My inspiration at the moment: watching 'Man Vs. Wild on the Discovery Channel
Muay Thai Kick Boxing Match
One night we decided to take in some Muay Thai Kick Boxing at the Lumphini Stadium. We were sold two ringside tickets which was pretty nice once we got in and realized if we purchased 2nd or 3rd class tickets we would have been escorted into a pool of screaming men betting on the best match up, not our best bet (no pun intended). We arrived during the 3rd match up where some tiny light weights were dueling. After being escorted in by a women in a red boxing jacket we sat down and had the regular adjustment phase that we go through each time we arrive at a new place. First thing I noticed was an abundance of people in the 'pit' which seems to me the best way to describe hundreds of loud screaming men raising their arms to place their bet on the next round of each match. The next thing I realized is that these young boys boxing have no gear on besides their shorts and gloves and are literally kicking and punching at the head and legs. It looked a lot like regular boxing but knees to the stomach and straight leg kicks to the head, neck, and legs were fair game. Noticeably each time one opponent would make a series of kicks to the stomach the whole crowd would scream very loud and it almost felt as though they were counting how many kicks in a row one boxer could get. I had an epiphany while watching about Billy Blanks TaeBo. The kicks they were making were very similar to the kicks in the Billy Blanks workout tape which I used to practice regularly. I am not certain this was his inspiration but it just felt like it could be.
The lighting was horrible in the place so a decent photo was hard to take, but this was taken before the match of the 'big dogs' who were the last match up which basically is the reason everyone comes to watch. It ended very fast with a knock out by the man in the pink shorts. Another similar but longer match actually lead to one of the boxers being knocked unconscious because he was kicked directly in the head and was down instantly; he consequently lost that match. The stretcher came out very quickly and you would not believe how loud people were screaming when that happened...we were scared for the guy! There was ceremonial music playing the whole time with loud drums and plenty of beer spread throughout the whole place. We had a good time.
They were very respectful of the other opponent and would do this really interesting dance/stretching routine around the ring stopping at each corner to either pray or use it to stretch their legs out. During warm ups they wore these cloth braided rings on their heads with very sophisticated robes and lays of fresh flowers around their necks; they were already dripping with sweat. After each round large human sized cake pans were thrown into their corners of the ring for the boxers to stand in and sit on stools. This was the best part to watch because they would just get ravished with water by their coaches and trainers while getting a pep talk and their muscles rubbed.
One of the boxers was really interesting to watch because he was so tall for his weight class and had a definite disadvantage to his opponent who was much shorter than him who could knee him very easily in his stomach. This boxer did a great job at blocking regardless and barely ever took his eyes off his coach. All of the boxers were disciplined like I have never seen, but with this boxer it showed crystal clear. I have no idea how he was able to concentrate on boxing while looking directly at his coach almost the whole time.
Paragon Cineplex
Our last day in Bangkok was spent doing one of our favorite pass times which is watching movies! We went and saw The Box at the Paragon Cineplex which is much different from any movie theater you have every experienced. We got a couples seat in an Nokia Ultra Screen; movie watching at its finest. The photos should take care of this.
Yeah, it was definitely a good day at the movies! We didn't realize we were suppose to kick back at the martini bar before the show and got strange looks when we bought our popcorn before going into the movie walking in there like two witty kids like we normally do but little did we know we were supposed to order it from a lady once we sat down and cozied up in our silk blankets and pillows. We had no complaints. At the beginning of the movie they had a 5 minute tribute video to the king which actually brought me to tears, they music just got me. Joe was laughing at me.
More posts to come, posting from beautiful SaPa, Vietnam right now trying to recap our last couple weeks of events! For now take a look at some final days from Bangkok:
Photos from Final Days in Bangkok:
On the roof top of the hotel trying out our mini tripod for the camera
Victory Monument
Joe in front of a cool fountain on our walk to Dusit Zoo
We spent hours with the elephants feeding them grass and watching them. They are beautiful creatures and are so people friendly. The one below stepped over the cage it was in and it scared us because he was coming right for us and was kind of going fast but he proceed to follow his trainer (lady in red) and she just started laughing like it was no big deal. I tapped her on her shoulder about him getting out, she then fed him milk through a bottle with a long straw. It was adorable.
Hungry Hungry Hippos.
Chao for now!
that movie theater looks amazing!
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