Page 50 - Issue 3

To accomplish my mission, I brought a Burmese girl I met
throws, clinches and spinning elbows, too. Being the only
at the hotel I was living at to avoid any communication foreigner on the court always made me feel funny. More
gaps. Even still, this was no easy task. After 30 minutes of people started training with us just because they heard
talking, the only information I got was that I may or may a stupid white dude from some weird European country
not be able to train with them, because they had never was there punching and kicking.
trained a white dude before. And when I asked about how
much it would cost, they replied, “Money, okay.” Then one day, my coach asked me to have a boxing match
with one of the other students who was preparing for his
I am laughing as I type this right now, but back then it first Lethwei fight. Imagine a Muay Thai fight with no
was a bit frustrating. That is one thing you learn from gloves, no points and headbutts. The only way to win is
Myanmar people: we all need to chill the fuck out. to knock your opponent unconscious. My boxing skills
Western people are so used to having control. Everything are fairly good, so I helped this guy, a civil engineer, get
has to be stated, written on a document, published ready.
somewhere, and so on. The people of Myanmar taught
me a very important lesson, so little by little, I became Fast forward to the present. The Lethwei stadium is in a
more and more careless. part of the city I have never been to before despite living
here for almost a year. Obviously, I am the only foreigner
Eventually I started training there. The first day, I wore here, so a constant stream of stares and smiles flow my
my fancy Western training clothes and never felt more way the moment I arrive. People walk up to me to take
ridiculous in my life. These guys trained barefoot on pictures and ask me if I am fighting tonight (I try not to
concrete, wearing jeans and shirts. They just couldn’t roll my eyes).The atmosphere can be taken from an old
afford different clothes to train in, and they were looking kung fu movie, very dark, smokey and loud as fuck. You
at me like I was different (because I fucking was). So I can feel the chaos in the air.
immediately removed my training shoes to fit in better.
The civil engineer’s bout is scheduled first. The music
Then the pain started. I am not going to lie, the soles plays, and rather suddenly, it’s on. The fans cheer over
of my feet were destroyed within the first 10 minutes. the speakers, but I can still hear the sounds of fists and
Imaging doing sidekicks with bare feet on concrete. That shins connecting from my seat. My teammate wins with
is correct, the skin on your soles tears apart very easily. a flurry of precise elbow strikes. When his opponent falls
That first day I walked back home with bleeding feet. to the canvas, he immediately kneels to offer respect to
Same for the second day, and the third. It wasn’t until the his opponent’s team. I feel privileged to have been a small
third week that my soles became hard as rocks. part of such a special experience and tradition.
I kept training with them that year, and I learned a lot
of cool techniques, very similar to Muay Thai. They use
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