Martial arts in Asia

Muay Thai
Muay Thai is the Traditional martial art for Thailand a well known professional sport and a favorite for tourist to see in action at the lumpini stadium.
Many westerners travel to Thailand to learn this martial art or to expand their knowledge of the sport.
There is a Thai boxing gym not far from my hotel and the majority of students there are farang.
Muay Thai is a tough sport a blend of Karate style kicks and strikes with elbow,knees and boxing style punches.
If you watch K1 on TV a lot of the fighting is based on Muay Thai.Other fighting styles to see or to to practice are:
Indonesia and Malaysia- Silat (different names for different regions)
Japan-Karate (Taekwondo),Jujitsu,Aikido,Judo,Kendo
China-Kungfu.
The sport is not just about fighting but conditioning of mind and body ,excercises like Yoga and Tai chi are all relevant to the Martial arts.
It can be practiced for sport,self defense or simply better health.
The best training for westerners is in the country of origin and it is far cheaper to train and buy training uniform and equipment.
My brother in law was a 3rd dan black belt in the west when he went to Japan for 3 years to advance his training they demoted him to a brown belt.In the west we usually train twice a week for a couple hours each session,in Asia you can expect to train for hours at a time and every day.
Many of the health specialist in China and Japan are long term martial arts practitioners especially in acupuncture one form Sado Karate is based on the bodies pressure points a master of this style can do professional massage,acupuncture and natural healing.
One Japanese Master stated,to be a master in the ways of death one needs to be a master of healing.