The brutalization of perfect violence (2)
Without exception, the best Muay Thay fighters all come from Isan, the barren northeast of Thailand, where living conditions are extremely spartan and training actually begins as soon as the umbilical cord is cut.
The Sino-Thai children from Bangkok often have two chins at the age of twelve and are therefore forced to practice Muay Thai in the form of a computer game.
When, after months of grueling, highly disciplined training, the trainer decides his pupil is ring-ready, the real work can begin. The relationship between the Muay Thai boxer and his (or her - there are also ladies in this country who can cause serious damage to an oak door frame with their right instep) trainer is heavily ritualized.
The trainer gives the new fighter a new name, usually with the name of the training camp as the last name. The relationship between the trainer and the boxer is best expressed during the 'ram muay', the most graceful 'boxing dance' that takes place before the start of each fight, accompanied by the sounds of a Thai oboe and percussion. The sound of the oboe 'pii', to Western ears, most closely resembles the wind instrument played by snake charmers and is reminiscent of the sound cats make when they are skinned alive.
In the ring, the two boxers each work on their own dance, with slow upward knee movements, sideways steps and head movements reminiscent of nodding.
After the dance is over, the boxer goes to his corner in the ring and the trainer takes off the woven headband that the fighter has been wearing during the dance. The two boxers then walk towards each other, greet each other with a light tap with the boxing glove against that of the opponent and then the bell rings for the first round…
If the in-ring carnage should elicit no more than a crackling yawn from the spectator, it might be a good idea to watch the activities of the audience in the stands. Thais are notorious gamblers and astronomical amounts are often at stake for many afficionados. With every high-aimed side kick, upper cunt or elbow strike, it sounds "HOEEEEIII" or "WAAAAIII" from thousands of throats and stakes are raised (not lowered because that's not allowed).
When a fighter finally has to give in to the laws of gravity after receiving a cheekbone-shattering upward kick, many gamblers in the audience immediately reach for their cell phones and shout something along the lines of:
'BUT DEAR, WE WILL JUST SELL THE SAMPAN!!!
Gambling at boxing?
Would the police also jump on this diligently?
Read that PTY was on the hunt for domino players. Players, including the 20 Baht pot, had been busted.
Hans, I can totally picture it: “You guys are glowing with gentlemen, playing dominoes without a license. And then still gamble, even without paying US first? Where are the handcuffs Somchai?”.
Cor is apparently a real connoisseur of Isaan.
See his opening sentence.
Life there is extremely Spartan.
I/we live in the Isaan.
Boy my (Thai) friends and acquaintances live Spartan.
And those are construction workers, shop workers and of course employees of the
many offices etc And owners of factories service companies and
many contractors etc. with workers from the villages mostly…
GJ
Dear Gerrit,
the farmers are indeed missing in your circle of friends / acquaintances. Or is the Isaan suddenly completely filled with Tesco's.7 Elevens and office blocks. Because then I really missed a lot.
Why are the farmers missing?
I start by saying that Som comes from a very small village
Where, of course, we know a lot of people. Me too. The van Som family manages our rice fields, rubber tree plantations and huge vegetable and fruit garden for sale on the market.
Her sister and husband manage everything for us and sell it and can keep most of the proceeds. We save part of it for further purchases.
No, the Isaan is fortunately not fully built up with all kinds of large supermarkets, etc. But they can be found everywhere in every city.
What I also miss in the circle of acquaintances are bargirls or retired bargirls… they seem to be common there too.
Dear Gerrit, most people from Isaan are poor farmers and they indeed had a Spartan upbringing.
Spartan maybe my best.
I have been going to Thailand for 18 years and I can assure you that a lot has changed in that supposedly poor Isaan where my wife comes from such as the fact that almost all cars and motorbikes are under five years old driving around there.
Aslook big c, tesco, home pro, home market are all present there and I often went shopping there in the local macro and I can assure you that at some peak times several cartloads of groceries were loaded there in the latest pickup trucks and SUVs and I often go to third world countries for my work and I can tell you that isaan is certainly not as poor as many say.
So Fred
Most people in Isan are poor farmers.
How do you get to that now??
My Som comes from a small (poor) village in the Isaan.
35 km from our current home in Nakhon Phanom
In Every morning there is a great exodus to the cities.
Especially construction workers etc.
But not to forget many students, people who work in the various offices and shops. Not to forget the restaurants etc. and the large markets.
You can no longer say no about the Isaan. Living conditions are extremely Spartan.
There is still that, but those are exceptions.
Throwing rubbish everywhere Yes and drinking way too much bad whiskey YES
Don't you forget the people in the big cities Don't count them.?
Are the above writers known in Isan?
By the way my handyman is an ex champion Muay Thai boxer and now very well off.
Farmlands and rice fields + all kinds of trades everywhere
Gerrit
That is also a coincidence Tjanuk !!
I also come from a very small agricultural / livestock farming village in the IJSSELSTREEK.
I am also from before the war so I know what you are writing about.
You write about servants and maids in Isaan.
You hardly have that there. Only with the rice growing and harvesting, many villagers are hired.
There may be large farms, but I don't know them.
A lot is written about conditions in Isaan but I think most of them
writers have never been there let alone write anything meaningful about it.
Last comment from my side on this subject.
Take care!
A little off topic… Are you Gerrit who also visits John's pub in Udon Thani. Regards, Matt
No that is not me.
Even worse for many, I never go to a pub. Not now and before
(in the Netherlands) neither.
The discussions in a pub alone keep me from going there.
Hello
Gerrit
I have indeed never been to the Isan and also understand that such a large area offers more than 'Spartan' conditions. On the other hand, most or at least many writers have been to the Isan, it seems to me since their girlfriend / wife - although not able to substantiate it with concrete figures - mostly comes from the Isan and as such can certainly write something meaningful about it.
Whether or not I can write something sensible about it, I leave it in the middle, however, in my circle of acquaintances, whose wives, without exception, all come from the Isan, are told with some regularity how 'Spartan' things are there in the Isan.
Such as eating on the floor, going to sleep with the chickens on a perch on a thin mat, possibly with the in-laws and other family members in the same room screened off by a thin curtain, cooking daily on a charcoal fire, kept awake at night by wandering barking dogs and annoying insects, washing and brushing your teeth with water from a barrel and of course the damned 'hole' in the ground which is no more than fenced off than some rusty corrugated iron.
That is the real true Thailand is also added and the funny thing is that they can also speak 'lyrically' about how nice it is to stay there for a few weeks in their wife's parental home. Couldn't even last a day.
Well, circumstances can be called subjective and personal, however, I have always hated camping, which to me is equivalent to 'Spartan conditions', but my love for Thailand has not been able to change that in all those years, not even if my girlfriend from the Isan, that's for sure.
Moreover, in order not to stray too much from the subject, it strikes me that when I speak Thai who do not come from the Isan, they should have nothing but nothing to do with Muay Thai boxing, although there will probably be exceptions that confirm the rule.
As I said, dear Tjamuk, whether I can say anything meaningful about it I leave entirely in the middle because in my experience camping is already the synonym for 'Spartan' anyway and when I then hear the stories from my circle of acquaintances about how they got along with their Isan parents-in-law have stayed there, then that is 'Spartan XXXL' for me. That's what I wanted to say.
Well, I also don't understand that they could have lasted 2 to 3 weeks or even longer without the simple basic necessities.
How Cor meant it has certainly not escaped my notice and I would like to assume that such living habits are an ideal basis for Muay Thai boxing and oh well I have respect for everyone in principle.
In Isaan, just like everywhere else in the world, you have cities and countryside, in my opinion, the cities are reasonably well developed, the countryside, on the other hand, and I mean the places that are more than 5 km away from a city in Isaan, are a disaster and really very poorly developed in my opinion, I think the contrast is very big with this said. Someone from the countryside is generally a lot behind in development compared to someone from the city. I therefore think that we are talking about 2 measures and 2 weights, something that was not exactly established in the discussions here. I'm not going to say more about it, just that some people have a very small field of vision and others a larger one. So open your eyes and you will see that we are talking about 2 sizes and weights regarding the city and the countryside in Isaan.
In the eighties (if I'm right) there was a Dutch Muay Thai champion.
The middle-aged Thai and older will say the name without hesitation if asked. Laymond Dekkel (Raymond Dekker)
Beats! The Thais call him “Diamond Dekker”. Very popular at that time, after all, there were few foreigners who caused a furore in Thailand at the time. Ramon Dekker was popular because of his tough fighting style, not many fighters got as far as him. Check out Ramon Dekker's classic fights on youtube. At one point he was even sworn in by the Thai sports minister, something that was unique at the time! Rob Kaman was also a popular Dutch Thai boxer. But I think he came before Ramon Dekker..