Our Story • Bangkok, Thailand
THE SHINING
EMERALD.
More than four decades of discipline, respect and authentic Muay Thai, passed from father to son, inside a working Bangkok temple.
BUILT IN BANGKOK.
FORGED BY MUAY THAI.
Sangmorakot was founded more than forty years ago by Jar Tui, Sergeant Thitipong Aumanun, a former officer in the Royal Thai Air Force. He built the camp around a single idea: the training comes first.
Today his son Kru Top runs the gym, having taken over eight years ago after years at his father’s side. He holds the camp to the same standard it has always been held to, and on a busy afternoon he is as likely to be holding pads as watching from the edge of the mats.
In 2004 the camp was recognised as Best Muay Thai Camp of Thailand, a title it has carried quietly ever since. The name Sangmorakot means ‘The Shining Emerald’.
THE TRAINING
COMES FIRST.
Sangmorakot Muaythai Gym
HOW THE CAMP GREW.
THE TRAINERS.
Between eight and ten trainers work the floor at Sangmorakot, ranging in age from their twenties to their seventies. The older krus hold pads in the classic Golden Era style, heavy, clean and power-driven. The younger ones work longer combinations, stance changes and spinning techniques. Kru Gae greets every new visitor personally, learns your name, and makes sure you always know where to be and when.
Four pad rounds of four minutes. This is how Sangmorakot trains.