This park in the centre of Hua Hin appears to host a lot of Muay Thai contests. Sadly there weren't any on when I visited

Thailand

Off topic, but I randomly ran into him today, and I'm totally fallen for Muay Thai fighter Zebaztian!

in the previous picture of the series, someone mentioned the fact that, unfortunately, very young kids are led to become professional muay thai fighters as it is often the only mean they'd have to make decent money in a short time, that it is often the only way for a family to achieve a social and economical status slightly above the rest. This is true and I do not object to that, and I am going to visit the schools which host very young children (sometimes they start as young as 5). But this comment made me also think that sport is often used all over the world to gain access to an otherwise impossible decent lifestyle.... thinks of the favelas in Brazil... kids are encouraged to play football cause it may give them a chance in life. In Italy too, up until few years ago, the best footballers came from the humblest background, they could hardly write and read sometimes, think of the States (and please American friends correct me if I am wrong), many poor students manage to get student loans and the chance to study because of their sports skills.

so, I think that sport, all over the world, can actually be a good chance for kids who are not in the position to study or to achieve a better life otherwise. True, it should not be done so as to deprive the kids of their childhood, it should not be done in an exploitative way, and in no way it should be harmful for the kids. But let's not assume that sport is used to exploit kids only in Thailand as it is not really the case

it is of yesterday the news of an earthquake in Myanmar, at the border with Thailand and Laos. The quake was 7° Richter scale and so far 70 people have died and more than hundreds injured. The quake was felt up to Bangkok where buildings swayed, we are talking more than 800km distance from the epicentre. Not to take any attention away from the really situation in Japan, but these people in Myanmar are not the third world Copuntry in financial terms like Japan is, their Government is not exactly "open" but they do need help. as much as the Japanese, I have heard some CNN saying that there was no tsunami danger as the area which has been hit is in the north east.... but as much as I appreciate tsunami is a very scary thing, a 7° Richter quake is not exactly a ligth walk. Temples have fallen, people are injured and some have died, the toll is raising by the hour. please, do not forget these people either.

thank you