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The Khmers didn't leave any written history behind, only what was carved on the temples of Ankor. Some foreigners who lived there at Ankor's height left detailed writings of their time there, which is how historians are able to have some understanding of what life was like there. Back to regional fighting styles - Thailand, Cambodia, Burma and Laos have all been fighting each other and occupying each others territory for centuries. There definitely will have been cross over between styles at various points in history.

In a yoga studio I visited in Thailand they would use the word Ning a lot as in presence and stillness when holding a pose.

This is really interesting, thanks for sharing. The dynamics between Thailand and Myanmar are very interesting due to the history. In general I feel Thai muay thai people don't like Myanmar at all whereas middle class Thais will not be too influenced by history. I got a lot of "oooh I am so worried for you Myanmar no good Myanmar very bad" from gym people when I said I was moving. And whenever I post footage from my training on facebook muay thai trainers from Thailand will message me and be upset because "this is not good this is not muay thai etc. etc." From Myanmar people, well when talking to friends who are Bama (Burmese) they feel that Thai people don't like them ("they are afraid of us") but they don't really mind Thais, but they hate being looked down upon. But then other people from Kachin and Karen or other etnic groups (Myanmar has so many ethnicities and active civil wars and there are many areas not controlled by government) it is a bit of beggars can't be losers mentality. To be able to fight in Thailand means money. And many will have relatives who work in Thailand. Regarding the relationship between muay thai and lethwei it is really hard to find out much more than that lethwei is really old. Once lockdown is over (we have some lockdown light here) I plan to visit thut ti lethwei gym and talk to their owner who apparently is an advocate for pure lethwei and speaks english very well. Oh and back to the topic, yeah he works hard. Apparently when he was younger he worked in the mine with his dad and then came home and did pushups and pullupsand all the work and watched videos with his hero van Damme and eventually found his way to Yangon where he started fighting until a knee injury stopped him. He is one of the trainers at LeDuc's lethwei camp in November this year, hoping it will still actually happen.

There is an additional observation or note when taking up the maturation process of Thai boys through Muay Thai, and monkhood regimes of self-control. And that is if we take them to be parallel developmental paths, it perhaps sheds light on something that has always mystified me. Former fighters who fall to drink, who become alcoholics, have serious social stigma attached to them, even from within the community. As a westerner this just strikes me as just another vice, common among any in the population...but alcohol in particular seems to have an excessive strain to it. For a long time I just took this to mean that alcohol in its history in the culture just developed certain associations. There are legends of the sport who just became slotted very low, socially, because of their functioning alcoholism. It never quite added up. But, if Nak Muay are held up and esteemed, in the art, in part because of the very same self-control values that monks are idealized with (by degrees), then the fall from grace, the contrast of control vs a lack of self-control, just might really feel morally stark. We think of these great fighters and are like: How can you forget with they were!? (and in a way, still are). But, if you had a great monk who then at a certain point didn't abstain from celibacy in a vivid way, you really would not be thinking back to what a great monk they once were. Instead you would just get a very strong feeling for the depth of the fall. I'm not entirely sure about this, but it does lend itself to this analysis of value through displays of self-mastery and control. And the social shame that comes with falling from those states.

To add to what Sylvie is saying: But, they are connected, because when your body folds, you can appear affected even if you don't show it on your face. So being really aware of your ruup, or disciplined in it, can help you appear to be ning. You can still be ning if your body folds, just in how your play it off, your continuity, your energy, not becoming mad, showing pain, or being hyper-aggressive (emotional control), but having great ruup supports the sense of ning.

These are all beautiful things. I only took issue with the assumed obviousness by which Lethwei claimed superiority and antecedence to Muay Thai. These things don't seem obvious to me at all, and kind of loaded questions. I do seriously appreciate how firmly you are on the ground on this, how close to the sport and training that you are, and that you took the effort to post such a very cool photo and message. It's so cool that you are throwing yourself into Lethwei, and experiencing it first hand. No need to edit at all! Discussion is good. I find much of the Lethwei messaging problematic on some of the levels I've mentioned, and kind of push back on it when I can, only because nobody seems to be doing so, and it feels important. *I only edited your title because we try to have titles that capture the main subjects under discussion, it helps people know what's in a post, so I added a few keywords.

I don't really comment on politics in countries I work in and I don't really want to either Myanmar politics are way too complex for discussions like these. But I think you misunderstand my point. I couldn't care less about which of these disciplines are more pure, I find these debates stupid. What I do see is similarities in what it means to grow up in Thailand or Myanmar and fight for a living. And how far this is from westerners dreams of fighting "real fight" and experience a traditional gym ("but the trainers should speak english please"). I'm myself a westerner with these kind of fight aspirations and it's probably why this clash of cultures fascinates/disturbs/interests me so. Please feel free to edit my post if you have issues with whatever things I wrote (and really did not claim were facts).