Amongst the many you'll find fighting in any given muay thai promotion in Isaan, you're apt to find fighters battling to make it to the stadiums of Bangkok; fighters returning from Bangkok not quite as they were before they left; labourers, foreigners and school girls. Muay thai promotions run on most nights of the week. You'll meet part-timers and old timers alike; everyone involved in the muay thai game in Thailand, less perhaps some foreigners, is trying to make some cash; the fighters, their families, the gamblers and theirs. Sometimes those lines intersect. Most of my life in Buriram, Isaan, including my social life, revolved around muay thai and muay thai … [Read more...]
A Portrait Of Pear In Lamplaimat, Buriram, Thailand
This photo was captured on a clear, sunny afternoon in Lamplaimat, Buriram, Thailand. I made the trip to the small community from the city of Buriram with my friend and one of my muay thai trainers, Gai (Chicken). More about Gai here. Gai and I rode on his motorbike, from the city, to his parents' rural home where he grew up. It's customary for Thais to refer to home (baan) as not where they currently live, but where they grew up, and where their parents most likely still reside. For Gai, his home is in Lamplaimat and specifically, it's the dwelling you see pictured below. Upon our arrival on this particular day, Gai instructed me to go take a nap. I … [Read more...]
A Portrait of Yai in Lamplaimat, Thailand
Yai is the grandmother of one of my muay thai trainers and friends in the city of Buriram, Thailand. I had two trainers named Gai (Chicken), both working with me at the long defunct Tor Ratonakiat Gym. I was training at Tor Ratonakiat Gym as a lone nak muay (boxer) for approximately one year. (Please note, this post has been updated, meaning what you're currently reading is written retrospectively in 2014). Tor Ratonakiat Gym was, at one time, the home of Sam-A Kaiyanghadao. Here's more on Tor Ratonakiat Gym in Buriram. Essentially, when my main trainer Gai was unable to teach me, his friend Gai would come and fill his spot. What usually kept my main trainer Gai … [Read more...]
Beginnings: The City – Buriram, Isaan
The Buriram I live, may not be the Buriram you know. More often than not, when I tell Thai nationals who aren't born of this region that I live in Buriram, my statement elicits a variety of mixed reactions - confusion, shock, and disdain generally being the top three. Adding that I train muay thai doesn't work in my favour. The region of Isaan, situated in the North East, is Thailand's poorest. Buriram, in the southern hemisphere is one of the poorest provinces of the region - it's also one of the major suppliers of sex trade workers to Pattaya and Bangkok. Among the lower classes, a proportionate number of females work the bars and … [Read more...]