November 22, 2006 Bangkok, Thailand

November 22, 2006
Bangkok, Thailand

Today I slept in longer than I have in months! When I finally woke up at 11:45 I was looking right into Spizzle’s eyes (he was hovering over me). I was shocked that I had slept so late. As I completed my morning routine Matt informed me that B had left to go visit with his ex-girlfriend and that he would come back at 13:00.

We decided to run down to the internet café and take care of some business. We researched some hostels in and around Bangkok. After about 40-minutes we had completed our tasks and headed back to the apartment to meet up with B.

We hung out in the apartment until about 13:50 before deciding to leave a not and run some more errands. We decided to walk to the Eastern Bus Station. It was a long 1-hour walk in the heat and humidity. On the way we stopped in for a strawberry smoothie. Once we finally reached the bus station we purchased tickets to the island of Ko Chang for Friday morning. Incredibly, it will cost only 250 baht (7 dollars) for a 5-7 hour bus ride.

On the walk home Spizz and I decided to stop in at the Emporium Mall (more for the AC than for shopping). It was an extravagant mall equipped with all the designer stores (Prada, Gucci, etc.). Deciding that it was out of our price range we returned to the apartment.

We relaxed in the apartment for about an hour (until 17:00) before heading across town to the R___ Stadium to watch some famous Thai Kick Boxing matches. We arrived slightly early and elected to do a little sightseeing before entering the arena.

After consulting our map we headed down the street toward a horse statue that looked cool. It was a longer walk than we though and we had to cross several dangerous streets (almost getting run over several times). Luckily, we survived and made it to the military monument. Even cooler, there was a really cool palace right behind the statue. We took some photos and then headed back to watch some boxing.

The walk back was much easier (we knew how to avoid the cars) and we arrived in time for me to grab a quick snack. I got two skewers of tasty meat and a big thing of pineapple for 20 baht (about 55 cents).

Since we got the cheapest seats possible for foreigners (not that cheap – 1000 baht), we were relegated to the third level. Even so, the seats were quite good and we had an awesome view of the ring. We found a nice place to sit just before the first bout (at 18:30).

As we examined the schedule of fights we thought it was funny that the heaviest weight division was 146 lbs. Almost all of the other fighters were much smaller than that (down to only 100 lbs). In all, we watched 8 of the 10 fights. I was surprised how much kicking went on. Kicks were much more prevalent than punches. In an interesting twist, the red and blue corners alternated winning each match. As a result, Spizz (who bet on the blue corner every time) and I (who bet on the red corner every time) came out even in our bets. The highlight of the evening was a fight in which the guy that was losing landed a hard kick to his opponents head, knocking him out. It was electrifying. Just as exciting as the fights was the betting action in the stands. Fans constantly bet with one another. They attract the attention of other betters by yelling and using complicated hand gestures (which we couldn’t figure out).

At 22:30 (after the 8th fight) we decided we had had enough boxing for one day. We hailed a cab and returned to the apartment. When we arrived Ben informed us that B had left Bangkok for Chiang Mai (with Shadow). We were slightly surprised (I suppose we shouldn’t have been) because we hadn’t heard any of this plan and we had discussed going to Chiang Mai later in our time in Thailand. Still, I hope he has fun! We spent the rest of the evening discussing some fun activities to do tomorrow.