From Crying to Gambling - My Muay Thai Experience

Okay, so hear me out. There were a lot of mixed emotions last night and I would love to tell you why.
The ThaiDizzle and I decided that since we only have about 3 weeks left in Thailand until who knows when, we figured we should partake in a little Muay Thai boxing match at the local stadium down the street. So we bought our overpriced tickets (about $58 a pop) and headed in.

The next thing that took place was completely unexpected.

Children came into the ring. Children! I'm talking a couple of five-year-olds here.

They're so small, you can barely even see them in the ring.
I did the liberty of pointing them out for you in this picture, just in case you couldn't pick them out.

I had a bad feeling about this from the get-go, trust me.
And Kid #2 right there? You could tell he did.not.want. to be there.
But Kid #1? Oh man, he was in it to win it.

This fight lasted maybe 30 seconds, because by the time the 5th kick happened, poor Kid #2 started crying! So the referee stopped the match and then he hugged the little kid and then the kid, shoulders heaving, left the ring, straight into the arms of his dad.

So then that's when my tears were shed. Literally, I cried.
Okay, maybe 'cried' is a strong word. It's not like I was sitting there sobbing.
So let's say, I wept. A couple of tears leaked out.

I just felt so bad for that little boy! He didn't want to be a Muay Thai fighter. He didn't want to get embarrassed in the ring by getting the shiz kicked out of him by another little boy. He probably just wanted to go play, oh I don't know, whatever it is little 5 year old boys like to play.

Anyway.

What I'm about to tell you next confuses me as I'm sure it will confuse you as well.

I'm not quite sure how it happened or what shifted inside of me, but the next round began.
This time, with 10 year old boys.
And the next thing I know, The Asian in me took over, and I was somehow throwing money down to one of the brokers, placing a bet on who I thought would win!

I know! It's disgraceful! It's sickening! It's horrible!
Gambling on CHILDREN FIGHTING?? The nerve!

But uh... somehow the 10 year olds just seemed tougher?

See? Tough.

The Karma Gods must have been around though, because I lost that bet.

And the other two that followed...

Anyway.

After the first 2 rounds of kids, they moved on to the men for the rest of the night {thankfully}.
And let me tell you, these guys were brutal!
Kicking, punching, shoving, you name it!

Just in case that GIF isn't enough for you to get the 'gist' of it, here's another one:

Crazy huh?

But you know what's even crazier?

The fact that they can go from angrily pummeling each other, to every so often, taking a little break to hug each other.

I liked to imagine them whispering words of affirmation into each other's ears.

So as you can see, last night was filled with many emotions for me.
Certainly many that were unexpected.
But all in all, it was quite an exciting night.

{Who knew child fights and excitement could be put in the same evening?}

Enough about me though, how was your weekend?

xoxo