Kickboxing midgets and roaming digits.
Trip Start
May 26, 2004
1
4
20
Trip End
Ongoing
Phuket,
Thailand
Thursday, June 3, 2004
We managed to drag ourself away from the show long enough to go for dinner. Big mistake. Unfortunately we got a bit lost on what was only a 5 minute walk and basically ended up walking up and down the same street looking for a restaurant we saw earlier. In the end we went into the first one we found. It was a nice Italian restaurant right on the beach. You were able to sit basically on the beach and watch the crabs run around. We had a nice meal and some nice wine and almost collapsed when the bill came
01-Storm a brewing
. After eating for next to nothing for the week before we were stung for basically what a night out in Dublin would cost. I was all on for doing a nude streak into the sea and swimming for it. However Fi correctly reminded me that I would be in danger of drowning in the shower never mind a stormy sea.The next night we hit the town in a trusty tuk tuk. They were a bit sturdier here with an extra wheel making all the difference. We went to the local market and got the Bangkok style treatment. I was actually gonna charge some old biddy she got that much of a feel but she started haggling with me over the price so I just left it. It's weird how there is such a difference between the attitude of people in different towns. I meant they are all selling the same shite but at least in Chiang Mai they knew it was crap and were happy if you bought anything. We headed to the must see event in Thailand, a kickboxing tournament of champions. The tuk tuk guy made enough money from the journey there that he was willing to wait over 4 hours to bring us back.
So we entered the arena and took our seats with bated breath and waited for the first fight. At first I thought it was midget kickboxing but it turned out to be very young kids. They must have been about 5 or 6 but fair play to them they knocked the shit out of each other
02-Getting rowdy
. There was the house band and a betting area behind us and we really got into it. There was serious betting even on the kids. Some of the gamblers were even going into the fighters corners to give some advice. It was hilarious!! Each round the fighters got a bit older. When they got to around 14 there were some savage fights. Knockouts and blood all the good stuff. The fighters in the last round were actually old enough to grow ronnies so they were vicious. Well worth seeing even if we were a bit disappointed that some of them were so young. Got great entertainment out of the heads behind too.The next day the storm was still settled over the island so we decided to cut our losses and head on. The place was a bit dingy anyway. Of course maybe when compared with Chiang Mai it looked worse than it was, but probably not!!
