Tom Wakefield

Hi Priscilla, I'm sorry for not replying, I completely forgot after reading your own reply! I'm glad that Hongthong looks like a good option for you they have been really lovely to me the last couple of days and have even tentatively suggested that I could fight mid-late March depending on the covid situation. In terms of 5 round Muay Thai fights I'm unsure how those opportunities will go as I and few others at the gym have been offered weird mixed Boxing/Muay Thai fights. But there are definitely those opportunities out there, its just that you gotta take what you can get at the moment. Thanks for your support I'm in Chiang Mai till late April so if you're looking to come around April I'll see you at the gym!

Hi there! I've just finished my first session at Hongthong this evening so I might not be the most qualified person to comment as I haven't trained at Santai but from my perspective things were really lovely at Hongthong. I had some technical correction from my pad holder but not to the point where it seemed like I had been doing things wrong forever. In terms of fighting I've gone there expressly for the purpose of fighting and they seemed really happy and willing to let people fight (someone actually agreed to a fight at the time I was there so its not like it is a 'behind closed doors' deal). Unfortunately, I can't comment from the perspective of being a female fighter in a gym but that being said it seemed like the women who trained with us today were included. I don't feel like they were as actively included as men were. I had to offer to spar with one of the women because she was left without a partner but I'm not sure if that is just a one-off or a long-term thing. I do know that women do fight out of that gym successfully so I imagine you would have opportunities to get rounds in and all that. But, from my perspective as someone who is openly, though not too openly, queer I felt comfortable. People were respectful and didn't seem to be creepy towards the women at the gym though I don't speak Thai and can't comment on whether anything was happening that I didn't understand. From a community standpoint they were lovely I was introduced to everyone, and they made an effort to remember my name. I got good treatment and jumped right into the group really, I've even been invited to a gym drinks on the weekend. So in terms of 'community' it seemed really nice but I can't say whether that will be universal as I'm able to pass as a cis-het man. All in all, after only one day of training I plan to go back, unfortunately I'm not staying at the gym but the facilities didn't seem to bad. I think they were only built in the last 5 years or so. Sorry that I don't have all the info you need but I hope this helps! :)

You're welcome, I hope you find them interesting, there is a good academic book or article about Stoicism and fighting but I haven't been able to find it. I'm not very knowledgeable about Buddhism but from what I know that would totally make sense. It is interesting to think of how much European or Western ideas of what makes a 'good' fight/fighter have shifted from what might be considered the 'roots' of Western combat sports.

Really interesting article, following on from your discussion on the aesthetic and values of boxing in the Greco-Roman world, I think that the reason there is some overlap between how people in Antiquity thought about combat Sports and how Thais view Muay Thai might come down to the prevalence of Stoic philosophical values in the ancient world (particularly in Rome) which prized virtues such as self-control (temperantia). The idea of Stoic ethics often being to deny, remove, or overcome negative emotions (like fear, or anger) and impulses which they saw as illusory and due to misunderstanding or failing to anticipate a situation. Stoic philosophers had lots to say about combat sports and often used it in analogies when describing philosophical concepts. I haven't done much research into this yet but this may have been because the nature of ancient Boxing or Pankration had coincidental overlap with Stoicism, perhaps Stoic philosophy and it's prevalence in the Ancient world had an influence on how combat sports were conducted, or even that because of the popularity of combat sports in Antiquity made them an easy subject to use when communicating complex ideas. Here are some interesting links to some articles on Stoicism and ancient fighting. https://medium.com/the-stoic-within/simple-stoic-advice-61005b969540 https://medium.com/stoicism-philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/stoicism-as-a-martial-art-3ab9302071f9 https://medium.com/stoicism-philosophy-as-a-way-of-life/the-fighting-philosophy-of-cleanthes-of-assos-8a399416337d https://modernstoicism.com/on-anger-and-impulse-control-in-boxing/