Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
has a relatively formal atmosphere. The other main stage, Lumpinee Boxing Stadium
(
Click here
)
, recently moved to a new modern home north of Bangkok.
Admission fees vary according to seating. Ringside seats (from 2000B to 3000B) are
the most expensive and will be filled with subdued VIPs; tourists usually opt for the 2nd-
class seats (from 1500B to 2000B); diehard
moo·ay tai
fans bet and cheer from 3rd class
(1000B). If you're thinking these prices sound a bit steep for your average fight fan (taxi
drivers are big fans and they make about 600B a day), then you're right - foreigners pay
several times what the Thais do.
We recommend the 2nd- or 3rd-class seats. Second class is filled with numbers-runners
who take bets from fans in rowdy 3rd class, which is fenced off from the rest of the stadi-
um. Akin to a stock-exchange pit, hand signals communicate bets and odds fly between
the areas. Most fans in 3rd class follow the match (or their bets) too closely to sit down,
and we've seen stress levels rise to near-boiling point. It's all very entertaining.
Most programs have eight to 10 fights of five rounds each. English-speaking 'staff' out-
side the stadium, who practically tackle you upon arrival, will hand you a fight roster and
steer you to the foreigners' ticket windows; they can also be helpful in telling you which
fights are the best match-ups (some say that welterweights, between 61.2kg and 66.7kg,
are the best). To avoid supporting scalpers, purchase your tickets from the ticket window,
not from a person outside the stadium.
See the boxed text on
Click here
for more on the history of
moo·ay tai;
for the inside
scoop on the fighters and upcoming programs, see
www.muaythai2000.com
.
Go-Go Bars
Although technically illegal, prostitution is fully 'out' in Bangkok, and the influence of
organised crime and healthy kickbacks mean that it will be a long while before the exist-
ing laws are ever enforced. Yet despite the image presented by much of the Western me-
dia, the underlying atmosphere of Bangkok's red-light districts is not one of illicitness and
exploitation (although these do inevitably exist), but rather an aura of tackiness and bore-
dom.
Patpong (
Click here
)
earned notoriety during the 1980s for its wild sex shows, in-
volving everything from ping-pong balls and razors to midgets on motorbikes. Today it is
more of a circus for curious spectators than sexual deviants. Soi Cowboy (
Click here
)
and
Nana Entertainment Plaza (
Click here
)
are the real scenes of sex for hire. Not all of the
love-you-long-time business is geared towards Westerners: Th Thaniya, off Th Silom, is
filled with massage parlours for Japanese expats and visitors, while the immense massage
parlours outside of central Bangkok attract Thai customers.
