Thai Boxing in Bangkok

When traveling to Thailand one of the essential experiences every traveler should have is taking in a round of Thai boxing. Lindsay and I decided to do this during our first night in Bangkok. We made our way up to the Lupinee boxing arena and got our first taste of Bangkok traffic. I heard a statistic once that says 3 people every hour die in Bangkok traffic and after trying to cross the numerous busy streets to make it to the arena I believe it. There are very few, if any, pedestrian signals like in other major cities so it is a bit of a free for all. At one point we stood at the intersection of a street and waited over 10 minutes to cross (eventually just making a mad dash between cars). After braving the traffic we finally made it to the arena and found a very nice women at the ticket office to help us. She was a short pudgy Thai women who spoke great English and loved to say “Okaaaayyyyyy.” To this day Lindsay and I still laugh about the way she said this. :) She helped us get some tickets and before we knew it we were entering a very busy arena full of thousands of locals yelling, betting and watching the fights. We purchased cheap tickets so were up high and there was a chain link fence between us and the lower levels of the arena. There were no assigned seats and it was hilarious because the locals literally ushered us to a particular area that they wanted us to sit in. They all just kept smiling and pointing towards a particular area in the arena. We finally took our seats and began to enjoy the fighting. Thai boxing is not at all like regular boxing and it is all about style and technique. There are certain kicks/punches that the boxer can do which gives them more points. The more complex the kick the more points they get. Every time one of these kick/punch combinations happened during the fight the entire arena would erupt in a loud yell. We watched 2 or 3 fights and were absolutely loving the atmosphere and experience. However, it was our first full night in the country and we were still exhausted with jet lag. We both kept nodding off asleep and every time we would look at each other we would pretend to be awake and cheer…it was hilarious. Despite being so tired we spent hours at the arena watching this fascinating sport. Watching a real Thai Boxing match in the heart of Bangkok is an experience we will never forget!