four and a half months. It began on June 20 in Vladivostok with Dom arriving from Cairns and Nick travelling 2,400km (approx. 1,491mi) from Adelaide, Australia. The pair are working in conjunction with the Lotus Children's Centre, a Mongolian NGO (non-governmental organization) that houses … [Read more...]
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