Missed Appointments

Had trouble sleeping through the night. Woke up at about 4:00am and was apprehensive that I had made an appointment at 9:00am with Mr. Laem to go to Ayutthaya for 2000 baht. Went on the internet and found this was way too much money plus I was nervous that he might try to sway me or drive me to another overpriced tour of some type. I decided not to meet with him and instead continue writing thinking he would leave. I went to breakfast expecting some normal food and found there was none. It was a mixture of fried rice, white rice, scrambled eggs in some type of spicy sauce, soups, and chicken stir fries. I also made the mistake of placing some type of sauce with small red chilis on my rice which made it really spicy. I ate a small plate because my stomach was overloaded by the chilis and drank a ton of coffee.

I walked downstairs at 11:00 am and observed Mr. Laem sitting on the curb waiting for me. I felt so embarrassed that I decided to go back up to my hotel room and write some more. All I wanted was for him to go away. This was hilarious; note to self-don’t make scheduled appointments with Thai people unless I plan to keep them. Quick update: Checked downstairs at 12:00 pm and Mr. Laem finally left. Found an iced drink at Amazon Café’s that I really like which is a combination of espresso, honey, and lemon mixed together. Further, I met my group today from Xplore Asia. They are young, intrepid, and full of excitement. There was not a lot of time to meet them because I jetted out as soon as I could to make the Muay Thai fights at Rajadamnern Stadium in Bangkok.

I went with a group member who recently graduated with a PHD in English studies. A ticket cost 1800Baht and we were sat in an elevated front row position that was designated specifically for foreigners. I had so much fun watching the ten fights (four out of the ten fighters were either knocked out or hurt so badly that they had to be taken out on a stretcher). Further, there was traditional live Thai music playing during the fights which ebbed and flowed in response to the fighter’s actions. Hard to adequately describe the environment because it is something I had always wanted to watch and it didn’t disappoint. I’ll leave it at that for now!