I arrive in Lop Buri and am offered a lift in a taxi-bike. I scarcely fit on the back seat with my bag and my size (even if I'm starting to lose weight I'm very often the biggest person in a Thaï crowd).
Arriving at the hostel there are 3 other travelers. They see me arrive in the cycle and give me a despising look. More people to avoid, I suppose. I am surprised to hear them speak french, they are usually very friendly.
In the hostel me and the polish girl ask for rooms, but she turns from a very sweet woman to a very aggressive one, making rightful demands but in a tone that makes me wonder who she thinks she is.
I decide that I don't like the rooms, in truth to avoid her, and cross the street to another hotel but she decides to do the same.
The second hotel is not very clean but it is cheaper, and I meet two spanish sisters who seem to be easy-going. I go for a walk in this city of tight streets, where all the balconies and windows are covered in wire because MONKEYS share the city and like to fuck shit up.
I stop in a market set up between two buildings and stop for a bite at KFC (getting a little tired of noodles and unknown meat)... I never eat it a home but here it's different.
In the restaurant I was the main attraction. Only teenagers are in there and they sneakily watch me gulp down a chicken sammich. I walk out of there and must rush back to my hotel to evacuate this crap. At least it tasted good...
At the lobby I inquire about a temple full of monkeys, and if they have Muay Thaï. They explain that it is the province's holiday and so there will be a big fair with a boxing match. The polish woman waltz in our conversation and decides that she will be coming with me to the event.
We leave at 8pm. Right before leaving we run into the two sisters and I invite them, they gladly accept.
We get to the fair, a maze of stalls selling shirts and trinkets, food and fruitshakes, and even motorcycles and cars. A group of teenagers are eagerly waiting for the result of a draft for a free scooter.
We have no clue where the boxing match is, and after 20 minutes of walking I start to ask around. Nobody speaks english but after repeating Muay Thaï a couple of times they can usually point me in a general direction.
After 30 more minutes of searching and asking around, while the sisters are laughing and looking at all the clothing and food, the polish woman suddenly becomes angry, spreads her arms up and asks "whoooo's idea was this? Wheeeeere are we going?" And looks at the 3 of us accusingly.
I'm not one to take shit so I answer directly that it was my idea, I'm leading them, but I'm also the only one making an effort of it and she doesn't have to stick with me if she doesn't like it. The group stops talking for a while.
I finally find the ring of Muay after an hour of looking. The sisters leave us, they don't like violence.
The fighters were ranging from maybe 7 to 15 years old, the violence and the intensity of the fights really surprised me.
The sacred nature of it was what I likes the bes however. Fighters walk in the ring and proceed to bow to every corner of the ring, under the music of some Thaï high-pitched flute. After going around the ring they bow to the 4 cardinal points and then kneel and pray in the direction of their home. They then do a dance representative of their school of boxing.
I later learn that if two fighters have the same dance, they cancel the fight, because boxers of the same school can't fight each other.
The best fight featured a guy vs a girl. It was a very close fight, the guy was stronger and tried to score points by throwing the girl on the ground, but the girl moved like a panther and could sneak in good puches and kicks to the head. I found myself cheering for her.
At the end of the match both fighters were exhausted, standing in their respective corner while the judges were arguing about the winner. All of a sudden, the guy's legs let go from under him and he passed out, making the girl the winner.
After the fight I walked back to my hotel while avoiding a few monkey gangs and tried to sleep in one of the worst beds I' ve had so far.
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