Aieeee....

Tonight we ventured to Lumpini Stadium, one of the 2 venues in Bangkok where Thai boxing occurs--supposedly the one w/better views regardless of ticket prices, to see Muay Thai (Thai kickboxing). The night starts at 6:30 and lasts almost 5hrs w/7 match-ups and each contest consisting of 5 3min rounds. Needless to say we arrived just in time for the main fight of the night, and bought the "cheap" tickets, which were standing room only in the upper level. We were the only non-Thai's in that section and all around us people were actively betting on different rounds vs different match-ups (not really sure but there was alot of point screaming and signalling numbers to people--one guy had at least 10 cell phones attached to his belt and each one had an earpiece which was cliped to the collar of his shirt), lots of money was being freely exchanged as we stood up there w/the degenerates. If I couldn't see the fight, then I could always tell when it was getting good, b/c suddenly everyone would be standing, yelling and signalling their bets--I was not able to discern the signals to take part.

The fighting was more skill than anything, it was much less brutal or bloody when compared to regular boxing; however we did witness one guy essentially punch-out a guy's knee and thus ended the fight early. But the fights would almost always start very slow for the first 2 rounds then starting in round 3 it would start getting good and usually by round 5 the winner was already determined and pointless. It was a fascinating night watching both the Thai population and seeing a huge part of Thai culture.