Thailand

13-15 Jan 2012

This is my final blog entry from Thailand :-(

Yesterday we were up for 23 hours. We got up at 7am and went to Kanchanaburi to see the Death Railway and the bridge over River Kwai. We got a taxi to the Southern bus terminal as although you can get the train there there are only two trains a day so we could have been waiting a long time. We did have a slight panic when the taxi driver started driving without turning the meter on and I shouted at him to stop or I'd call the police (not that we had a phone on us) only to find out he was just moving the car out of a busy junction as he wasn't sure where we wanted to go and wanted to make sure he knew where we were going. Didn't I feel like a complete tool. The southern bus terminal is huge and has an upstairs! We found the ticket stand we needed and a bus was leaving in ten minutes. It took 2 hours to get there and like at most other places as soon as the bus pulls in the tuk tuk drivers see a farang on board and rush over to try and get you signed up before you've climbed down the steps off the bus. However we had a map and it didnt look too far so we walked to the museum and spent quite a while there. Its quite moving seeing real letters sent from the PoWs and seeing film clips of people that were there. We then tried to see if we could ride on the railway but there weren't any trains. We then walked to the bridge over River Kwai although it was much longer a walk than we realised! We took a few snaps and then headed back. We managed to get a songthaew with some locals for 10 baht each! We didn't get back until about 6pm and we were supposed to collect our suits and meet Becky, Nicola and the Aussies at half 7. When we got to KSR our suits werent ready so we were told to go back the next day.

We'd arranged through facebook for Becky, Nicola and Chris and Sarah (the Aussies from CM) to meet at our hotel for a night out. Bearing in mind what happened in Koh Phangan we weren't sure it would happen but the plan worked and they all arrived within a few minutes of each other! We caught up on what we'd all been doing over the past couple of days and then went for dinner. We then went to a couple of bars on KSR and got extremely drunk. We didnt end up getting in until 6am! It was a really good night although we felt very ropey today.

We dragged ourselves out of bed around 11am as we didn't want to waste the day. We had breakfast and decided to go to the famous weekend market known locally as 'JJ'. It has 8,000 stalls and Thais come from all over to shop there. We attempted to get a bus but we'd been waiting in the blistering heat for too long with no sign of the bus so we got a taxi instead. Today has been the hottest day so far and we decide to go to a hectically busy market whilst hungover. The market was amazing! We hardly covered any of it and we definitely went in circles a couple of times. I could have spent a fortune there. There were stalls with one-off hand made clothes for less than £8. I did buy quite a few things but not as much as I'd have liked! We got a holdall for our stuff on the way back. If I had more money we'd have filled a suitcase each of clothes as it so cheap here! Once our feet were hurting too much to bear we got a tuk tuk back. The taxis wanted double what we paid to get there so we got a tuk tuk breathing in all sorts of crap on the way - its not a short journey. The driver also happened to be the craziest driver we've had so far.

We got back in one piece (just) and went to collect our suits. I can happily report that they look really good. We then had a power nap before having a disapointing dinner and having a last stroll down KSR at night.

Tomorrow we have to check out by 11am. We had planned to go back to the market but I don't think that would be a good idea for my bank balance. We might have a chilled out day or do one or two more sights before setting off to the airport around 6pm.

I am sad to be going although I am looking forwards to getting home and seeing the cats. I have loved Thailand and hope that we'll be able to come back to see more of the Islands. It seems a shame we only saw one out of the hundreds of Islands Thailand has. The places we've visited: Koh Phangan, Sukothai, Chiang Mai and Bangkok I think we've seen as much as we can. There is more here in Bangkok but we've done more than enough for one trip as its just too intense to do more than a few days in one go. KSR is amazing and everyone should go to it at least once if they are in Bangkok.

I hope you've all enjoyed reading my blog and I'm looking forwards to seeing everyone very soon! Xxx

11-12 Jan 2012

We landed at Bangkok once again on time and headed for a taxi as we were both shattered and couldnt face having to battle Bangkok's fumes with our backpacks. We'd heard of taxis trying to rip you off by not using the meter so we were prepared for a fight but there was a queue system outside which said they were meter taxis. So that was nice and easy. The guy did ask if we wanted a fixed price as we got in so we said no and he was fine with it. He was asking us the usual questions and he seemed friendly enough but you can never be sure if it will ultimately lead to him trying to sell us something or whether its genuine helpfullness. Its quite sad really as tourists in Bangkok automatically have to be on their guard when it shouldnt be like that as ordinary Thai people are lovely and so helpful. The taxi driver explained to us that even meter taxis cant be trusted now in Bangkok as some taxi drivers higher the rate the meter goes up and then take you a long way round to increase the fare. So you can't trust anyone then. Great. But this guy was lovely and told us that he was an aeroplane engineer but had to retire at 65 so now he is a taxi driver. So that started Andrew off asking all sorts of questions that went right over my head. He also teaches people to fly so Andrew was asking about that too.

The traffic was quite bad in Bangkok but we finally got to our guesthouse New Siam II 400 baht later. We checked in easily enough and went to our room. What a difference to Libra House! We actually have space to move around! And a plug socket, a toilet that has a flush and a large mirror! Woop!

The after affects of the trek had caught up with us plus the early morning so we didnt really feel like sight seeing in Bangkok's heat. We had something to eat in Ricky's cafe which we'd been to last time we were in Bangkok as it was on the Nancy Chandler map. We then decided to do the Riverside Walk which was actually a bit crap as there was nothing to see and it lasted about 5 minutes.

We then had a sit down in Santichaiprakar Park and decided to go to KSR and see if our suits were ready. We'd told them we'd go back on 12th Jan so we were a day early.

When we walked in she didnt seem to know who we were although to be fair we'd not taken our order form we'd been told to bring with us. After a bit of confusion she found our order and then rang someone up on her mobile. She then looked through a pile of trousers finding ours so we tried them on and both were good fits. Mine have a nice amount of room in them and feel really comfy. Andrews are a 'skinny fit' design so look very smart. She then said our jackets were coming. So we sat down and waited for about 5 minutes and then the lady disappeared for about ten minutes. During this time we had a good nosey round then shop at the different fabrics and the example suits hung around the shop. The trousers were stitched just like ours and the jacket looked very well made. I looked over the stitching in the trousers and it was all very good and straight! We began to worry that they were making our jackets whilst we sat there when the woman returned with a man who I presume to be the tailor. He had part of our jackets done without the arms or lining so we had to be imaginative. He put them on us and pinned them in and checked the length. I asked for mine a bit longer as I dont like having a short suit jacket. He then re-measured us and we were told to come back on Friday to try it on again.

We then went back to the hotel and got ready for dinner. As it was the 11th it was our 'date night'. We were going to pay for a 5* hotel but realised that we'd appreciate Siam 2 a lot after the places we'd been to so far so didnt bother. We thought we'd go to a nice restaurant instead. So we decided on a popular seafood restaurant called the Gin/King Lon Chom Sapan on the river. We walked there from our hotel and it was down a really dodgy looking street with no-one in sight. When we got there it was really busy and full of Thais (thats meant to be a good sign). I'm not a fan of seafood so I ordered Ostrich to be a bit adventurous and Andrew ordered Kha Prang in red curry. Andrew also ordered some deep fried Shrimp for starter. Andrew's starter arrived and it didnt look deep fried to me but never mind. They then brought a dish out put it right infront of me and brought the rice out. I wasnt sure if it was my dish but thought as they'd put it in front of me and Andrew was eating his starter it must be mine. It looked a bit like red curry but it didnt look like fish. They hadnt brought anything else out after a minute or two so I just started to eat it. The sauce was nice but the 'ostrich' wasn't. It was really fatty with hardly any meat in it. They had also put bitter eggplant and these Thai pepper corns in it which overpowered the dish. It was horrible if I'm being honest. Then after about 5 minutes they brought out another dish even though Andrew hadnt finished his starter yet. It was clearly my ostrich so I'd just been tucking into Andrews fish. Oh well. So I started on the ostrich and it was horrible too. The ostrich was really tough and they'd put way too many pepper corns in the dish so thats all I could taste. I was incredibly disappointed. To top it off our waitress was very miserable. We left soon aftewards and didnt leave a tip. It was an 'expensive' restaurant so we were a bit gutted to say the least. Although it did only cost us £24. But to say you can get a decent meal for about £5 it was expensive by Thai standards. Maybe we just ordered the wrong dishes? I wont be going back to find out anyway.

We decided to call it a night so we could get up early and have a full day of sight seeing the following day.

We got up around 8am and had breakfast in the hotel which was ok although the bacon wasnt cremated which streaky bacon needs to be if you want to eat it all otherwise most of it is fat. The coffee was horrible too but at least it was cheap.

We then got the river boat taxi to the Grand Palace to see the Emerald Buddha which is made out of Jade. It apparently was discovered when lightening cracked open a chedi in Chiang Rai in the fifteenth centuary. It is incredible sacred and Thais come from all over the country to see it. We spent a while there looking at the different buildings. The model Angkor Wat is amazing. Whilst we were looking at it a foreigner pushed me out of the way so he could get a photo of it. I was so shocked I just moved but I wish I'd said something now the idiot. The Grand Palace does not include the most amazing buildings I've seen in Thailand but it is impressive. There was building work going on whilst we were there so it did effect the overall feel of the place.

We then headed to Wat Po which is the Reclining Buddha. As we walked away from the Grand Palace towards Wat Po a man approached us and told us the Wat was closed. We knew of these scams from the Rough Guide and walked away from him but it really angered me. Its yet another thing that makes foreigners wary of Thai people. They basically tell you its closed and then offer to take you to X-place in their tuk tuk, stopping at a gem place or something similar on the way where you are hassled to buy from them and then it turns out to be fake/glass and the driver gets paid commission. Its the first time we'd actually come into contact with someone trying to scam us though.

Wat Po was amazing. It is 45 meters long. I could just about fit it all into a photo but as the temple is only slighly bigger than the buddha its difficult to get a decent photo.

We'd finished those two quicker than we thought so we decided to fit in a couple more sights before lunchtime. We wanted to go and see Wat Rachnadda and the Golden Mount/Wat Sakhet and as it was a bit of a walk away we thought we'd ask a tuk tuk driver or meter taxi. We were a bit wary due to the scams and also hearing from Nicola and John-the Canadian couple from the trek, who'd had a bad experience with a tuk tuk driver. We were quoted too much so we headed to another one who we got down from 140 to 100 but we didnt want to pay that much so decided to walk. As we walked further away from the Wat there were a couple of tuk tuks and one asked where we were going so Andrew being Andrew rather than walking away showed him our map and this guy grabbed the map (yes my precious map) and said that the Golden Mount was 'closed for lunch' and that we should go someplace else. Really? They honestly expect us to believe that? So I snatched my map out of his hand and walked off. I wish I'd given that man a piece of my mind. I know it doesn't sound like much and it was just one guy out of many kind, gentle Thai people we've met so far but in the heat and stench of Bangkok coupled with knowing how lovely the Thais are this behaviour really pissed me off. Plus I'm sure it works on some naive individuals that havent done any reading up of Thailand whatsoever before coming here. Maybe they deserve to be scammed then? I still dont think its fair to the Thai people.

Anyway, rant over!

So we ended up walking to Wat Rachnadda and it wasn't very far. This building is unusual as it has 37 cast iron spires. You can also climb some steps to the top and have a lovely view over Bangkok. Not as high as the Golden Mount but its still nice to see.

We then walked to Wat Sakhet and the Golden Mount which has quite a few steps to climb and the sun decided to come out in full force just as we were climbing the steps which made it seem much harder than it probably is. The steps to climb right to the top are quite hard to find as they are hidden away in a corner. The view when you get to the top is amazing. It would be so much better at night though I'm sure.

We were starving by this time so we decided to head for lunch at somewhere close marked on the map and we finally found it after walking past it once. It had lots of Thai people in it and all the signs were in Thai. We sat down and were handed a menu that had 4 things on it - all different versions of pad thai noodles. I had plain pad thai and Andrew had shrimp. Both were very good although the 12 baht ones at the market in CM were probably better.

We were very tired and decided to go to Wat Mahathat and then Sanam Luang (a park) after and then call it a day. We walked to Wat Mahathat where apparently monks will chat with you as there is a monk university there and they like to practice their English with you. When we got there we walked around and couldn't find any 'monk chat' signs like we had in CM. There were building works going on so it was hard to see what building was what (excuse the pun) and we didnt have any monks approach us either so we just headed over to the park and had a sit down as our feet were hurting.

We decided to call it a day and head back to the hotel to plan tomorrow.

Xxxx

9 - 10 Jan 2012

The alarm went off at 7 am so we dressed and packed the items needed for our overnight elephant trek.

We had breakfast and set off around 8:30 am when we met our trek guide 'Toto'. We jumped into the truck and the first stop was a market where they bought the supplies for our meals and we got a chance to buy some snacks.

We got back into the truck and about five minutes later we pulled in so the tourist police could speak to us and check the organisers weren't ripping us off. Theres a lot of stories about treks just going round in circles and conning people that they are treking far when actually they are around the corner from a main road etc. So now the guides need a stamp to say they've been approved by the tourist police before they can get into the national parks. Once that was out the way we had about an hours journey to Mork-fa waterfall. The waterfall was really fun. We had about an hour there so we jumped into the water and took lots of pictures. Becky briefly lost her flip flop in the water but Andrew managed to find it. God knows how as the force of the waterfall was really strong.

We then got dried off and went for some lunch at a cafe beside the road and had fried rice which was lovely.

Next was a short journey to the hot springs where we went into one of the pools which was really hot. It took me about ten minutes to put my feet in but then it was easier and I managed a brief swim. Then we got a shower and it was time for the trek.

We were told it was a 9k trek through the jungle over 3 mountains. First was baby mountain: it was like hell trying to climb it and I honestly thought I'd not be able to go on if the other two were worse than this but just as I thought I couldnt go on we reached the top and began the descent. The guide then told us that baby mountain was 'naughty' after we commented that it was hard. I was cacking it for the other two mountains.

We had a brief 10 minute stop at a hill-tribe village at the bottom of the mountain. We didn't see anyone from the tribe but apparently it was the Karen tribe and only 7 families lived there totalling 30 people. We saw some animals and Andrew took some pictures whilst I quietly pannicked inside about the trek that lie ahead.

But 'mamma' mountain was really nice: a gradual climb and descent which I didn't find too bad. We had some amazing views at the top. We stopped again for about fifteen minutes at another village and had a drink to recover briefly before tackling 'daddy' mountain.

The climb up was really steep as was the descent but it was relatively short and then we'd made it! We were shown to our 'room' which was a wooden cabin with thin mattresses dotted about under mosquito nets for everyone. Not much privacy in there then!

We then washed ourselves off in the river and got changed before dinner.

We all sat around a long table and were served chicken yellow curry and vegetables. It was delicious. After dinner we all wrote a message on a huge lantern which was then lit later on. We were told to write messages to put bad luck behind us and wish for good luck in the future. It was lit and the nutters in the tribe attached a firework to it with a really long fuse. So up it went, and sparks from the fuse were lighting up the sky until the fireworks started. It was really beautiful to see and the fireworks were going off loads higher than normal.

Then we sat around a campfire whilst someone played the guitar and we sang (when we knew the words which wasn't very often!) and shared stories. The guide was giving out 'happy water' the name given to their home brewed whiskey. It was like lighter fluid. It was really good fun.

We then turned in as we had a big day the following day.

We were woken up the next day around 7am and had breakfast of dry toast and salty scrambled eggs. They gave us jam but no butter.

We were then told to get ready and we were taken down to the river where we saw the first glimpse of the elephants! We all got on the bamboo rafts they'd built for later to check they didnt sink (nice) and they'd built a sort of triangle with spikes to put our bags to carry them down the river.

We were then taken to where the four elephants were and told that we needed two two's and two three's for riding the elephants. As there were all couples except Becky and Nicola and they didn't want to be separated Andrew went with another couple and I went with Becky and Nicola.

They had a wooden platform that we climbed up in order to get on the elephant. Me and Becky sat in the wooden seat attached to the back of the elephant and Nicola sat on its neck. We then set off on about an hour ride through the river. It was an amazing experience and one I'll never forget. Our elephant was the naughty one of course and the Mahout had to keep calling at it to tell it to stop or go depending on what it had decided to do. At one point the elephant in front of us farted so loud it was really funny. We swapped cameras with a couple on another elephant so we could get pictures of each other. We all took photos of each other and have swapped email addresses and facebooks so we can get pictures from each other. After the ride we had a 12k bamboo raft ride along the river which was fun. Again Andrew and I were split as two guys needed to be on each raft to help steer. I managed to get by the bags so I had something to hold onto otherwise you had to stand and I dont have any balance at the best of times I would have been in the river in no time. We had to go down some rapids and one in particular was quite rough and the raft nearly went over. We got soaked but luckily it didnt go over or our stuff would have got wet through. Also once the raft hit a rock and the guide nearly fell off! On the other raft their guide actually jumped into the river for a swim and left Becky to steer. That was interesting...but she did quite well actually and there was only minimal screaming.

We arrived at our destination and had lunch of pad thai noodles. We were also hassled by women selling various things which was quite annoying, as although us westerners get hassled a lot, these women wouldn't take no for an answer and one was even stood behind me poking me in the back with her bracelets!

We had then finished our trek and had a 2 hour journey back to the guesthouse in the truck. We were all exhausted but we'd had such an amazing time we didn't care. And we didnt get one mosquito bite!

We arranged to all go out for dinner that night and swap email addresses. We had a much needed shower which felt so good and then packed as we were leaving for Bangkok early in the morning.

I caught up on my blog and then we met up with the others and went for a meal. We went to one of the stalls by the side of the road where there are seating areas shared by lots of different stalls. Cheap as chips and tasted amazing. We could also get drinks from the nearby 7/11 so it made the meal even cheaper. We all then went for a couple of drinks before we called it a night as we had to be up early in the morning for our flight.

The guesthouse gave us a free taxi to the airport and we've just taken off (AirAsia and it was on time!!!!) CM has been really fun and we've met some lovely people here. The cookery course, tiger kingdom, elephant trek and Doi Suthep were probably the best times we've had in Thailand but CM was so touristy it was a real shame as it spoilt it a little.

The next chapter is sight seeing in Bangkok, a day trip to see the Death Railway hopefully and a chance to spend a small fortune at the weekend market and fill a suitcase before heading home.

Xxx

8 Jan 2012

The alarm went off at 9:30am and we dragged ourselves out of bed and got ready. We spoke to reception who organised a tuk tuk to take us to the Tiger Kingdom for 300 baht return. Bargain. So off we went and although the guide book said it was 20 minutes away it took us double that as we were going so slowly! We had to go on dual carriageways and we can't have been going more than 30 miles an hour.

When we got there we were given various different options to spend time in the cages with the tigers. We decided to just do the smallest tigers which were 2-3 months old and it cost 620 baht each. Ouch. We had ten minutes in with the tigers and they were so cute! I got to feed one with a bottle of milk and Andrew's t-shirt got munched by a lively one and it got his belly a bit so of course he tells everyone he's been bitten by a tiger.

It was amazing and we got some good photos. It was expensive but we enjoyed it. We were glad we didnt do any of the other sizes as they were all lying down the whole time so it was hard for people to have a decent photo with them. We had a walk round to see the other tigers including some baby ones that were really cute.

We headed back to the guesthouse and as we hadn't eaten yet we went for something to eat. We then went for a walk to see if we could get a massage at the prison but they were fully booked. The womens prison in CM teach women soon to be released different skils including masage and they get to keep the money they make in the shop to help set them up after they are released.

As they couldn't fit us in and we couldn't go back later due to the trek meeting we walked back to the guest house.

The meeting was just to tell us what to take and about what time to be ready for etc. We got to meet the others in our group - there were 10 of us altogether: a couple from Canada, a couple from Australia and another one from the Czech Republic.

We then wanted to go to the famous weekend market so we got ready and walked there. The market was huge! We only got round half of it in 4 hours. It was really good and so much better than the night bazar on during the week. And cheaper. It's where the Thai's get there stuff. We walked for ages and I could have spent a fortune there. As we are getting the plane to Bangkok and need to only take hand luggage we couldn't buy too much as it wouldnt fit in our backpacks. I still bought quite a bit including a lamp, trousers, top, bracelet, anklet, pressie for Ollie, shorts and a t-shirt for Andrew and only spent £20. Not bad! The food was also amazing. It was everywhere and so cheap! A pad thai was 12 baht! Thats 24p! And it tasted amazing.

But by the end we could hardly walk so we decided to go for a foot massage. We found one that was still open near the guesthouse and had half an hour massage for £2. It was good! Apprently the 'woman' massaging Andrew's feet was a lady boy but I didnt notice.

We then realised that we had a 4-hour trek to do the next day. Oh dear.

Xxx

So, on Saturday night in Chiang Mai they have Muay Thai (Thai boxing), which according to the Rough Guide is as big as soccer is in England for Thai's. It's their national sport. So, after being hassled by a lot of people with flyers about a million times, I thought we should go for the cultural aspect of it more than anything, plus it's not just about the brutal beatings in the room, it is a very spiritual part of Thai life.

Before a match begins, each fighter prays to the four corners of the ring and then pays homage to where they are from and does the same in that direction. Then they do a dance in the ring to the music that plays throughout to show how nimble a fighter they are. Then the bout of 5 rounds of 3 minutes a piece begins and yes, they do quite brutally try to hurt each other. The fighters punch and kick and knee etc (anything but the head) any part of the opponent's body, except the balls.

So Louise had decided she didn't want to spend the night watching two people try to kick the crap out each other, so I said that if she didn't mind then i'd go on my tod. After a bit of guilt on her part for leaving me, and some reassurances that it was like that I set off for the Muay Thai.

On arriving at the Thapae International Muay Thai Stadium, my first impression was that there were a lot of farangs hanging around outside - this didn't bode well for the night, as I was trying to have an authentic evening of Thai boxing and had read that some places put on substandard Muay Thai for farangs as they can't tell the difference (Not that I would have been able to either). Never mind - you can't have everything.

I proceeded to pay my 400 baht for my "cheap" ticket (600b for the VIP entry) and and continued through the gate with my lonesome single ticket and a guide of the evenings fights. I walked down the alley, past a bar which i'm assuming cost the earth for a beer, toward an individual of questionnable sex who told the other girl to take me to my seat.

She asked how many were in my party, to which she was surprised to hear the answer that I was on my own. She shook off her surprise and told me to follow her.

She sat me down and signalled to my waitress to take my drinks order and by the time I was settled in my seat an ice cold Singha was in place and beckoning for me to get the night started.

After obliging the drinks request I reviewed the nights action on the sheet I was given and finally took a proper look around. I had been sat behind the blue corner - not a good sign as it seemed that I would miss a load of the action due to the roof support obscuring the view.

To my left who have an almost equally bad view of the action was a blonde fella who turned and introduced himself as Michael from germany. We exchanged pleasantries and the usual information came to light about how long they've been in Thailand and where else he had been etc to which i was informed that he had been travelling for 2 months and had arrived from Loas that morning, was on his way to Phai and it was also his first time at Muay Thai.

At this point the first fighters came out and started the rituals of fight. Two boys about 12 or 14 in the 102 kg division were going to kick off the action. They finished their rituals, bowed to each other and began the bout, my new Bovarian friend turned and asked who would win, I placed my sportsmans bet on the red corner due to the malicious edge to his face and returned to the action.

The two boys started with some dancing around each other much like in 'real' boxing and then they got into an embrace. Blue took a tumble and the red guy caught the head of blue with his knee and blue was gone. A quick fight but a decent first bout with some massive air kicks and some good action, but sadly only 2 minutes of the first round survived before blue met his demise.

Blue left the ring and seemed fine as he walked away - albeit with a sore head. The next fight was between 2 ladies. Sounds good, get an all round experience from it and the girla managed 2 rounds before the blue girl - who was probably a better fighter twisted her knee on the way to the floor and imediately cried out in pain. Game over - however I had just got 2 in 2 on my gueses with Michael.

We filled the time between the fights and rounds with talk in the international langauge of football and discover that he supports 1860 Munchen, Munich's other team.

On a side note I have found that people actually know who QPR are now that they are in the Premier League.

Just before the third fight started the woman who seated me at the start returned and asked me to follow her. I was worried - had I done something wrong. She explained that I had been upgraded to the VIP seats! Excellent. After checking that I wasn't expected to pay for the privilege and ensuring my new Muay Thai buddy, Michael, was included in the upgrade we followed the woman to some amazing seats. Right in the center of the ring with only 1 row in front of us.

The next fight began and in the foray of changing seats we hadn't noticed that in the ring was a woman and a young fella, about 17 or 18.

I turned to the Australian guy behind who had paid a lot more attention than us to the build up and checked that i wasn't seeing things and then continued to watch the action.

The guy clearly won the 2 opening rounds, however the woman who was clearly more experienced turned up the pressure and landed kick to the side of the guys face, which flattened him. Now we had a fight.

The woman clearly won that round and kept up the pressure for the end, but eventually theguy won. 3 out of 3 now. I should have been backing them. I quite clearly had the knack for betting on Muay Thai.

At this point the two fighters went to each other after and shared a joke about something and made me realise thatevery fight hadended with the two speaking and showing a bit of friendship and respect even though they were from different ends of the country. Even when there were knockouts, they checked that the other person was ok first before being pronounced the winner. Nice to see.

Another fight came and went, this time my prediction was well out. The mean guy with tattoos didn't triumph over the clean cut guy. Never mind.

At this point I realised that there was a live 'orchestra' playing the music that I thought was just a cd. The music was really well timed with it getting quicker when action happens in the ring and deeper when someone is being counted out, really impressive and really added to the atmosphere.

After some talking with the small group of individuals we had acrued, the most amazing thing I have ever seen in my life ensued. Six fighters entered the ring, we joked about a royal rumbled and continued to wait for them to finish what I assumed was just a parade of the young fighters that they had at the local gym.

They all knelt down and the ref started to blindfold them. What was going on? They all got to their feet, bowed to center and then the bell went. This was about to make me augh so hard that tears streamed down my face for a long time afterward.

Arms started flailing and punches were going everywhere. Amazing. It was a free for all. 6 fighters, all blindfolded and all hitting anything that they heard move - and when i say anything, I mean anything. The ref redirected any stray fighters back to the pack and gave then a forceful shove in the right direction, but the fights, all being blind, swung for him too.

This was utter chaos and I loved every second. I would have paid my 400baht for this alone.

The fight continued and a pack in the center was being patrolled by the ref and a random fatty that was walking round the edge if the ring throwing over arm air punches.

Then he met the ref, he was busy looking at someone else. He got hit, then again and eventually ended against the ropes and being punched by 2 of the fighters, falling to the floor and still being punched. Hilarious.

He escaped and directed a kick at the other guy who was punching him - sending him flying into a group of unsuspecting but ready boxers throwing punch after punch at mid air - queue referee celebration. What a guy.

The ref, still being followed around the ring by fatty, must have had enough so drop kicked fatty at the ropes right in front of us, covering us in his sweat. The guy buckled and fell to the floor. Brilliant.

At the end of the fight the 6 fighters and the ref qll lined up to take the biggest applause of the night, proceeded out only to reqppear to raise money in the form of a tip box. I am not a tipper, however on this occasion I happily handed over 20 baht (I'm not made of money) to massive thanks from fatty and his friend.

The next fight was the main attraction, and it did not disappoint.

Again there was an older guy who was tattooed and scrawny, but still built like a BSH, fighting a younger fella who had no tattoos and built more heavily, but far from fat.

Michael asked whether I wanted to place a bet on the outcome, so that whoever loses buys the other a beer after the fight. I made my choice, picked the blue tattooed old guy because he looked meaner and despite being lesser in stature made up for it with experience, plus his dance was much better. He looked double hard.

It started off as all the others and quickly became apparent that he was a wiley fighter. When Thai boxers embrace they can earn additional points by kneeing their opponent in the stomach. They block by lifting your leg to counter it. This obviously doesn't allow for blocking both sides as you still need a standing leg. The old guy did not agree with this philosophy and almosy climbed up his opponent in a very effective double blocking manouvre. Clever.

He used this to great effect throughout and for the first two rounds he was very much on top.

Round 3 and my blue fella is clearly on top - then red got lucky and a kick to the stomach floored him half way across the ring. In the rest of the round it became very apparent that red was a far better and more accomplished fighter than blue and his quality was starting to show.

It came to round 4 and very quickly bkue got floored by a heavy punch to the face and was not getting up again. Red wins and I lose. Damn it.

I didn't mind so much as it was a decent fight and it was only for a cheeky beer, so we toodled off the bar at the side of the ring and purchased the beer for Michael and I and got a free game of pool.

Finished up the beers and pool and headed off to meet Louise, Becky and Nicola.

All told it was a superb night, one that I would do again in a heart beat. It was very exciting, showed a lot about the culture and wasn't as barbaric as first thought and the entertainment in the middle is now a memory I will treasure forever.