Vegetarianism and Violence in Bangkok

The next morning we were woken again early by the family who run our guesthouse. I don't understand why you would run a business like that. We tried to sleep through the noise which eventually quietened down about 9am. The result of this is that we were too late to apply for our Indian visas, which had been our intention that day. When we got up, we decided to check out a vegetarian restaurant, Ethos, which had been leafletting up and down Khaosan. I opted for the Krapow, which is a standard Thai dish, featuring chillies, Thai basil, and usually minced chicken. It is usually the hottest dish on the menu. This one was made with tofu, which I thought would do no harm to the dish. Again we were let down by a vegetarian establishment: my Krapow tasted of nothing but soy sauce and was almost certainly the worst food I'd had in Thailand. Of course there was no chilli either, but I had given up expecting it. Luckily the meal was saved by pudding and the interesting drinks they offered: the mango and sticky rice with coconut cream was delicious, as were the carrot juice and the hibiscus tea.

Foot replies to elbow

Sticker showing us up as suckers!

After lunch we decided that we had better make a bit more of an effort or else we would just keep drinking buckets and achieve nothing, so we did a bit of research and discovered that the cheapest way to see muay thai (Thai kick-boxing) was to go to the stadium an hour before the start. This was something I wanted to do last time but never got around to so we were determined to go, even though it was quite costly. You can buy tickets on Khaosan Road, but they only sell ringside “VIP” tickets, which we didn't want to shell out 2000 Baht each for. We're not suckers! We walked to the stadium (saving even more money) and there was a nice lady who was quite happy to sell us whatever tickets we wanted. But, she warned, there are no seats where the cheaper tickets are, so you have to stand, and there are often fights over betting. She showed us a photo of really squashed together people standing in the stadium. Joanne was slightly perturbed. I can give you a discount of 250 Baht on each ticket she told us. We conferred. Joanne did think £35 per ticket was a lot of money, but she didn't want to have to stand for the whole time, and the cheaper ones were only £5 less. She didn't want to go down to the cheapest ones at 1000 Baht in case there was fighting.

Preparation ritual before fight

OK, we agreed, VIP seats it is. She gave us tickets and put a sticker on each of us. Nobody else was wearing a sticker. We had nearly an hour to kill, so we sat outside and had bought a beer from a vendor then, after lots of getting laughed at, popped into the outdoor food court next door which was selling more of the excellent cheap canteen-style Thai food. When we returned, our ticket vendor spotted us, and ushered us into the arena. All around there were people in the cheap areas and only a couple of dozen plastic seats right next to the ring. I think everyone else there was press or family of the fighters. The 1000 Baht ticket-holders were separated from the 1500 Baht ticket-holder by a fence and it was quite busy standing-room-only back there, however there were no fights. The 1500 Baht area, though, was hardly full at all, and everybody there was sitting down on the concrete steps. We are suckers after all! We chastised ourselves for believing anything a Thai person with something to sell says, and swore we wouldn't be tricked again. The ringside seats didn't even offer better photo opportunities as the ropes got in the way. It would have been much better to have a bit of elevation and use the zoom.

The excitement mounts

Now I'm not really a fan of violence, in fact I'd probably describe myself as a pacifist. I don't enjoy wrestling, boxing, rugby, or any of these violent sports, but I do like martial arts and most things Eastern, so I thought muay thai was worth seeing once, and the guide books all recommend it. This was certainly violent and at times Joanne didn't want to watch and felt a little upset, but it was also very elegant as well. There is a band in the stadium, consisting of cymbals, oboe, and drums, and they play throughout the proceedings, the tempo and volume constantly changing to match the action. At the beginning of each match, the two fighters come into the ring with strings of flowers around their necks, sporting headdresses, and some wearing gowns, while the band plays music that could easily be something from a snake-charmer's repertoire. This is apparently quite a solemn few minutes, as the fighters slowly circle the ring, practising some moves, kissing the corners, kneeling down, standing up again, the whole time looking very serious.

Eye of the tiger

It looks much more like ritual than a warm-up, but I suppose there may be some psychological warfare going on as well. There doesn't seem to be any time limit on this phase and some of them carry on for quite a while before finally finishing. Then they go over to their respective corners where their trainer blesses them, sprinkles a little water on them, and removes the flowers, the headdress, and any other items not essential to the fight. Then the drums come in and the two fighters start to weave their fists, head, and shoulders in time to the music. It looks much more like dancing than fighting at this stage. The fights are five rounds of three minutes, or only two minutes for the lightest fighters, and they can be quite intense at times. There were ten fights throughout the evening. Less interesting fights seem to slide towards grappling, where the two fighters keep taking turns at swiping each other's backs using their heels. Most of the fighters were quite young and one of these younger fights, the fourth fight of the evening, was ended very abruptly when blue landed a direct kick to red's head and he was knocked out cold.

Ooof!

It was less than 90 seconds into the first round, so I suppose blue must have been quite pleased with himself. Red was quickly whisked off the ring by medical staff, who might have been worried by the few small convulsions he had just as he hit the deck. Or maybe that just what happens when people are knocked out, we wouldn't know, but nobody else looked particularly worried so we tried not to feel to queasy about the whole thing. The seventh fight had been billed as the Big One and just before it started, an official came into the ring with the young chap who had achieved the knock-out, raised his hand in the hair, and then presented him with a biggish metal cup and an envelope. So I suppose knock-outs are not all that common. After the seventh fight lots of people left, and then more after every remaining fight, but I was determined to sit it out until the end since we'd paid so much money! The last fight of the night was the heaviest weight and when the fighters came to ring Joanne said “oh no, it's a farang!” and so it was.

Farang moves in for the kill

“This is going to be bad”. Joanne suggested that he might have paid for one of the courses in muay thai, which culminates in a real fight. The Thai's friends were behind us, cheering him on. It was quite obvious from the start that the farang did not have the panache of the previous fighters: he looked bored rather than solemn during the rituals at the start and, by comparison, he lumbered towards the Thai, more bulldozer than dancer: where the Thais were on their toes, he shuffled along, flat-footed. I don't know much about boxing but, watching him, it was pretty obvious that the farang had been a boxer before. His reach was incredible, and he kept his guard up in a way the Thais did not. When it came to the kicking side of things it was ugly. Whereas the Thais were engaged in a martial art, he simply booted his opponent from time to time. As the match wore on it started to look like he had the upper hand. His reach was so long that the poor Thai could hardly even get a kick in, and none of them really deliver decent blows with the hands. In the end, the Thai was looking weaker and weaker until the farang went for it, kicking him repeatedly in the shins (ow!), in between strong punches to the head. At this point the Thai looked like he was going to cry, and almost seemed to be trying to run away, but the referee stepped in and stopped the match before he could jump out the ring. We had assumed the farang would lose, but this result was even worse. All his mates were there to see him beaten by a farang! Talk about losing face.

written by

The Happy Couple on April 20, 2009 from Bangkok, Thailand

from the travel blog: Michael's Round-the-World honeymoon

tagged MuayThai

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