Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
ENTERTAINMENT
RATCHADAMNOEN STADIUM
SPORTS
(off Th Ratchadamnoen Nok; tickets 3rd-class/2nd-class/ringside 1000/1500/2000B; klorng boat to Tha Phan Fah,
Phaya Thai exit 3 & taxi)
Ratchadamnoen Stadium, Bangkok's oldest and most venerable ven-
ue for
moo·ay tai
(Thai boxing; also spelt
muay thai
), hosts matches on Monday, Wednes-
day, Thursday and Sunday from 6pm to around 11pm. Be sure to buy tickets from the offi-
cial ticket counter, not from the touts and scalpers who hang around outside the entrance.
KICK BOXING
More formally known as Phahuyut (from the Pali-Sanskrit
bhahu
or 'arm' and
yodha
or 'combat'), Thailand's an-
cient martial art of
moo·ay tai
(Thai boxing) is one of the kingdom's most striking national icons. Overflowing with
colour and ceremony as well as exhilarating moments of clenched-teeth action, the best matches serve up a blend
of such skill and tenacity that one is tempted to view the spectacle as emblematic of Thailand's centuries-old devo-
tion to independence in a region where most other countries fell under the European colonial yoke.
Many martial-arts aficionados agree that
moo·ay tai
is the most efficient, effective and generally unbeatable form
of ring-centred, hand-to-hand combat practised today. According to legend, it has been for a while. After the Sia-
mese were defeated at Ayu- thaya in 1767, several expert
moo·ay boh·rahn
(from which
moo·ay tai
is derived)
fighters were among the prisoners hauled off to Burma. A few years later a festival was held; one of the Thai fight-
ers, Nai Khanom Tom, was ordered to take on prominent Burmese boxers for the entertainment of the king and to
determine which martial art was most effective. He promptly dispatched nine opponents in a row and, as legend
has it, was offered money or beautiful women as a reward; he promptly took two new wives. Today a
moo·ay tai
festival in Ayuthaya is named after Nai Khanom Tom.
Unlike some martial disciplines, such as kung fu or
qi gong, moo·ay tai
doesn't entertain the idea that martial-
arts techniques can be passed only from master to disciple in secret. Thus the
moo·ay tai
knowledge base hasn't
fossilised - in fact, it remains ever open to innovation, refinement and revision. Thai champion Dieselnoi, for ex-
ample, created a new approach to knee strikes that was so difficult to defend that he retired at 23 because no one
dared to fight him anymore.
Another famous
moo·ay tai
champion is Parinya Kiatbusaba, aka Nong Thoom, a
ga
̀
·teu·i
(transgender person)
from Chiang Mai who arrived for weigh-ins wearing lipstick and rouge. After a 1998 triumph at Lumphini, Parinya
used the prize money to pay for sex-change surgery; in 2003 the movie
Beautiful Boxer
was made about her life.
While Bangkok has long attracted foreign fighters, it wasn't until 1999 that French fighter Mourad Sari became
the first non-Thai fighter to take home a weight-class championship belt from a Bangkok stadium. Several Thai
nák moo·ay
(fighters) have gone on to triumph in world championships in international-style boxing. Khaosai
Galaxy, one of the greatest Asian boxers of all time, successfully defended his World Boxing Association super-
flyweight world title 19 times before retiring in 1991.
