Chiang Mai Oh My!

I wanted to take the sleeper train to Chiang Mai, but due to the monsoons there was a landslide blocking the tracks. The only way to get there would be to fly. At the airport in Bangkok, I withdrew some money from the ATM machine. More on that later.
The morning after I arrived, I went walking. I ended up in Chinatown. There were huge markets with really cheap stuff. I found a dress I liked for about $6.00...so I bought 4 of them in all different colors! Who knew shopping could be so fun!

A female monk (didn't know they existed) shopping at the flower market.

Motorcycles

Inside the market.

Later that night I met up with a colleague who was also in Chiang Mai. He wanted to go see some Muay Thai Boxing and got some VIP tickets. Sounds good to me! I went to an ATM machine to get out more cash and realized I left my ATM card in the machine in Bangkok airport! Yikes! Luckily, I have two more ATM cards from two different banks in the US or else I would have been screwed. Always carry back-up cards! I called my bank in Abu Dhabi and cancelled my card immediately.

Muay Thai is referred to as the "Art of Eight Limbs" because it uses punches, kicks, elbows, and knee strikes, thus using eight points of contact as opposed to two or four points used in other types of boxing and other martial arts sports.

Before each bout the boxers perform the ritual of Wai Khru Ram Muay. Wai is an action of putting their hands in prayer to show respect to others. Khru means teacher. Ram means dance in the old Thai traditional style, and Muay means boxing.

The ritual is a way to show respect to the teachers and trainers, and since muay thai was usually fought in front of the King, it was a way of apologizing for the brutality in fighting.

The fighter circles the ring kneeling and bowing to show respect to God, man and Buddha. He then performs the ram muay to demonstrate his prowess to the audience.

The ritual of Wai Khru Ram Muay

Generally, I don't watch sports. As a matter of fact I hate watching sports, but this was a blast. There were several different matches leading up to the Main Event. The show began with some light-weight boxers and then moved on to women boxers. There was a band playing Thai music and each match started out with Europe's "Final Countdown."

Get 'em!

Get 'em again!

Lady Boxers!

The program showed that there would be a "special event." My colleague, Mark, and I speculated what it could be. Midgets? What? It ended up being a bunch of blindfolded guys boxing each other. Hilarious!

Blind folded boxers!

The Main Event was a guy from Spain versus a local Thai guy. The Thai guy was kind of short and tubby, while the Spanish guy looked like a lean mean fightin' machine.

The coaches of the Thai came around eagerly taking $6.00 bets. We put our money on the Spaniard. For sure. Looked like a shoo-in for our guy. Uh not so much. Somehow the tall, lean Spaniard lost to the short, squat Thai! What?! I'm pretty sure the match was fixed, but it was fun anyway!

After the matches were over, I noticed a guy in the ring wearing a LeBron James Cleveland Cavaliers jersey. Huh? He said he was from Madrid, Spain and loves LeBron. Um ok.

I am the greatest!

What is up with this guy's shirt?

Dude, what are you wearing?

LeBron James?! huh??

Mark showing off his prowess!

The next day I wasn't feeling so great, but I managed to do a walking tour of some of the many wats of Chiang Mai as suggested by Lonely Planet.

Golden Buddha in Wat Phra Singh (Temple of the Tiger)

Thai Boy Scouts

Wat Si Koet

The teak temple Wat Phan Tao (Monastery of 1000 kilns)

Wat Chedi Luang

The Three Kings: King Mengrai, the founder of Chiang Mai; his contemporary and reportedly good friend King Ramkamhaeng of Sukothai; and King Ngam Muang of Payao. Legend says they worked together to lay out the city of Chiang Mai.

Finally, my walking tour ended at the Women's Prison Product Shop. You can buy stuff that the prisoners made or get a massage!