Thailand - birds, boxing and direct marketing

Thailand is sometimes all about competition. The tuk tuk drivers compete for the tourists, the internet shop for the blogger, the 'massage' parlors for the happy ending (or not) customer and the unbelievable amount of lady bars compete for the mostly old, fat and ugly Western - but also Asian - men. I am a little bit shocked how the face of Thailand has changed since my last visit 10 years ago and probably even more after coming from India or Bangladesh where you mostly see men on the street. Lady bars were around before but today there is hardly any place anymore where you cannot see a massage parlor or a girly bar besides the other.  Maybe I was blind and naive, but the number of these kind of places has skyrocketed. There has to be an enormous amount of demand for the sex industry and hence a lot of competition. As a white Western traveler you are quite exposed to the 'direct marketing' while just walking down the road while some young girls try to drag you into their bars. The occasional direct grab in your lap combined with a scream of 'Welcooooooome' might be exciting for some of the men, but others (yes, yes like me) don't like to be dragged by the tail into a bar...and hence are more disturbed than excited. It is full on in some areas but some guys just love the feeling of being 'attractive' for at least the time until their wallet is empty.

Anybody tempted for the Main Course?

On the other hand, there seem to be a lot of other competitions which the Thai - this time mostly men - like as they love to bet for money. I ended up at some Muay Thai Boxing and at a bird singing competition - don't ask me why! The one thing they have in common is that I have no clue about the rules and that both have some rushed betting activity. Both competitions were serious though.

Out of the six muay thai fights there were three knockouts and the guys on the floor didn't move for a while. I thought if the referee wouldn't have stopped one of the fighters he would have killed his opponent. Some people said that usually some knock outs are enforced by some cash, but these guys for sure weren't. more images

Gone with a single kick on the head...

'Nice' move: hold the head with one hand and then
hammer your elbow straight into the unprotected face...

...and then give him some more with the fist.

Almost gone - technical k.o.

This one was gone for long time - the doc (?) on the left.

Kick..

...and box until you go down.

The last time the blond looked into the eyes of this opponent...

...as he was hit by this leg kick and was gone, completely gone.

The birds were less violent but louder. I have no idea what was it all about as I didn't hear (or understand) the birds within the noise of all the birds. They [the birds] were highly influenced by their owner's treatment with some sort of special worms, their whistling, their cold cage covers and some special cold drinks. And at the end - for me for some unknown reason - some bird was the brightest star of the day. more images

Quite an amount of competitors today...

...make it hard for the ref to decide.

Left or right bird?

Every bird has time until the cocnut sinks to the bottom
of the jar - it is over with the whistle.

Scores are noted

Last birds standing - who is the winner?

Maybe no 2?

The winner is ...! - Actually no idea as it was lost in translation.