Bangkok - no longer feeling "homey". But there's always Muay Thai

I find being in Thailand, and in Bangkok in particular, a bit of a strange experience at times.  I don't feel like a tourist.  In fact, I don't think I am a tourist.  I don't think you can be a tourist in a city in which you have lived for any length of time.  My time on sabbatical in 2010/2011 put an end to the whole "tourist" label.  But on the other hand, I'm not at home either, no matter how comfortable I might be.  It is an odd feeling when you are confronted by the endless barrage of questions from tuk tuk drivers and random people on the streets trying to sell you something:

Where you from?  Canada
Ah!  Toronto!!  No, Ottawa.
Your first time in Thailand?  No, this is my 8th trip.
How long you stay?  5 weeks
You travel alone?  No, I have friends with me but it is their first time and are off doing tourist things.

Insert questions and answers about my sak yant here.  This is where the conversation takes a decidely non-tourist turn involving sak yant (often with a show-and-tell on both our parts) and Muay Thai.  It seems that a barrier has been crossed and at this point, they are no longer interested in selling me anything or trying to take me on a horrendously expensive tuk-tuk ride.  It becomes a more normal conversation with no expectations on either side.  

I don't feel like a tourist - everything here is familiar to me.  Yet, especially with the protests and the election looming, this trip to my home-away-from home has a different vibe.  Where there are no protests, life goes on.  But it is quiet.  KhaoSan is at half-capacity (not a bad thing).  The BTS is quiet and empty, to the point where I got an actual seat near Siam Centre on the way to the Boon store at On Nut.  MBK was completely empty of both Thais and farang this afternoon, although the streets surrounding MBK and Siam Centre are full of people, tents, food vendors, speech platforms and all the other paraphenalia required for a protest site.  All the pedestrian by-ways over the convoluted intersection are closed and inaccessible to anyone but protest leaders.  The internal dialogue that occurs when you walk near areas such as this, or even while I was in MBK, is interesting - the dissention between fear/caution and curiosity and over which one should prevail.  I'm not looking for danger.  It's a curiosity of a situation in a city in which I usually feel very safe.

Yesterday we ventured to Chatuchak Market and browsed the 1000s of vendors, ultimately becoming overwhelmed by the amount of useless stuff for sale.  It's an experience though, and I always try to make one trip out there.  However, I also forgot that Lad Prao, near Chatuchak, is a protest site.  Sh*t. I had wanted to get my Muay Thai fix and catch the free fights at the Channel 7 studio, but we got stuck in traffic with the required U-turn barricaded by sand bags and protestors.  Needless to say, stuck in a cab and jet-lagged and feeling hot and tired, I wasn't impressed.  Especially when you can see where you want to go on the other side of the 4-lane road.  Jet-lag and heat sometimes wreaks havoc on patience!  We were able to make it to Channel 7 in time to catch the last 2 fights, including the main event and the last one with 14 year olds banging away.  Good fights both of them actually.  I wasn't sure how Dermot, Susan and Rory would react to the fights, but they seemed to take them in stride.  Although there were no KOs or broken noses from elbows... :)

Channel 7 TV studio

Fights at Channel 7 TV studio

There was a guy in the audience, sitting ringside, who had on more amulets than I have ever seen on anyone!  When we got a chance to move to the ringside seats and sit down, he was directly in front of us.  The Thai man on my right, who shared his fight card sheet with me, told me that he had on 1498 amulets.  That must require some strong neck!  But you wouldn't want to fall into a river or khlong with all that extra weight!

Amulet man!!  1498 around his neck.

 After watching fights yesterday afternoon, I figured I'd get in some of my own training this morning, so ran down along the river and wound up at Sor Vorapin, a small, somewhat ratty, gym in an alley near KhaoSan Road.  I hadn't brought enough money for pad work, but I did have 300 baht, which bought me the chance to hit the bag for however long I felt like.  There were only 2 other farang in the gym, along with 2 trainers.  The young girl, maybe 20-25, was from Texas and this was her first time doing Muay Thai, and the elder man, 57, who was from France.  The girl told me "I'm not in good shape - I'm afraid of puking".  What to say?  Um ya, puking is a definite possibility!!!  During the time I was there, her fears were not realized, thankfully for the rest of us.

I was able to hit the bags for about 5 rounds, enough to be hot and tired, after which one of the trainers asked if I wanted some pad rounds as the French man was taking a breather.  Never look a gift horse, or pad-holder, in the mouth, so I was able to do 3 focus mitt rounds and further exhaust myself.  I always forget how hard the first session in the heat is after coming from the freezing north.  No matter how in shape you are, the heat just knocks you around hard.  It did feel good though, and I will try and return tomorrow morning before we leave for Cambodia.  Rory, Dermot's son, might be interested in trying one session so I might drag him along with me.  Poor kid.  :)