Thai Boxing

Humming and erring about whether to go and meet Ellen and co at Walai House at 7pm, I decided to just put my flip flops on and brave the rain which was pounding down. The two great things I brought with me on this trip are my umbrella and a small really powerful torch; I have needed both!

We had a small medicinal glass of red wine and then ventured out into the night heading for the rooftop and some food. I tried King Pad which is pad Thai with vegetables substituted for the normal noodles. After a few G&Ts we got a ridiculously short tuk tuk ride 20 yards to the boxing. We did question why he quoted us such a cheap price but anyway we arrived in style!

The boxing was held in a stadium just by Tae Pae gate and was ticket only. Luckily Ann who works at Walai had secured out entry. The smell of tiger balm mixed with adrenaline filled the air, we took our seats at long benches (for those who have seen the film Snatch it was very much like this) and watched various minor bouts. The best part was the ceremony that the boxers went through before starting to fight. They would bow to each corner and then stretch in an almost dance like way. This would often take longer than the actual fight!

The main event seemed to be a very lean and wiry westerner called Jason that Ellen and Emily have been training with against a rather pudgy Thai. Jason carried out his pre fight ritual at great length with his opponent looking on quite bored. Jason won!! It was a good fight, lots of aggression and tension.

We then watched Thai women box - one of them had the moves of a praying mantis, they were both very good (and scary) but our chosen fighter won.

We met Arnett there, who was in the VIP section, he apparently hangs out at this place all the time.

We then left on mass and walked to the Rock Reggae Bar which is where we were last Friday for the Fire Spinning. The place was heaving, probably due to the really great live band they had. I stayed about 20 minutes and then decided to meet up with my Chaba friends at the North Gate Jazz Bar. As I arrived it was winding down, so we got a tuk tuk back to home.

Stephane, Alison, Karen and I walked round to the 7 11 and got some hideous microwaved processed food and stood chatting outside. A small bike then turned up with a huge cooking pot on top and a glass cabinet containing pork or custard fluffy rice dough buns. I tried one which was good, though as with everything too sweet. I then tried a bag of his won-ton type savouries; again nice but sweet. Karen then spotted a banana pancake maker so we waited for her huge concoction to be made. It was OK but margarine was the only taste in my mouth.

After all this food we walked back home where Karen carried out her nightly ritual of feeding the black cat called Barak. She gives him two sachets of cat food each night which he wolfs down. He belongs to a house round the corner but they have two dogs and don't seem concerned with the cat now. Barak is very skinny and not in good condition. Patoom isn't keen on him coming into the garden as some people might not like him around but we all feel sorry for him. I've seen so many really lovely dogs over here; most are well groomed and obviously loved. The stray ones seem to manage to get food from somewhere and are very placid. I am surprised this cat seems to have been abandoned!