A few minutes later we arrived at a stadium; it wasn't Ratchadamnoen, but it did look like a boxing venue. I paid him and walked up to the ticket booth to get a ringside ticket. Yep, turns out I was somewhere else -- Rajadamnern Stadium. I had read several things that said that the fights were to start at 5:30pm. It was around 5pm and I met with the ticket office person (he was incredibly friendly and spoke actual english) who told me that the fights didn't start until 6:30pm, with the main card going on at 9pm. I had an hour to kill, so I chilled out and waited for the fights (actually, I tried to find my location on my map, but I had no idea where I was on the map).
My seat was literally ringside -- I was in the middle of the first row facing the ring. It was so close that there was some sweat that made its way off the ring to me. The place started filling up as we got closer to fight time -- the area looked like it could hold about 2,000 people. It had a very old school feel to it, though the ring appeared to be in decent shape.
Three Aussies showed up later and sat next to me; we had a good time discussing the fights and shooting the shit (coincidentally, they were heading to Vietnam next, too). Then, the Americans rolled in. Ugh. There were two rows of them, apparently from a tourist excursion. Of course, they were all fat, and all of the dudes looked like this jackass. Some of their comments were unbelievably ignorant, and the more they drank the more ridiculous they became, like constantly yelling, "Yo, red -- you my man!!" Thankfully, after an hour, the most obnoxious one passed out. Classy. I see why worldwide everyone hates us. So.freaking.embarrassing. Ugh.
Anyway, the fights were entertaining. Prior to the fights, a cool ceremony ensued. A live band fired up tribal sounding music and the fighters both performed dances. Neither really stared one another down like seen in American boxing fights. There seemed to be a whole level of respect for one another. I took some notes; I think I'll incorporate some of these dances into my next goal scoring celebration.
Thai boxing allows the use of kicks and punches. To me, it looked like the main strategy was to kick the crap outta your opponent. Punches were rarely thrown, but they sounded brutal when they landed.
The crazy thing was that the "heavyweight" bout matched two guys that were 120lbs. One of the fights had two guys that were 85lbs each. They really looked like little kids (who knows, maybe they were). There was one knockout -- the main event fight. Guy got completely leveled (after getting a cut eye) and couldn't get up.
Behind me, in the cheap seats, tons of gambling occurred, and things would get really rowdy towards the later rounds of each fight (each fight was 5 rounds).
All in all -- good times yet again. I left after the main event. I saw 6 fights prior to the main event, so I was ready to leave. I headed out and jumped on a scooter who took me to the train station. On my way back home, my stomach kept growling, so I figured I should grab a quick bite. I entered a harmless looking Thai place and ordered a harmless looking dish, Chicken Basil.
Holy shit!! That was the spiciest freakin' thing I've had here. I quickly downed a coke, and two bottles of water. It was brutal. It took the better part of an hour before my mouth had recovered. That wasn't the only damage it did. I went home and had to do this...
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