Lethwei - Traditional Burmese Boxing

Yangon & Lethwei Love

Aaaah Myanmar, where to start from? Burmese people are so friendly and smiley, a nice change for the best after 1 month of India.

Unfortunately the adventure didn't start quite well with Andy being sick for a few days in Yangon but we still managed to discover some new things together and most importantly, or so to say my highlight for Myanmar, I found Lethwei! If you're into martial arts Lethwei is probably as brutal as you can get and since it was born in Myanmar it was a must for me, as a boxer lover, to try it out.

So while my beloved had been moved to a nicer hotel room and was sleeping and taking pills I went for a 2km walk to the Thein Phyu Stadium looking for the Phoenix club which is one of the first one, together with Thut Ti Myanmar, to offer Lethwei classes and training. That day must have been my lucky day as I also found out through posters that there was a fight event the day after. So of course I bought tickets, and I treated myself nicely and bought 3rd row tickets, I could literally see the sweat in the ring!

First things first, Lethwei is a very "open" martial art, meaning that pretty much any move/body part is allowed. You name it: elbows, knees, kicks, punches and surprisingly enough, head butts. You can only win a 5 round match by Knock Out, hence the reason why it is recognised as one of the most aggressive martial art. It isn't a very diffused one just yet but people like the Canadian beast (that's what I renamed Dave Leduc after watching him fighting), are contributing to spread it outside of Myanmar. The technique doesn't look so complicated at first glance, but don't fool yourself, you're gonna be fighting with no gloves and you're opponent is trying to knock you out so there will be no mercy in this kind of match. Anyway, I had lots of fun trying this kind of boxing, so did Andy.

I find Myanmar to be rather cheap, except for accommodation, street food, transportation & even taxis in the city are quite cheap. The food isn't so vegetarian friendly but they can always adjust it. Shan noodles (sticky noodles) are particularly popular here, and so are tea leaf salads and other Chinese/Thai noodles or salad. Overall nothing too crazy delicious for a veggie, but still good and cheap. The atmosphere has been quite relaxed and laid back in Yangon, Ngwe Saung and we just arrived in Bagan which also looks quite chilled.

Aside from a fan coming off the ceiling and a broken window in our night bus, everything else has been a nice surprise and we're definitely looking forward to discovering more of Myanmar!

Stay tuned, and enjoy the photos as always

Xxx

(click o enlarge)