How to learn Muay Thai in Phuket | The Independent

​In a stadium smelling of peppermint liniment, alongside the primary drag in Patong, two younger girls sporting boxing gloves, ornate headdresses and crowd pleasing vests and shorts climb below the ropes and circle the ring, pausing to bow at every nook. A quartet on oboe, drums and cymbals strikes up a keening rhythm from the stands as one of many pair, a diminutive Thai, performs an elaborate struggle dance; the opposite fighter, pale-skinned, red-haired, stares into the center distance, ready for the bell to ping.

When it does, all bets – and the headdresses – are off. “Go Rhona!” we bellow because the Scot we’re right here to assist powers in with a barrage of kicks and punches, a few of which land on her opponent, who fires again with a knee strike and a double elbow chop that leaves the farang (foreigner) a bit of shaky on her toes. After 5 rounds, with the music screeching at fever pitch, the Thai is asserted the winner, and the following combat, between a pair of tattooed dudes in high-cut boxers, will get underway.

Most vacationers come to Thailand for solar and sightseeing. Not me. Like Rhona (24, from Glasgow), I’ve come to practise the traditional fight sport of Muay Thai, or Thai boxing. Involving clinches in addition to stand-up strikes, it’s an artwork that was as soon as fought by a army armed with rope-wrapped fists and a philosophy that “eight limbs” (delivered through punches, kicks, elbows and knee strikes) have been infinitely higher than a measly pair of arms. In contrast to Rhona, I’ve no plans to combat competitively, which is simply as nicely; sitting within the raucous Galaxy stadium, can of rum and coke in hand, I’m hit by the profound realisation that if I ever received in a hoop I’d be toast.

My two-week stint at Sumalee – a British-owned gymnasium situated half an hour’s drive from Patong within the island’s untouristy center, the place individuals like Rhona go to learn to compete significantly – has been exhilarating, nonetheless. Right here, on an previous banana plantation with a swimming pool, well being meals restaurant and consider of a temple, I’ve been getting up sooner than I ever do at residence, and making my bleary strategy to an open-sided coaching space with twin boxing rings and a mirrored, mat-covered house the place wannabe warriors from international locations together with the UK, Eire and Australia are bouncing on horizontal tractor tyres, warming up. Most have signed up partly for the train – squats, sprints, sit-ups – and partly to enhance their expertise. There’s additionally a giant buzz available from wrapping knuckles, donning gloves and beating the crap out of a heavy bag.

The Thai trainers at Sumalee are all former champs. “Left hook! Proper roundhouse!” cries Sunn, providing his pad to be walloped. “Block!” yells Gunn, throwing a kick in sluggish movement, which I attempt to deflect by leaning sideways, my elbow touching my raised knee, however can’t fairly appear to coordinate. “Foot thrust!” instructions Bang, and this tactic I feel I’m okay at; I land a tough blow sq. in his abs that sends him again a minimum of one step, possibly two. “Wowee,” he puffs, mock breathless.

When not skipping rope, sprinting by means of jungle or kicking banana bushes to strengthen their shins, Sumalee’s sponsored fighters prepare individually, awesomely, sparring within the rings with the trainers and one another, their sweat spraying the canvas as they assault, block, clinch and duck. A bearded dude from Malta is sporting a shiny black eye; Damon, an Australian with a Mohawk and tiger-claw prints inked down his again, pauses to bend his busted nostril into place. Rhona is there, too, feeling robbed of her final win however visualising herself triumphant in her subsequent. Having sported the Sumalee emblem at stadiums on Phuket and in Bangkok she’ll quickly be returning to her Muay Thai membership in Scotland with a fearsome popularity solid on the supply, and a fistful of baht in her pocket.

Muay Thai has gained great worldwide recognition over the past decade or so, with designated golf equipment bobbing up all over the place from Manchester to Melbourne, and Muay Thai manoeuvres including badass depth to, variously, the MMA (Blended Martial Arts) arsenal, gymnasium timetables and self defence courses.

In Thailand it’s the nationwide sport, screened on TV and adopted with quasi-religious fervour (certainly, the rituals that accompany skilled fights have a non secular foundation, and are supposed to foster respect). Betting on matches – that are fought between males, girls and youths as younger as 15 – is regular. There are Muay Thai gyms everywhere in the nation, most little greater than corrugated sheds in automobile parks or improvised rings in cramped backyards. With its neat row of cabanas and ringside menu providing nutritionally thoughtful meals, Sumalee – primary, dependable, with scores of returnees – is a veritable Ritz amongst Muay Thai gyms. A wood pagoda strewn with vibrant beanbags and noticed by a big statue of the Buddha hosts every day morning yoga classes supposed to extend a warrior’s flexibility and focus; a minimum of twice a day there’s almighty splashing within the pool after group coaching ends with palm-pressed bows and far uttering of “khob khun ka” (“thanks”).