If you are a fan of martial arts and in-ring fighting, then you’re in the right place. Southeast Asia is home to an abundance of fighting styles. Many visitors have come and received training in the region, and why not? If the sport is invented here, wouldn’t the best trainers and techniques be found here? And to train in the heat and humidity can only improve on endurance, right? Let’s take a look at the region’s different fighting styles.

We all know of Muay Thai, the famous kickboxing martial arts style from Thailand which utilizes all eight limbs (two hands, two feet, two elbows and two knees). If you want to expose yourself to this form of boxing, but perhaps find Thailand a little bit too commercial, then you’re in luck. Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia all offers similar fighting styles. In fact, there are attempts at trying to unify them all into one common code, but as of now, to no avail.

In case you were wondering, in Laos it is called Muay Lao, Pradal Serei is what it’s called in Cambodia and in Myanmar, Lethwei. In Burma, aside from the common techniques found in all styles, also make use of head-butts, raking knuckle strikes and take downs.

Let’s head over to Vietnam, where the martial arts take on several different stances, with Viet Vo Dao being the main philosophy behind all these styles. Two of these styles are Vovinam and Qwan Ki Do. Both styles may or may not incorporate a weapon. Qwan Ki Do utilizes hand, foot and jumping techniques while Vovinam adds elbow, levering and wrestling techniques.

Let’s head on south to and explore a martial arts style unique to Indonesia and the Malay Peninsula called Silat. It is in fact, a collection of different styles that focuses either on strikes, joint manipulation, throws, bladed weaponry, or some combination thereof. In fact, weapons training is so important that mastery of the martial arts would be deemed incomplete (even if the student has perfected other aspects of Silat) without proficiency in weapons usage.

Anxious for some live in-ring fighting? And why not, after a day exploring the colorful vibrant life of the region? You can visit our multi-country tour collection and see the culture and vibrant life the region has to offer and contact Exotissimo to enquire about adding authentic martial arts matches or gym training to your itinerary.

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