Authentic Muay Thai in Bangkok

We decided to move away from D&D because we wanted a hotel with a pool, as it was soon our last chance to soak up some sun before heading back home to Denmark. We switched over to another hotel, Royal, which was conveniently located near Khaosan Road. We didn’t want to be too far away since we had to pick up our clothes from the tailor later today. It turned out that our clothes were really well made—totally worth the money. Today, we finally got to see some Muay Thai boxing since Buddha Day was over. There are several different price levels to choose from. We opted for the cheapest tickets since the others were quite pricey. We paid 500 baht per person, which is about 100 kroner, a lot of money in Thailand. The other ticket classes cost 800 baht and 1500 baht. We were told that everyone without ringside tickets had to stand, which isn’t entirely true. You can actually sit on benches, which are pretty decent. When the boxing started, the Thai people went wild. They were shouting, screaming, jumping on the benches, and waving their arms around in their own confusing way of placing bets. In the first matches, there were kids fighting, and we had mixed feelings watching that. In the later matches, the fighters were older, and the tactics got tougher. There are also rituals to perform before each match starts, so a fight can easily take half an hour. Third time's the charm, right? So we decided to try again for the Thieves' Market. Once again, the tuk-tuk driver didn’t know where the market was. He drove us around a bit before dropping us off in Chinatown. We decided to give up on the idea of the Thieves' Market and head back to Khaosan Road for a late dinner instead. We couldn’t end a good day without a massage, so after dinner, we found a place that offered massages. Back at the Royal hotel, our room had been transformed into a disco. The windows were rattling, and everything inside was shaking. The hotel staff had forgotten to inform us that there was a festival in honor of the king’s son happening just 50 meters away for two days. It was impossible to stay in the room; we couldn’t even have a normal conversation. So, we went down to the reception to request a new room. They found us a new one on the other side of the hotel, as far away from the festival as possible. We could still hear the music, but at least the windows weren’t shaking, so we moved in there.