Another Cool Day

Whenever I take these trips and try to learn and understand by being with the local people and experiencing a bit of their lives, good things, and strange things happen.

3 days ago I knew no one from the Klong Toey Muay Thai gym, today I was racing through traffic with 7 other people packed into a Toyota car. There were 4 people in the back, I was given the preferred passenger seat, a young boy from the gym was sitting on my lap. These people who had no idea who I was just 3 days ago not only drove me to a Ratchadamnoen Boxing Stadium they also drove me back. 2 of the boxers from the gym were on the card and they asked me to attend, they even got me a discount admission price.

During the matches everything was explained to me by one of the trainers Khune Gai Sroo Wit. Of course everything he told me was in Thai so I only understood a portion of it but  I did get some of what he talked about. One of the nights matches was for 300 000 baht about $9900. At one point I was sitting between 2 trainers and they were both shadow boxing and kicking as a fight went on, yelling and shouting techniques to the boxer, I was pushed and slapped back and forth, I got into it also and was calling out stuff, jumping up and down etc. My position was ringside next to the red corner, the match was a bit to far away to photograph with my 28mm lens but I did try to shoot the excitement of the trainers, the yelling and the shadow boxing.

It was a fun night, knowing people from the gym, both the trainers and the boxers and knowing how hard everyone worked also added a extra element, it felt much more personal.