I've never really been very interested in watching boxing. Any sport where people are intentionally hurting others just never really sat well with me. I have trouble comprehending why anyone would participate in these sports... they do know that they will get hurt, don't they? Yet I've wanted to see a Muay Thai match since I've moved to Thailand. Muay Thai is Thailand's national sport and it's quite a . I don't know much about the technique, but to me it is very reminiscent of la box francaise. The boxers both strike their opponents with their hands and kick them with their legs and knees. I very nearly went to a match last month when a friend of mine was visiting from Chicago. However, his taxi ride to the place ended up taking so long that we didn't feel it was worthwhile to pay $60 to go in. I recounted this story to one of my bosses who mentioned that she had a family friend who manages one of the biggest boxing rings in Bangkok, Ratchadamnoen Stadium. Several weeks later, we were there at the stadium as his guests.
I can't say enough good things about our experience at the stadium. We were treated as VIPs. We were given the prime seats in the house-- the first row of the elevated level-- and then were given soda, chips, and water to enjoy during the match. Speaking of chips... the flavors they have here are just crazy. Shrimp, sweet basil, squid and hot oil, etc. I found the boxing to be much more fun to watch than I ever could have expected. Each matchup of boxers (we watched four) fights for five three minute long rounds, separated by two minute breaks. Points are awarded to each fighter based on what sort of strikes the land on their opponent. Kicks get the most points, knee jabs next, then punches. What I found so fascinating about Muay Thai was how ritualistic it is. Rhythmic music plays throughout the fighting and the boxers move along to the music as they fight. Also, each match begins with sort of a warm up dance. They walk around the ring and make these deep squats while airboxing. I really can't explain it well, but I did take a video of it which I will try to post on this blog. Each match starts fairly low energy. As the rounds pass, the fighting gets more and more intense and the crowd gets more and more enthused. The best rounds are the fourth and fifth when the entire crowd is cheering along with each jab. The energy in the stadium is palpable. The most excited, obviously, are the crowds of gamblers sitting up in the upper balconies. I really enjoyed watching the matches more than I expected to. The boxers usually seem completely fine (albeit with bruised egos) at the end of a match. However, the first match I saw had a K.O. which I found a bit alarming. Towards the end of the night we got more special priviledges. My coworkers were given the honor of putting flowers around the necks of the two men fighting in the main fight. Also, we got to skip ahead of the hoards of tourists waiting to get their picture taken with the champion. (Pics on flickr.)All in all it was a pretty awesome night but I'm not sure if I'll see it again while I'm here. It's really probably one of the most expensive things you can do as a white person in Thailand. Having gone once for free I'm not really sure I'd be willing to part with 2000 baht to see it again.
This week has been really busy and exhausting (but really fun!). I'm hoping next week will be a little more low-key. This week is already getting off to a good start. I got up at 5:30 today to do the Vertical Marathon at the Banyan Tree Hotel. I've done stairclimbs in Seattle before so I thought it would be fun to try one here. It went well- 61 floors in 11 minutes. The view at the top was amazing, I'm going to have to go back to their rooftop restaurant/bar sometime. Sunset would be lovely up there!
Thai schools are going on a month long vacation, so the afternoon English classes I've been teaching to Thai students will be on hiatus. I really enjoy teaching this class, they are slightly older (3ish) than the students I usually work with and very bright though quite antsy at times. They also all jump on me with hugs at the end of the day, which makes it more than worthwhile. It'll be nice to have some extra time in the afternoon to prepare for my own class-- which is going really smoothly. One of the strangest things right now is that it is now October and it is still 90 degrees outside every day. I associate back to school with cool weather. Not the case here.
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