Bangkok Muay Thai Boxing

I have spent quite some time dreaming of going to Thailand one day and here we were getting on a plane to head to Thailand and spend 10 glorious days there! Afterwards, we were going to spend 4 days in Cambodia which I was also super excited about - I had seen pictures of Angkor Wat and had always wanted to check it out! I was so incredibly excited and couldn't wait to get there!! Our first stop on our trip was Bangkok, Thailand; we had 2 days there and a lot to see. Our flight ended up being delayed so we got there at dinner time, but that was totally fine.

View from the plane on our way there! 

We got to our hotel and immediately headed out for our first Thai food adventure. We already knew that we loved Thai food so we were especially excited to try it in Thailand! We went to this cute little place near our hotel and Ryan ordered Pad Thai and I ordered Red Curry (these are our all time favorite dishes!) and they were delicious! I do have to admit that the Red Curry was a little spicy for me - I forgot that "Thai" hot is above my threshold and so Ryan graciously offered me his Pad Thai - I am blessed with such an awesome husband!!

Afterwards, we went to Muay Thai Boxing and that was quite an experience - we had ring side seats to the evenings' fights. It was particularly crazy because the fighters were all around 100 pounds. The main event were two fighters who were 138 pounds and those were the heaviest guys of the night -  very different from any boxing events in the US! What made it so interesting was the ritual involved in it. First of all, there were signs around saying that the boxing ring was considered a sacred place and women could not touch it.

Also, each boxer would kneel before they entered the ring and then walk around the ring and perform their own ritual. It entailed punching each corner, and then performing a dance-like walk in the middle of the ring.

During the entire event, this band was playing non-stop - it was exactly the type of music you would expect at an event like this. This guy was rocking out on the oboe for every fight!

Every boxer had a group of his friends/family cheering him on standing behind his corner of the ring...it really made it feel like a local event (despite all of the foreigners sitting around the ring. :) ).

There were about 10 fights during the night and most of them were about 100 - 115 pounds (smaller than me!!). These guys really had no mercy with each other...it was crazy to watch! It was certainly a fun first night in such an awesome country!