Another Night In B-kok

Did I mention before that Scott and I are ballers?  The past fews days we’ve been rolling VIP everywhere.  It started on the train when they were out of second class bunks so we chose the first class private room over the bench seats.  We still ended up slumming it in the dining car, hanging out with some Thai dudes that were getting hammered and didn’t speak any english.  Then we roll out to the Muy Thai last night and get front row seats.  Expensive, but when else do you have the opportunity to get blood splattered all over your shirt.  The fights were awesome.  Before the two guys fight, they come out and do this traditional muy thai dance.  It is really strange and kind of awkward to watch, because it’s half warm-up routine and half sexy-dance.  You’d laugh, but people would kick your ass.  There is this crazy, almost Indian music that a band is playing the whole time and picks up as the fight gets more intense, and there are stands packed full of old Thai dudes gambling, screaming, and counting out the knees and punches.  The whole stadium could have been from 1960, everything in the place was dirty and worn out.  We got there right after the two preliminary fights and watched the main 7 fights.  We were both dead tired and full when we got in there, but there’s nothing like people beating the crap out of each other to wake you up.  Punches and kicks with the occasional devastating knee or elbow.  It was crazy and one of the coolest experiences over here.  One guy got hauled off in a stretcher after a kick to the face, and a couple of the other fights got bloody, but my hopes of seeing someones face explode from a flying knee will be delayed until another time.  Everybody cleared out after the fifth fight, which was the main event, but we stuck around and watched the last two.  The last fight of the night was between these two little boys that were about twelve.  It’s kind of strange to see a stadium full of old Thai men gambling on little kids, but kind of awesome too.  These little kids could kick the shit out of most of the people I know.  How would you like to get your ass beat by a 90 lb. Thai boy?  Or better yet, a ladyboy?  Jon Conrad was telling us about this Muy Thai fighter a couple years ago that was a katoi, ladyboy.  He trained by himself at night, started fighting, and destroyed everyone he fought.  All the while, wearing make up, and blowing kisses to his/her opponents after mashing them.  It was supposedly very controversial, as Muy Thai is very traditional and in a way, sacred, and this guy was embarrassing the entire community, while winning.  He finally saved up all his winnings and got a full sex change, but then he couldn’t fight in Thailand anymore.  It sounds like they used it as an excuse to bar him from the men’s league.  They also wouldn’t let him fight in the women’s league because it was an unfair advantage, having previously had a penis.  So now she/he fights in Japan, and it’s not really fighting, it’s more of a novelty/pro-wrestling type of gig.  That is the kind of crazy stuff that only happens in Thailand.

After the Muy Thai fight we were both pretty spent, but rallied even though we’d been up since 5AM.  I took Scott to this Irish Pub to quench his hankering for a pint of Guinness.  They had this Thai band playing poppy, American cover songs, I never have my video camera on me for the most hilarious stuff.  Then we went to check out this bar I had read about in some magazines, and talked to some people about called Brick Bar.  Supposedly, a trendy hangout for young Thais hidden underground in the Khaosan area.  We found it and it was a pretty awesome place by any standard.  It was down a staircase under this hotel and barely had a sign.  Once you got in the Thai rock hit you in the face and there were people dancing their asses off everywhere.  We were the only white guys in there, people were high-fiving us, and dancing on the tables and waving their arms in the air.  The place was all brick inside with no windows, and had an air of an old speakeasy.  The energy in there was crazy, it was like everyone was swing dancing, but really badly and didn’t care.  We made our way over through the sea of people to the bar, which was almost as long as the bar at the brew station.  There was one bottle each of about twenty liquors and then about four hundred bottles of Johnny Walker.  I still haven’t figured out why Asians love Johnny Walker so much.  It was some of the best music we have heard on this trip, a cultural experience that we both could appreciate, and Scott was about a foot taller than everyone in there.  Brick Bar, Bangkok, check it out.

So today is our last, we have to go out celebrate the end, but Scott has to be at the airport at 6AM, so it won’t be too late of a night.  I’m lucky, I leave the next day around midnight.  I’m sure it will be a really tame night where we turn in early, since there’s nothing really fun to get into in Bangkok.

~ by deanius on January 30, 2008.