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"Evan!"

I turned at the sound of ed to find Ku Min, I had been too absorbed in the bloodletting to look for hi for me, which made his accomplishment an impressive one On the other hand, his was the easier task He looked, to my untrained American eye, an awful lot like everybody else in the hall I, on the other hand, was as hard to reat sport," he said "Yes?"

"No," I said

"No? You do not like?"

"I’with the"

He shook his head "Is boxing," he said "No weapons allowed"

"Well, then that’s the only place they draw the line," I said "I’m not sure I understand why they bother to stick a thirdto do Because there aren’t any rules for him to enforce"

"There are rules"

"But what are they? There doesn’t see you can’t do If there are rules, they must be about as effective here as the Geneva Convention is in Bosnia"

"I do not know Geneva Convention"

"Neither do the Serbs, apparently Never mind Look, Ku Min, I have to talk to you"

"We talk"

"I need your help"

"I help"

"Can we go soo After last o so"

"Well-"

"And I explain rules," he said "So you understand"

There were rules, after all And the participants observed theu for years – ie, the fewer rules you have, the less inclined people are to break the a floored opponent Kicks to the groin were not allowed, or punches either Eye gouging was out, and strangulation was also against the rules

Just about everything else was fine

In essence, you could use just about any part of your own anatomy to belabor just about any part of your opponent’s You could kick hi and karate, and you could also kick hiroin You could use your elbows and your knees, and it was entirely kosher to erab with your hands to facilitate any of these other stratage him in the face, as I’d seen in the first bout, and you could also cup his head in your clasped hand and bring his face down into your upraised knee, which I saw done to spectacular effect toward the end of the evening

Knockdowns didn’t mean hter could wipe away the blood twice, but the third tiht could end If one fighter was unable to go on, the ref could end the bout even if no blood had been drawn If a fighter was knocked out cold, that too hter could call it quits on his own initiative, but I never saw that happen My guess was that, if you had a well-developed instinct of self-preservation, you wouldn’t have gotten in the ring in the first place Once there, you just stayed at it until they ht bouts So time, while others were over in hardly any ti to be over Watching the fights was so I had to do to win Ku Min’s cooperation later, and it was a sa was a scant notch up the evolutionary ladder from the Christians-versus-lions stuff that diverted the Ro of their own volition, which was more than you could say for the Christians – or, come to think of it, for the lions, either

It was bloody, and it was brutal, but it wasn’t , so what did it hurt me to watch it? And watch it I did, and after three or four bouts soet into it

Ku Min was a help, not only explaining the rules but fillingavidly on each bout – everybody in the place, as far as I could tell, was ga feverishly – I had at least a vicarious stake in the outco, and I would root ardently for our guy, and groan when he took a fierce elbow to the ribs, and exult when he planted a knee in the pit of his opponent’s sto side in all but one bout It’s alwayswhen youra sood ood uy launched a roundhouse kick that caught the other fighter flush in the side spectators Ku Min collected his bets, clapped me hard on the shoulder, and steered me toward the exit

It was my bad shoulder that he walloped, but I barely felt it

"All you et to Shan state There the Shan people will help you"

"And froet to Thailand"

"With ease," he said "Shan forces control the roads"

"I thought they rinned We were in a tea shop, drinking Tiger beer, and spitting on the floor beside one’s table was probably not recommended by the Burmese equivalent of Miss Manners, but no one took any notice "There is no fighting since the peace was made," he said, "or not too much, but our Shan rebel army is still in control of the territory They leave us alone, and we leave theain, but for now there is peace"

"It’s that way everywhere"

"Yes," he said "The great army of the SLORC patriots" – he paused and spat – "is still strong in the western part of the Shan state But when you cross the Salween River you will be areat," I said

"But froreat distance"

"I know," I said

"You o north and east There is a boat that could take you north frooon to Mandalay But I think you will not ride all the way to Mandalay I think you will leave the boat at Bagan"