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Searching for Wan Chai
by Scott Mallon, www.thaiboxinggear.com
For more information on Scott Mallon and ThaiBoxingGear.com
( please click on the above banner.)
( From Part 1 )
After talking over a late lunch, it was decided I would go back to my hotel, get some rest and then go out for a night of fun. We would start our search for Burmese boxing in the morning.
( Part 2 )
Myanmar is hot, very hot. It doesn’t matter if its day or night, sunny or cloudy, it’s always relentlessly hot. The heat is draining and the second you walk outside, the heat hits you like an ocean wave. Not only is a sweat laden shirt embarrassing but it’s also uncomfortable. A sweaty shirt is only cosmetic but when you are walking all over town it is extremely energy sapping. After an hour in the humid 105 degree sun it gets harder and harder to trudge along.
So this is what I had to contend with when I set out in the morning on my search for Wan Chai. The city of Yangon is relatively small and if someone is as well known as Wan Chai it would seem rather easy to find him, wouldn’t it? Guess again, it was anything but easy.
The Gym...One of the many buildings we went too
My guide Nanda and I made our way to what would seem to be the most logical place for Wan Chai to be, the national stadium. Actually it wasn’t the national stadium but next to it where the athletes dormitories were. After a half and hour of knocking on doors and asking people where he was, we made our way to the stadium. The stadium in itself is very nice, almost pristine. It was donated by the Japanese in an act of friendship. I would learn later that the Japanese and Koreans and Singaporeans all have close business ties to the Burmese and donating a stadium was one of only many of these acts of friendships.
We get to the stadium and get the run around. One person says they just saw him and the other hasn’t seen him in weeks. I figure at this point that we were hot on his trail but little did I know I was just hot. We then walked over to another set of buildings where someone told us he might be playing cards. We made our way thru the maze of hallways, knocking on doors along the way. Nobody, it seemed, knew where he was. How could a champion fighter be so hard to find. I stayed positive remembering how patience was a virtue and how I used to sweat and give blood when I sparred and fought and how this was nothing in comparison Drenched with sweat, all eyes upon me, I moved on.
We found an old man sitting next to one of the buildings and asked what he knew. It seemed Wan Chai had been seen over at another set of buildings. Again we march over to these buildings. Little did I know the buildings were nearly 5 kilometers away. The old man nonchalantly got out of his chair and asked if were sure we wanted to walk all this way. I hadn’t come all this way for nothing so of course we set out on our 5 kilometer hike. For a guy who was older than Moses though he sure walked fast.
One more of the many places on our journey
By this time I was soaked in sweat and gaining blisters as the minutes ticked by. Along the way the old man started mumbling something about needing to stop. I’m thinking the old guy is tired for I certainly was. My guide asked me if I would mind buying the old guy something from the store. Sure I think, he probably needs some water or a soda. My own water supply was long ago depleted and I was happy to buy him a drink. “No, no” I’m told, he’s not thirsty, he wants Betelnut to chew on. Betelnut is a popular mixture of the Betelnut and a lime activator wrapped in a Piper Betel Vine and then chewed. The fruit is from a graceful palm, Areca catechu and is regularly chewed by millions of people throughout the Asian continent. It has a pleasing and clarifying energizing effect on both body and mind. I’d seen people chew this before as it has an unforgettable red color which after staining the teeth forever is unceremoniously spit on the ground every so often. So I made the old man happy and got him his Betelnut. My pocket a whopping five cents lighter we continued on our quest, waterless.
When we got to the buildings with the old man, I was tired, sweaty and frustrated to the point of giving up. When we were told that no one had seen Wan Chai, I felt even worse. We were forced to walk a kilometer back to a main road where we could catch a taxi so my feet were not appreciating my desire to find a championship fighter in some exotic land. No, at this point I was ready to pack it in. We were given yet another lead though. It was on the way back to the hotel and we would be in a taxi most of the way so we gave it another shot. Imagine my surprise when the video store owner told us Wan Chai had started working in another video shop. I was beginning to think someone just didn’t want us to find him. Once again I thought we had found this hard to find fighter named Wan Chai and once again I was disappointed. The video store owner wasn’t too happy about Wan Chai not coming in for work but none the less he did tell us Wan Chai was at the Yangon Sports Center.
Entrance to the Yangon Sports Center
We hopped in another broken down taxi with no air conditioning and made our way to the Sports Center. By this time I was at my wits end and was wondering what in the world I was doing this for. I kept telling myself “because no one else is, that’s why!” So we get to the Yangon Sports Center, take a quick look around and head for a dilapidated building a hundred or so yards in from the main road. We come upon a group of young men and ask them about Wan Chai. They haven’t got the slightest idea of where he is and now I truly believe we are being sent on a wild goose chase.
In the midst of our conversation we found out the young men we had come upon was the Burmese national soccer team. They asked why I wanted to find Wan Chai and at that moment I was dumbfounded. Tired and frustrated, I really had no answer for them. Just then though, it began pouring rain. We all ran into the building to escape the rain. I walked back out and stood there for a moment, enjoying the cool feeling of the rain pounding down upon me. I walked back into the structure and took a seat on one of the thin wooden planks that served someone as their bed. An elderly man whom I assumed to be their coach laughingly said “You will not find Wan Chai. Nobody wants a foreigner to speak with our champion.” I took this as a direct challenge and told him “Oh he will be found, I know this. Money has a way of finding people and I believe once he hears someone is looking for him, he will want to be found.” We both left it at that but I had a strange feeling I was in a country which wouldn’t allow me to find someone if it wasn’t meant to be.
Nilar Wins (former Burmese Boxer) Cold Drink Shop...The fresh yogurt and fruit in this place is awesome
( Part 3 – Will Wan Chai Ever Be Found? )
* Article by Scott Mallon, www.thaiboxinggear.com.
* Back to This Issue's Frontpage
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