ALONGSIDE the beautiful beaches, bustling cities and unbelievable street food, I couldn’t leave Thailand without getting a taste of some of the country’s national sports.

While in Chiang Mai, a city 13 hours north of the capital Bangkok by sleeper train, I picked up tickets to one of the local Muay Thai boxing nights at the Chiang Mai Stadium.

While the ‘stadium’ left a little to be desired, the boxing and athletes on show were impressive – including a first-round knockout in the opening bout of the night that had the crowd wincing behind their bottles of Chang.

Muay Thai doesn’t need too much of an explanation as is popular in this country too, but fighters use a combination of fists, elbows, knees and shins to strike their opponent – it is often referred to as the ‘art of eight limbs’.

We saw seven bouts, six club and a ‘special’ fight in the middle. This saw four fighters blindfolded and pitted against each other in an almost king-of-the-ring style slog.

 

 

It was great to watch, and put a smile on the faces of the mostly-tourist crowd who watched with great respect as the professionals later took the stage for the prize fight.

However, it was back in Bangkok, and while I was stumbling through a park trying to catch a break from the busy Tuk Tuk-filled streets, that one sport really caught my eye.

On this Thursday afternoon, local men were taking part in a game called Sepak Takraw. This, as I saw it, was essentially a game of football tennis.

Played on a concrete volleyball court, and with a net the same height, the game involved keeping the ball – called a rattan and made of palm leaves – up and delivering it back over the net using anything but the players’ hands.

There was some incredible skill on show, not least players’ ability to leap above the net and overhead kick the ball before landing back on their feet.

 

 

The sport now has an international federation, and countries such as the United States and Canada have taken an interest.

Canada in particular has enjoyed this southeast Asian-originated pastime since the arrival of refugees from Laos in the 1970s.

Not fancying my chances at performing such elaborate and athletic manoeuvres to return the ball or being able to string a sentence together in Thai, I decided to pass on challenging the local lads for the court.

I’ll stick to running.