So I have had a lot of really cool experiences here in Thailand. Traveling up to Chiang Mai, hanging out with my family, even just running errends with my mom is pretty cool when you are in a different country. Well, just yesterday I was able to go to a Muay Thai Kickboxing match. It is definiately one of my favorite things I've done so far.
It was very quick passed and intense. And one of the things that made it even better was our seats. Since my dad is working in the U.S. Embassey and working with the Royal Thai Police he was able to get ring side seats. We were on the second row!! It was Dad, Dads police friend, Kenny, and I (Mom didn't want to go and Timmy sadly, was sick). Dads Police friend was able to take Kenny and I back stage where we were able to see the Boxers getting ready for their fights which was pretty cool. We got a picture with one of the fighters.
Their are a couple of things that I thought were pretty amazing about Thai Boxing. First, I think the style of there boxing is very very rough. They are able to use fist, feet, leggs, knees, and even elbows. Their legs were extremely fast and could strike so quickly but I was even more amazed when the other boxer was fast enough to sometimes dodge the kick.
They have made special effort to keep the stadium as unchanged as possible. That includes not installing air-conditioning and having overhanging fans as your only source for cooling off. But some of the cool things is the way that the stadium is set up. The have the ring in the middle of a circlular room and then they have the ringside seats on the floor on all for sides of the ring. Then they have everyone elses seats which are behind the ringside seats. The rest of the seats are only bleacher seats. They had a cage between the rest of the seats and the floor seats. One of there traditions that they still practice is this ceramony that the boxers do before each fight would begin. They all did similar hand and leg motions but sometimes they would act out different kinds of animals or shooting a bow and arrow or something. It was really cool to watch.
I was also super impressed by the age of these fighters. Talking to Dads friend we came to find out that these fighters are the professionals in Thailand. He kept reminding us that they were very popular boxers. But yet they were only 16 or 17 years old! He said that most of the boxers are retired before age 25. The first fighters were only 102lbs and 103lbs. The heaviest fighters that night were only about 130lbs. But it was amazing because they looked so intimidating and tough when they were in the ring.It was a good night of fights. Some really close matches. I was able to take lots of pictures but I had a really hard time getting the timing or the picture down. Either my picture was too early or too late. I started doing the multi-take setting and was able to get some action shots but most of those turned out blurry because they were moving so fast. I also have video of the fight but I don't know how to post that on the internet.
Anyways. It was an amazing experience and I looking forward to the many more I will have.
