Boxing, Street Bars, and...oh yeah...Thai food poisoning

This week has brought a lot of firsts: first real Thai boxing match (at Lumphini Stadium), first 1-hour foot massage ($10), first midterm, and the first time some of us (including me) have gotten violently ill from eating street food.  As Ross likes to say, we are all "ticking time bombs", so I guess it had to happen sooner or later.

I'll start with the boxing.  Our excursion to Lumphini on Tuesday night was nothing short of awesome.  A typical night features 9-10 fights of five three-minute rounds each, and we watched all of them.  And it was sweet.  In fight #3, we saw a knockout.  In fight #7, the winner was covered in blood by the time the match was over.  Blood and KOs are two pretty cool things to witness, however, the best part was watching the Thais bet.  As the matches get heated, people start screaming, yelling and furiously shaking their hands.  According to Dan Haspel, who adventurously immersed himself in the "Thai side" of the stadium to bet (the rest of us just bet against each other and got made fun of by the elderly Thai gentlemen in the row ahead of us), the number of fingers you hold up represents the odds you're betting on, and the way you hold your hand (palm facing out or palm facing in) indicates which boxer you favor.   We had an excellent vantage point from the farang side of the stadium, where we could watch the betting and the boxing at the same time.  It was a magical experience, made even more magical by the fact that there were waiters coming around selling $2 beers throughout the entire evening.  #winning. 

Me enjoying the Muay Thai..and the Chang...at Lumphini

The fight schedule

The Thai side of the stadium...clearly way cooler

Post-boxing, we headed to Q-Bar to meet up with my friend Adam, a kid I met while driving on Route 3 from Boston to Cape Cod six years ago (don't ask).  We somehow ended up in the best tuk-tuk EVER - the driver played dance music the entire way - and stumbled upon a little bar on the street (with three seats, perfectly suited for Dan, Ross and me) selling cocktails featuring knockoff Johnny Walker Black (yes, this exists) for 100 Baht.  Overall, a fantastic evening.  HOWEVER.  The night didn't end there for some of us (me), as, once home, I came down with a particularly violent bout of food poisoning (I know what you're thinking, and no, it wasn't alcohol-induced) that required me to set up camp on my bathroom floor with a couple of pillows and a water bottle.  I'll spare you all the gory details, but suffice it to say I didn't leave my room yesterday.  Despite these unfortunate circumstances, those of you who know me well will know that this does not in any way preclude me from continuing to eat street food.  Because it is delicious.

IMPORTANT: Click "play" below to experience our awesome party tuk-tuk.

Street bar on Soi 11.  They had a drink called "Gaypower".  In retrospect, one of us should have ordered it.

Today brought our first midterm, an essay test for "Managing Human Capital in a Global Context", and I can say for certain that I have learned at least one thing in that class: in Japan, business is conducted naked in hot springs.  Really.  Tonight, the Director of Sasin is hosting a reception for visiting students and professors, and tomorrow morning we leave for the beach. All in all, a nice, relaxing week.  Well, aside from the food poisoning.  But hey, we're in Thailand, what did we expect?