Bangkok - Day 1 Ramen, Muay Thai Match and Rooftop Bar

Seriously the 14 hour flight to Seoul and 6 hour flight to Bangkok were no joke! I thought I could handle it and I did but man was it exhausting. We arrived in Bangkok about 11pm on the 13th and got to the hotel about 12:30pm because of an Uber mixup. Anyways - we all passed out pretty much immediately.

Me after 14 long long hours of flying

The next day, poor Brian was so sick and stayed inside to sleep. Caleb and I headed out to get our bearings. Right outside of our hotel is a little market that starts up and takes down each day. They sell everything from fruits and vegetables, flowers, fish and prawns, and cooked meals. We walked along these little shops to get to the metro station. Figuring out the BTS transit was not hard at all! Bangkok has done and amazing job with their public transit. Every train was well documented and the trains were super nice.

The Mall and Ramen

We found ourselves in a very fancy 8 story mall, Siam Paragon, with places like Hermes, Dolce and Gabbana and Dior. I can't shop at these places back home much less in Thailand. BUT they did have the most amazing food court I've ever seen. An entire floor is devoted to food choices and a small market/grocery store. We eventually settled on a ramen restaurant that did not disappoint. I got a creamy crab ramen and Caleb got a beef ramen that was a little too spicy for me. This was probably one of the best meals we had in Bangkok.

After this wonderful meal, we walked around the mall a bit longer and headed back to the hotel to see Brian. He still was not feeling better after a bunch of sleep.

Muay Thai Match 

So we headed to the Muay Thai match alone. Caleb was a little nervous about sitting in the 2nd Class section. But all the reviews said that being in 2nd and even 3rd class will get you part of the action and have a lot of fun. And that we did! We sat in an area that wasn't too full but you could see all the betting action. A couple of waiters came around and asked if we'd like something to drink or eat. Caleb said the beer was pretty stout.

Just from observing, it appeared that no or limited betting happened during the first round. Then after that first round and during the break, the betting ramped up. It was mostly if not all men in the stands and they were yelling at each other across the way. 2nd class yelling at 3rd class and yelling among each other. It was so entertaining to watch!

The crowds were going as betting began.

Then during the subsequent rounds, the yelling became more intense and more bets being made. The matches were not as intense as MMA but much more entertaining than boxing. I have very limited knowledge in the fighting world, but from what I could tell - Muay Thai is like boxing but with kicking and no "ground and pound". I'm sure someone with more experience could describe the nuances much better but that's the best way I can describe it.

The fighters took it very seriously with decorative robes that my be traditional. They would kneel and bow several times before the match started. They fighters looked small and I could not tell if we were watching a teen match or if these were just small men. They were all intense fights and for the first one - one of the guys got knocked out within a few rounds and they took him off on the stretcher.

Rooftop Bar

We specifically picked the Marriott Hotel in Bangkok because it has a beautiful rooftop bar where you can see the entire city just about. Brian felt a little better and went up with us. It was pretty breezy up there but that was welcome because Bangkok is so hot and humid! We of course started taking all sorts of pictures. One place I was standing, a couple of guys asked me to take their picture. I obliged and they started asking me about my accent. They were a soccer team from Australia visiting Bangkok for a couple of games and for holiday. They were all very nice and loved when I kept saying "y'all". It's just so ingrained in me.

View from rooftop bar