The Original Harmony

Hi all,

UGGH my hard drive battery died and I only got one picture up (and its not even one of the good ones). Ill get more up tomorrow.

Well, I said I would post when we did something interesting...I lied, I didn't post right away so now we are a little behind.

We got to Bangkok just fine and are back in our usual place. The bus ride was not a nice one (going too fast on a double decker bus weaving through traffic is not the safest feeling in the world), but our driver was apparently competent so we made it here safely. Thanks to his Canevil like driving we got into town about 2 hours early at 5 in the morning. We hadn’t made it to the drop off point before but it was only 5 minutes from our hotel, so we thought we could make it. It took a little guessing but we got here in about 10.

We got in so early that we couldn’t check in, so instead we waited until 6 for breakfast. After a long sit in the restaurant they finally let us check in free of charge. Since we hadn’t slept much, our first order of business was to g et some rest. We slept until about noon then went to the shopping center to get a suitcase to carry our acquisitions home. We got a good deal on a genuine Thai-made roller bag that fits everything we need it to. Still at the shopping center we had lunch at 4 and then made our way back to the hotel.

We had dinner back at my favorite place then came back to the hotel to go to bed.

The next day we were going to go to the grand palace to see inside since we didn’t get a chance last time, but when we consulted the guidebook again, it turned out there was very little to do in there anyway. So, instead we went to the Thai national museum. We explored the very large history building, and were tired afterwards to sat down to take a rest. We were shocked when we looked at the museum map and realized we had only covered about 30% of what was there. Since we had paid our $1 to get in we decided to make the most of it and explored the rest of the site. We ended up being there from about 10 to 4 (but this time included some shelter seeking time when the sky opened up into a very wet very loud thunderstorm).

After the museum we walked towards the grand palace to find a shop I wanted to visit again. They sold some really cool Thai masks, that I was considering getting (I didn’t though). Along the way a monk stopped us to practice his English. We talked briefly about our homes then went our separate ways.

We had made plans to go see a Thai Boxing match that night, and were told we should be at the arena around 5pm. So, since it wasn’t far we decided to walk straight there and forego dinner. When we got there tickets were much more than we expected, and we weren’t even sure if we wanted to go, but when we realized it was a great chance to see something neat we decided to go for standing room tickets. The people at the arena tried to discourage us from doing this and wanted us to spend twice as much for ringside seats. Initially we resisted, but when we found out the whole thing was 4.5 hours long, standing room didn’t sound very good (especially after a whole day of walking).

Thai Boxing, or Muay Thai, for those of you who don’t know (I know some of you actually are familiar with it) is a traditional Thai sport, the national sport in fact. Its an old fighting form that emphasizes the use of knees and elbows to attack the opponent. Thai boxing matches are now very formalized (3 minute rounds, refereed, in a normal boxing ring) but as far as I know the only move that is not allowed is the headbutt. This means that boxers can (and do) kick, knee, and elbow each other in the head and groin.

The boxers themselves are about 12 – 30 years old and weigh anywhere from 100 to 128 lb. The fights are pretty fast paced but not much happens until the 3rd round. Before each match the boxers do a ritualized dance. I don’t know the exact significance but it probably has something to do with paying homage to the ancestors, the other fighters, and the fans.

The matches are actually quite friendly. More than once we saw boxers smile at each other, wipe blood off one another’s faces, and several of them kissed after the match (European style- between men). Many of the guys had their families in their corner. The moms were obviously worried, but got excited when it was going well. One of the grandmothers was actually the most fun of the crowd to watch, she was a very little old lady, but into the fight more than anyone; throwing her arms up making mock punches.

Around the 7th match we realized that the people were right to warn us against standing room. Although there were seats, this is where the Thai men go to gamble on the matches. Gambling is allowed up until the winner is announced, so the crowed gets very intense by the 3rd or 4th round. When fights started breaking out we were glad to have our ringside seats.

There were 10 matches in all, but the 7th was the main event and the last was just like our boxing. Since it was running over we decided to leave before the end of the last match.

We had such a great time, and I’m afraid my writing, and even the pictures cannot quite do it justice. You will just have to wait till I get home to hear more about it.


We got back to our road at 11:15 or so. Grabbed a quick dinner (very good but neither of us got what we ordered) and went to bed.

We were up at 5:40 this morning to go on a tour I will have to wait till tomorrow to tell you about.


That’s all for now.

We are having a better time in Bangkok now than before I think.


-Tim

This entry was posted on Friday, March 17, 2006 at 7:55 AM. You can skip to the end and leave a response.