Siam vs. Burma

[MikeJKD]

Hey Everyone,
I figured this would be the best place to post about this, and maybe you can help me out. Back when Thailand was still Siam, the thais and the Burmese were always fighting each other, and muay Thai was pitted against Bando all the time. Obviously, there's no limit to how much info we have access to about Thai boxing, but Bando is hard to dig up good info on. Do you know of any sites, links, web pages, books, magazines, photos, etc. that I could use to find any info on Bando? Any area is good...history, origin, techniques, terminology...it's all useful so don't be shy. Thanks for the help, and let me know what you find.
Mike

[thekuntawman]

mike

if you want some information on bando, you can ask three people, but idont know there phone numbers but you can get it with a little work.

1. robert wood, who is a federal marshall. he has a bando club in a old church on rhode island avenue and north capitol street in wahington dc. he's been there for 20 years. i think he also teach a kickboxing class at DC Dragons karate school in washington dc. on saturdays. you can always call the marshalls employee locater in dc for him and also, paul atkins if he didnt retire yet.

2. a guy name hoy lee in virginia beach virginia. he probabaly will get mad i said this, but he teaches "jow ga kung fu" his number is in the back of every kung fu/chi gong magazines. he was i think the first bando black belter in the US when muang gi was teaching in george washington university. he might not admit it, because he does not teach it anymore, but i knew him a long time he knows this art very well, be really nice to him. hes older and do not challenge him about it. if you want to you can say that you know me.

3. i think this guys name is rodney batiste, he owns a tae kwon do school in rockville maryland. i know him from the karate tournaments he was originally a student of maung gi too, but theres no form in bando, so most guys didnt stay long, but he use to represent bando/tkd. if i am wrong about the name, any of the black own tae kwon do schools will know his first name (BKC members) and where his school is. i cant remember but i know he is very successful now.

all these guys know me when i was a kid. i'm the "filipino kickboxing boy"

good luck.
maurice gatdula

[thekuntawman]

oh yeah, and i forgot, too. there is a place in columbia maryland, i will ask some of my friends, but an old bando student opened a school there, i think his class is in a dance school or something. his last name is robinson or washington or something. but he's teaching "bando karate".

[MikeJKD]

Thanks Kuntaw...major help.
Mike

[thekuntawman]

did you ever find anybody teaching bando?

[george stando]

One of the best resources available is Vincent Giordano who has a book called The Vanishing Flame: The bare knuckle fighting arts of india, cambodia, thailand, burma and laos coming out later in the year. He travels there several times a year and has spent nearly 15 years training and researching in the region. He has two other books coming after that one on the weapons systems and the other on the wrestling methods. His email was
blackdiamondcobra@yahoo.com, he also does a email newsletter which tracks the development of the books and is a journal of his travels. His insights and research will help reshape our understanding of these systems I am sure in the future.

George