In a nice Thai restaurant, Arm asked Pedrito and me if we “can handle” the spicy fish he was about to order. Our sweet toxic masculinity jumped in to say, “Of course!” The fish came decorated with green peppercorns and baby chili with some sweet and sour sauce. Pedrito gave up after a few bites; for me it was delicious (and spicy), but my ego refused to admit that it was probably a better idea to delegate the fishy-task to Arm. What I also learned, is that you should not drink soda after stuffing your food with spicy food; the combination is more like a nuclear reaction, like a volcanic lava that tries to jump out in the form of reflux. Already on the walk after dinner, I felt that some of this napalm ended up in my lungs, making the top of my chest burn. Luckily, the bachata party afterward helped digest the fish and its friends inside my stomach.
The few days we spent in Bangkok had an unbreakable routine. We had a daily gym session, ate Pad Thai, which is THE typical Thai dish, had a daily late-night back massage, and ended the day with pancakes from food stalls with banana or mango. Between these essential activities, we explored and discovered crazy Bangkok, which reminds me of Cairo in many aspects. Having almost the same population as Cairo but spread out on 3x the area of Cairo, which makes Cairo more crowded. Nevertheless, it was very crowded, and we sometimes had to take motorbikes as a means of transportation instead of taxis since they are much faster and go through traffic like a hair in dough (Arabic expression). Even though, we barely managed to be on time for most of our appointments. Pedrito said that we were “playing with time” and I thought we were rather playing with destiny taking these motorbikes.
Thailand is the homeland of Muay Thai, a combat kickboxing sometimes named “the Art of Eight Limbs” since you can use fists, elbows, knees, and shins. Pedrito had tried it in the past and was determined to buy original Muay Thai shorts. Which looked like fancy underwear boxers with golden inscriptions. We also went to a Muay Thai event in the main stadium for these events, which was, for me, a highlight of our time in Bangkok. The event featured a few fights, mostly between international fighters. The fighters started by doing rituals in the corners of the ring and then started the actual fight, divided into 3 rounds. At the beginning, the level was good until we saw the later fighters who triggered many WOWs. In particular, there was a fight between “Mohammed” from Iran and a tall black “Christ” from the USA. It is difficult to believe that this fight was not staged, hehe. Mohammed finished Christ quickly with a knockout (nothing intended here). One fight was between two Thai fighters who initially looked like kids with their small bodies. However, once the fight started, you could easily see that this combat sport was born here. They were agile, and their punches were scary fast. This exciting fight ended up with a draw. The last fight was between a Thai champion and another from Taiwan. As exciting as it was, it lasted only less than a minute, where the Thai fighter did an air double kick with his knee ending in the bottom of the poor Taiwanese’s chin, who immediately fell to the ground, followed by a hurry of his trainer and the medics. The Taiwanese fighter was carried out in a wheelchair. This fight concluded the event that was very well-organized and very entertaining. Also the presenter was very charismatic in the “Let’s get ready to rumble!” style.
Bangkok treated us nicely. Piotry does not want to go home. We ate a lot, danced bachata with the locals, and went to jazz events with Arm and his friend Pete. I think we have experienced multiple levels of what Bangkok can offer. We also went for custom-tailored linen suits, which I am excited to see how they come out. Our next stop is Phuket, where we hope to tickle the sandy beaches, get tanned, and eat more Pad Thai and Roti pancakes.
