The art of EIGHT LIMBS
STAN PARISH IS A BROWN BELT IN BRAZILIAN JIU-JITSU UNDER FIVE-TIME WORLD CHAMPION VITOR 'SHAOLIN' RIBEIRO. MUAY THAI, ON THE OTHER HAND, IS NEW TO HIM. HE HEADS TO THAILAND FOR HIS FIRST EXPERIENCE OF THE COUNTRY'S NATIONAL SPORT – AND DISCOVERS WHY IT IS
We lay on our backs in the cool, dark yoga studio at COMO Metropolitan Bangkok as the morning class came to an end. “Close your eyes now,” the instructor said, “and find a comfortable place to rest your hands.” In a low, honey-coated voice, she entreated us to take the loving kindness we had cultivated during our practice and carry it out into the world. Class ended with a murmured namaste; the studio slowly emptied out. The next class on the schedule – my first private Muay Thai session – offered a very different kind of instruction. Twenty minutes later, the lights were on and Dam Srichan, a former Southeast Asia Muay Thai champion, was tweaking my elbow-strike technique.
A 90-degree turn of the wrist, he explained, exposes more of the elbow bone and turns the forearm into something like a blade. He was all smiles as he showed me how to deliver a devastating strike to an opponent’s temple. His coaching method was full of kindness, even if the skills he passed on were not.
I signed up for private lessons in Muay Thai – a.k.a. Thai Boxing, the country’s national combat sport – for several reasons. I’m a brown belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, a grappling art in which the goal is to take your opponent to the ground as quickly as possible and submit them with various joint locks and chokeholds. After seven years of training, I’m far more comfortable fighting on the floor than on my feet.
The writer training at Dam Srichan's school in the Soi Sukhumvit neighbourhood of Bangkok
Muay Thai is widely considered the most effective and dynamic stand-up fighting style in existence. It’s sometimes referred to as "the art of eight limbs" because, unlike Western boxing, it employs elbows, knees and shins as weapons in addition to fists. Regardless of any ambitions to step into the ring, the fundamentals of Muay Thai comprise a wickedly effective full-body workout. This is why Thai Boxing classes are advertised in gyms around the world.
My decision to train while travelling was about more than striking skills and waistline maintenance. I’m a big advocate of picking up a site-specific skill or hobby on holiday. They are souvenirs you won’t regret (or recycle) once your normal life resumes; it’s surprising how often these holiday hobbies stick. I tried surfing for the first time on a family vacation almost 20 years ago and have since paddled into waves off the coasts of at least a dozen countries. The bucatini all'amatriciana I learned to make during a college semester in Italy still impresses. There’s nothing wrong with spending two weeks horizontal in the sand, but the active holidays offer numerous advantages in exchange for an hour or two each day. You have the opportunity to interact with another culture as more than just a passive consumer, as well as encounter other curious, experience-hungry travellers. While I’ve done my share of cooking classes and whisky tastings, only serious physical exertion sensitises you to the pleasures afforded by a hotel like COMO Metropolitan Bangkok – a hot steam room, thick robes, multi-course tasting menus and high-thread-count sheets.
On my third day in Thailand, I visited Dam Srichan’s school in the Soi Sukhumvit neighbourhood of Bangkok, an open-air complex filled with whirring fans, rows of hanging heavy-bags and a regulationsized ring. After an extensive warm-up and some assisted stretching, Srichan strapped on pads and stalked me around the ring, calling for combinations that merged my basic vocabulary of strikes into increasingly fluid sentences composed of punches, kicks, elbows and knees. Sensing I was game, he pushed me to exhaustion, laughing with me (and occasionally at me) as I missed shots and slipped on the canvas.
Back at COMO Metropolitan Bangkok, I spent the afternoon poolside, where the menu of Thai staples provided everything I was craving: lightly charred chicken satay skewers for protein, fried riced studded with shrimp, and sweet chunks of pineapple for a dose of carbohydrates. I rehydrated with juice from just-cracked coconuts and listened to the meditative slap of someone swimming laps, blissfully exhausted, my muscles still loose and warm from 90 minutes of hard work.
The next day, I flew to COMO Point Yamu, a peaceful resort on the island of Phuket. On my first morning, I met the resort’s Muay Thai instructor on the lawn near the reception area, a swathe of manicured grass that overlooks the Andaman Bay and the mountainous islands rising out of the water to the east. Guests walking to breakfast stopped to watch as my instructor sharpened my kicking technique until the slap of my shins on the pads echoed across the lawn.
On my last day at the resort, I booked an afternoon massage. When I told the specialist I had been training in Muay Thai all week, she gave me a say-no-more smile and then focused her considerable skills and energies on the muscles I’d been overworking since I arrived. As I drifted off, I reflected that getting out of my comfort zone for an hour a day had enhanced the pleasures this country is well known for. Thai cuisine needs no help, but it tastes even better when your body is begging for a meal after a hard workout, and while I always welcome a massage, I felt like this time, I genuinely needed one.
I m' a big advocate of picking up a site-specific skill or hobby on holiday. They are souvenirs you won't regret once your normal life resumes