Page 48 - Issue 3

GRAPPLER Summer 2019

Bando, alongside with Lethwei (think Muay Thai with no
gloves), Naban (an ancient form of grappling) and Banshay
(the use of weapons), are the four branches of Myanmar
Thaing, a group of martial arts that has been taught here
TRAVEL It wasn’t easy at all to find a place to begin training Lethwei.
for centuries.

I started to ask around, following some threads I found on
the Internet. But the language barrier was very difficult to
FEATURE overcome, so even if I made it to the right place, it would be
closed when I got there. Or maybe I would find some people
training, but they wouldn’t speak any English, and needless
to say, my Burmese was non-existent. Luckily, the owner of
the hostel, a very cool and outgoing father of six kids, took
me to a couple of Lethwei dojos after I explained to him
what my goal was.

A Lethwei dojo is nothing more than an open field of rocks
and sand where kids punch and kick piles of old tires with
LETHWEI IN no gloves or shin guards (or trainers for that matter). Bare
MYANMAR knuckles, bare feet, bare soul, all heart. Whenever I stepped
in a Lethwei gym, all eyes would fix on me, wondering what
the hell this white dude was doing there.

You can hear it...even on top of the frenetic music and yelling Somehow I never managed to train in those places,
crowd, you can still hear it. Those nearly bare knuckles mainly due to communication issues with the coaches
hitting his face is something I will never forget. The sound regarding training times and methodology. The people of
of flesh bludgeoning flesh inside a ring is something Myanmar have a very confusing and misleading way of
simultaneously beautiful and brutal. talking. Imagine a person from Asia avoiding conflict in
a conversation and multiply that by a million. They avoid
This place is really dark and full of smoke. You can chew the giving accurate information and talk in a way that will
humidity and taste the sweat coming from the fighters and never divulge the full story, tiptoeing around the topic with
spectators alike. I am the only foreigner here, and locals are ambiguous answers.
taking pictures with me while trying to guess what the hell
I’m doing there. It is not easy for an outsider to venture into In the end, I met a Scotsman who told me about a gym where
a local Lethwei tournament in Mandalay, Myanmar. How a lot of people train different martial arts on a basketball
did I get here? court. Are you kidding me? I am in!

I was traveling through southeast Asia when I was offered This place did not disappoint. It was like being in a dream
a job as a Spanish teacher in a small hostel/art school. I had (if you are a freak like me, that is). As I stepped onto
already read about Lethwei, and my mission was to train the basketball court, I could see a bunch of guys doing
whatever martial art the good people of Mandalay would Taekwondo. Other groups were practicing Wushu (Chinese
teach me. So for a year I studied Bando with one of the most Kickboxing), Banshay (martial arts with weapons) and
respected coaches in the region, Moe Gyi. Bando (the smaller brother of Lethwei).

Written By:
JAVIER TORRES
Photographed By: @javierytorres

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