The Joy of Bangkok

This morning we slept in slightly and headed back to the park by the weekend market with a breakfast of yoghurts, sweet breads and bananas. The reason we chose to go back here was because our hostel host, Joy, had told us about a free Thai boxing fight we could watch near there. We had to be there for midday so after a quick stop off for an iced coffee we headed to the BBTV studio, Thailand's biggest television network. It was a tad confusing finding the studio as lots of people were walking in but they were going in many different directions. Eventually, we found the place, walking into a large room similar to a school gym. There were rows of benches rising up against each wall and various areas where people were sat on the floor (they later stood to watch). In the centre was the boxing ring. We were guided round to the farthest side of the room which we later discovered was the designated foreigners area. We didn't mind because it meant we could watch the Thais shouting and betting when the fight actually started. 

It was all incredible to watch. The cheering and arm waving was mesmerising and for someone who doesn't like boxing, I got really into it. That was until someone got knocked out. Then in the next round someone else got knocked out. And then little kids started fighting and we could take no more so left. Loads of other people had left by that point and we had been there for a good two hours so we didn't feel bad. 

Opposite the studio were some street food places so we stopped and grabbed some beef soup. It was like beef brisket slow cooked with some fish balls in a delicious soup with a side of rice. I was rather impressed. Nicely full we walked back to the metro and got a train to the victory monument. It was just a statue in the middle of a roundabout which wasn't very exciting but we saw a sign for a peace park so attempted to find that. It started to rain though so we took shelter in a macdonalds and bought an ice cream each (they're very cheap therefore it's acceptable to go into a macdonalds). 

After the rain we started to walk towards what we thought was the peace park. We were actually walking in the wrong direction and ended up aimlessly wandering for well over an hour. In the end, all we wanted to do was find a metro and try to get to Chinatown. When we finally came across a metro (hallelujah) the lady at the information desk told us we should just get a taxi there. We were slightly unsure by this but followed her instructions and headed to Chinatown in a nice air conditioned taxi. It only cost a couple of quid but it did take a while. 

Chinatown was surprising. I think of other Chinatowns with small streets and not much traffic whereas this one was based around a really busy main road. There were side streets off it with stalls selling various foods but it wasn't as busy and crazy as I'd hoped. We stopped at a place that looked crazily impressive with a barbecue which kept lighting up with lots of fire. It was a little pricier than we were used to but Matt was in an excitable mood so I chose crab with onions and peppers and lots of chillies. I left the chillies obviously and had some difficulty getting the crab meat out. There wasn't much of it either so I was slightly disappointed. It would seem that this food stall was more about the show than the taste of the food itself. However, as Matt was giddy for some reason he agreed to check out Khao San road and have some drinks so we grabbed a tuk tuk and headed for the alcohol. 

The street was packed full of people and market stalls selling clothes as well as lots of bars (some nice and some incredibly noisy). It was quite crazy but it wasn't as crazy as I expected. I wanted to see the side of Bangkok that people talk about. The bright lights, the lady boys and the prostitutes. Obviously not to go near them but just to view another lifestyle from afar. Instead we stopped in a few bars and watched the Wimbledon final which actually turned out to be a great idea. The last place we went to we shared some beer with a French couple and got chatting to a couple of Etihad cabin crew members. One of them was called Omar and he was originally from Algeria. He was our favourite person as he was super chatty and told us lots of life stories. We ended up missing the last set of Wimbledon due to too much talking so were slightly confused to see Djokovic lifting the trophy. We stayed out until about 1am and got a tuk tuk back to the hostel. It had been a day of experiences and fun.