Muy Thai Boxing

I had read about Muy Thai boxing in my guidebook and thought it'd be cool to check out.  Josie also recommended it because she saw it last time she was here a few years ago.  I went with her to watch MMA fighting in Japan, but submission holds are kinda boring I think.  I want to watch someone get their ass kicked or an awesome knock out.  Clean hits and kicks sound better than watching two guys holding each other on the ground.  Een in Muy Thai, the first round is pretty boring - the two fighters just dance around each other.      

I think most people have heard of Muy Thai (I think that's what Sagat does in Street Fighter).  Basically, anything goes except family jewel shots.  It's mainly kicking and these fighters got reach on their kicks!  It was 8 bouts of five 3-minute rounds with a 2-minute rest between rounds.  

I got back from the floating market around 1:30, signed up for a cooking class for my last day, found a new room, got some Pad Thai, chilled oit fr about 30 minutes, then walked over to the Ratchadamnoen Boxing Stadium about 20 minutes away.  At last my Japanese punctuality paid off in SE Asia.  I heard from a people that the event starts at 6PM and doors open at 5:30.  I wasn't sure exactly how long it would take me to walk there, so I left at 4:15 and got there around 4:45.  It started at 5:00 so I got there just in time.  

When I got there, right away people tried selling me ringside seats for $60 when standing seats in the back were $30.  The lady started talking to me in Japanese and kept telling me lies ...
1) "You have to stand for 3 hours" - the back area (only about 30 feet from the ring) were concrete seats, while ringside were plastic seats 
2) "It's dangerous in the back" - I don't know what the danger was, there wasn't any 
3) "Curfew is at 11:00 tonight so you can watch" - curfew was still 9:00 today and if there were no knockouts, then it would have ended exactly at 9:00, so it would end AFTER curfew 

She started lowering the price for ringside and eventually went down to $50, but I stayed adamant and bought my $30 seat.  Everyone in Bangkok is lowering prices because of the riots so there aren't a whole lot of tourists to spreadtheor money around.  

When I got in, I saw the concrete steps for the people "in the back" as well as a small set of stairs that said "Foreigners."  I couldn't figure out why, but why cause trouble?So I went up those stairs, which lead to where everyone was sitting anyway. There wee about 200 people and out of that, maybe 10 foreigners

Before the event started, everyone had to stand up for the national anthem. Felt like a baseball game - everyone was taking their hats off too. Before every bout, the fighters would do some ritual dance or warm up to music that sounded like the snake charmer's music from this morning.  I wonder what it means.  The while they fought, the same music would be playing.  It was pretty much the same music, but it would get faster when someone was getting pounded.  I noticed a band ringside playing the whole four hours.  I wonder if they got tired after a while of playing the same thing.

Best parts of each bout ...
Bout 1 - one of the fighters got knocked down and kicked square in the face.
Bout 2 - lots if kicking and ducking them
Bout 3 - midkick leg grabs
Bout 4 - one guy was getting brat so hard, the ref called the match
Bout 5 - the Japanese fighter got kicked in the face and the ref called it
Bout 6 - little guy (looked 15 years old) was quick and kept getting take-downs ... close to 10 take-downs
Bout 7 - lots of hits, kicks, and knees, even when locked up
Bout 8 - blonde-haired Japanese anime looking fighter kicked the other fighter in the face and knocked him down in the last round
  

I wouldn't say it was worth $30, but I enjoyed it ... although the cobra show was way better.  It was an adrenaline-filled day and I'm tired now.  I have about $20 for tomorrow so I'm going totaled it easy.  Maybe just walking around the city temple hopping ad street stall eating.