Thailand Nov 3 - 4 2013

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Nov 3 - 4 2013
Phi Phi Don is a crazy place. Just walking down the street it is possible to get hit by a local on a bicycle, or a local pushing a metal framed cart with anything in it from tourist's back packs, to cinder blocks, to empty water bottles. Trying to deal with that we also have to try not to run into other people and try not to trip over the uneven brick work that makes up the road. Along with that we constantly have women sitting outside the massage shops trying to get us to get a massage. They are constantly saying "Hello, massaaaaaaagggee", or " You look like strong boy, want massaaaaagge". They drag out the word massage and it has become an on going joke between the three of us that it is more like a greeting instead of them asking if we want a massage. For the past few days while here are Phi Phi we having been trying to climb as much as we can. The wall that I mentioned before called Tonsai Tower is where we have been climbing. We don't usually start climbing till about 2 or 3pm due to the fact that the wall is in the sun till about then. It is hot enough climbing in the shade, so there is no point climbing in the hot sun. We have either been having late mornings sleeping in or walking around checking out shops and doing a bit of exploring. One of the days we did a short hike up to a view point that over looks the town of Phi Phi and the western side of the island. By hike, I mean we climbed a large set of stairs that lead us to another large steep set of stairs and then an up hill path. Over all it took us about 20 mins to get up and a little less to get down, but It was a beautiful site to see. You could also see Phi Phi Leh to the south, which is the smaller of the two islands, and the constant flow of tour boats heading to and from Phi Phi Leh. On the evening of the 3rd we decided to go out for a drink and check out a bar called the Reggae Bar. Not really sure why it was called the Reggae Bar, there was nothing about it that resembles Reggae culture in any way. The main attraction for this bar was the Mai Thai Boxing. The difference between the boxing that we saw in Railay and the boxing on Phi Phi was that tourist could get in the ring and duke it out for fun. They wore padded head gear as well as pads for your shins and feet and boxing gloves, of course. So you could get in the ring and fight your friend or fight a total stranger. And after fighting you received a free bucket. So on Phi Phi they have decided to sell these buckets (about .5 - 1 L) with large amounts of alcohol in them. You can pretty much any cocktail you want but in a larger quantity. Anyway lets just cut to the point here, I decided that I wanted to fight and over heard that a Russian guy behind me also wanted to fight. So I said that I would fight him. We got set up with some Thai Boxing shorts and went over by the ring and waited for our turn. The Russian guy and I chatted for a few minutes and he said that he wanted me to hit him in the face in the second round and he would throw the match. I did not really care, I just wanted to get up there for fun and entertain the crowd as well as Sam R. and my brother. The Russian guy also decided to tell me that he was kind of drunk, but at the time he seemed fine. He was walking just fine and appeared to not be slurring his words. After about 30 mins or so and three other fights later it was our turn, we jumped up into the ring and put our protective pads on. So lets just clear this up real quick I am not a very aggressive guy and I am pretty sure the last time I was in a physical fight was in middle school when this jerk knocked my glasses off my face and then I kicked him, and that was about it. So for me this Thai Boxing fight was merely for fun. The Russian guy is less then an inch shorter then me and max weighs ten pounds less then I do. It was a pretty entertaining fight and both Sams said I did a pretty good job. So if you have seen Rocky IV where he fights Dolph Lundgren, that is pretty much how this fight went down that I had with this Russian guy. No not really, but seriously, we went all three rounds and each round was right around a minute. From the get go I was on the offense. I landed a good amount of decent punches and a few pretty good ones. A couple of times I got him dizzy, but did not knock him out. I had both the Sams in my corner in between rounds encouraging me and giving me pointers. By the start of the third round I could tell the Russian guy was getting tired and that I was going to win. I landed one last punch that knocked him out, but I feel that I did not hit him hard enough for it to knock him out. I think he just faked it because he was tired. Either way it was a fun fight and he was a good sport.

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