SEPTEMBER 11, 2000 VOL. 156 NO. 10

Detour
By DAVID ATKINSON

TRAVEL WATCH Hotel Rooms That Let You Get the Job Done Time was when business travelers judged a hotel by the size of the rooms and the quality of room service Web Crawling Traveling with children can be an incredible adventure—or an enormous headache Detour Young Thai women are striking a blow for sexual equality by invading the traditionally male domain of Muay Thai, the martial art of kick-boxing Travel Watch Archive: Browse hundreds of Asian travel tips

Young Thai women are striking a blow for sexual equality by invading the traditionally male domain of Muay Thai, the martial art of kick-boxing. At Rangsit Stadium in north Bangkok, the female bouts are attracting ever-larger crowds. Starting at 6 p.m. most Saturday nights, and some weekdays as well, the matches cost just a few hundred baht to attend and are taped for a popular TV broadcast seen at 11 p.m. Mondays on state-run Channel Nine.

The women fighters display all the skill, fearlessness and grace of the men. But unlike their male counterparts, they appear to embrace the honor of victory, not simply the lure of cash, as their impetus for glory in the ring. It's a sign of sportsmanship often lost at the city's two main male Muay Thai stadiums, Ratchadomnoen and Lumpini, where the air is thick with stale cigarette smoke and the rustle of bank notes.

Five years ago, Muay Thai was a male preserve, and the thought of a woman taking it up seemed absurd. Even today Thai women are still forbidden from using the same ring as men. But after debuting at the 1999 Asian Games, Muay Thai will be a demonstration sport at the 2004 Olympics in Athens and is likely to be recognized as an official event at the 2008 Games. The International Olympic Committee's proviso is that women be able to compete.

In 1998 the Muay Thai Institute founded a co-ed camp at Rangsit Stadium, where male and female fighters can train. The camp now boasts seven full-time female pupils. The men don't know what hit them. For details call (66-2) 992-0096.

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