This post was originally supposed to follow my post on my dental emergency but Khao San Road happened and I simply ran out of time to get it put down. As I've found a little free time, I'd like to share my Sunday evening experience; which came completely out of the blue.
Last Sunday, after sleeping until 12:30 in the afternoon, Nathalie and I were trying to figure out what to do with the rest of the day. I really don't like sleeping past 09:30-10:00 as I feel like I waste a day if I getup even later. So after groggily getting up, taking a shower and finding a coffee, Nathalie and I set out towards the Khao San Road area to see what it's like.
After about 10 minutes of walking, I began to feel a bit light-headed and wanted to return to the hotel to lay down for a bit. I think this was the result of the previous day's effort and Nathalie completely understood that.
So while I returned back to the room to rest a bit, Nathalie grabbed a tea in the hotel lobby. About a half-hour later, she returned announcing that she had a plan for evening and that we were leaving in ten. "Okay, cool," I thought to myself as I reapplied my pants and put my shoes on.
It turned out that during the time that I was snoozing, she had met another traveler in the lobby and started talking. It turns out that this woman was taking some time off from work and lived in Brussels. I guess it really is a small world.
Nathalie quickly introduced us Ayatt, who then proposed that we go out to eat at a nearby Thai cafe that was run by a Thai and a Frenchman who had settled down in Bangkok. We set off down the road (the restaurant was about half-way between Khao San Road and the hotel) and quickly hit it off.
During the walk, I learned what the plan was for the evening; grab something to eat and then go watch Thai kickboxing or 'Muay Thai' as it's called. I've never really been into boxing or combat sports, even though my brother-in-law was once on the Belgian national Judo team, but this trip is all about the adventure, so why not?
The cafe we ate at was an experience within itself. It was full of French-speaking Belgians and French citizens, almost all of them on some sort of backpacking expedition. Everyone was friendly and talkative, as if the cafe served as a forum to exchange tips and hints about the region. I really appreciated my understanding of the French language as it gave me insight into another culture's perspective about this part of the world.
After we finished dinner and settled the bill, Nathalie, Ayatt and myself waived down a tuk-tuk and headed off to the arena. The benefit of tuk-tuks is that you can negotiate the price with them; however, you've got to be firm or you're probably going to get taken. If you don't like the price they offer, just walk away; you'll either have the driver come back and meet your price or you just wait twenty seconds for the next one to show up and try your luck with him.
The driver we had was pretty cool and he started giving us some tips about negotiating our tickets. Most tourists get ripped off (no surprises there) and he said that whatever they're offering, try and go 20-25% under that. This would prove useful once we got to the ticket office.
Upon arrival, we were immediately approached by a saleswoman asking us if we want VIP seats. For me, it didn't really matter and I was just happy to see the match, even if it was from the nose bleeds (I prefer these seats when I go to hockey games as you get a better view of the action). However, Ayatt and Nathalie wanted to see how close we could get and were able to negotiate the VIP seats down to around 15 EUR/18 USD a pop.
When we entered the arena, we were whisked away to folding chairs setup ring side. Looking around, we were surrounded by other tourists on all four sides or the ring. Immediately behind as was a small wall and the beginning of the box-seat section the arena. This part was filled with Thai men fully into the fight and placing bets at the onset of each match. The saleswoman said we might not like it up there, but for me, that would've been an experience within itself and totally worth the cheaper ticket price. I got the impression that the salespeople were doing two things; maximizing profits from tourists and protecting foreigners from locals. I completely understand the first part, however, I don't know understand why they'd like to hide a part of their culture from those wanting witness it.
The fights themselves were fun to watch. However, all of them were in a low weight class with the heaviest weighing in at 55Kg/130 lbs. For the most part, we were watching young teenagers joust each other and I couldn't help but think that this was the equivalent of watching dogs race at the horse track. This would also probably explain why the arena, apart from the VIP section, was nearly empty.
 |
| Thai-Fighters |
Despite this, we were still entertained, and for three hours worth of fights, we felt like we got our money's worth. I also got to have a beer and some popcorn, so that was fun too.
After the fight ended, we headed back to the hotel on foot, stopping along the way to grab something to eat. Back in the hotel, we said good-bye to Ayatt who was headed toward Phuket the next day and made our way to our room.
Overall, it was a pretty neat way to salvage a half-day lost. We got to see something I never even thought about watching and met a fellow Bruxelloise 5,000 miles away from home. Additionally, it was our first, and as of this writing only, meeting with a group of fellow backpackers That experience has planted the seeds for another post that I want to write about in a few months time and will no doubt help us later on in our travels.
As for the Muay Thai, I couldn't think of a more fitting way to see it than with a group of Belgians, home country of Belgium's greatest actor, The Muscles From Brussels.
No comments:
Post a Comment