I had the pleasure of watching 4 major events at the Old Lumpinee Stadium. Twice in 2009, and once in both 2011 and 2012. In the world of Kickboxing and Muay Thai Lumpinee is the mecca. From 1956 to early 2014 it held most of the major fights and has become the symbol of Modern Muay Thai.
When I was training at the Kaewsamrit Gym last October I was notified that the new Lumpinee Stadium was going to open the following February. It kind of bummed me out as at the time I was not really planning on going back to Thailand. When I decided to come back, one of the major factors was the new stadium. I wanted to see it in the event I never go back.
With a big event in tow in only my second day I was excited as ever. I would get to check off an item on my life's bucket list and see an awesome event as well. The only drawback was that I would have to miss the afternoon training.
With this in mind I tackled my morning exercises with much more vigor. I was able to do my pad work with Goom, a former Thailand and World Champion. He pushed me hard and after my rounds I had to hit the bag for another 4 rounds. Then came the technical part of training. I was paired with Josh, an african american from South Carolina, and we had to do sparring drills. Within the first few minutes it became apparent that I was a lot better than he was. Compared to him I felt like one of the pros.
After training it was time for another uneventful breakfast. However, the dinner table had more people as Oliver and Carrie, an fellow American from New York, had joined us. It's kind of interesting when you train and then you find out that not everybody trains everyday like myself. To be fair, the two Aussie girls train EVERY session. They're in bed by 9 pm and up by 6 to run 6K. Such dedication is contagious, I started doing the same thing.
Since I was not going to train in the afternoon I decided to have lunch at Mos Burger in Siam Paragon. That Japanese Fast Food Goodness came through again as I was satisfied. I then went to Starbucks and grabbed a Mocha. Unfortunately they do not have my white chocolate mocha in this part of the world and therefore a regular mocha would have to do.
After browsing and window shopping it was time to head off to the gym so that I can catch my ride to New Lumpinee. When Rob and I left the gym it was 10 past 4 pm. It should have been a easy ride but it ended up taking close to three hours to get to the stadium. Bangkok traffic is horrible come rush hour time. To compare, it only took us 30 minutes to get back home.
When we finally got to New Lumpinee I totally forgot about the traffic. It was an awesome sight to see. It looked modern, had every Muay Thai shop imaginable, sits over 10K, and the atmosphere was awesome. Even cooler is that Rob is a significant figure in Muay Thai press so I was his VIP guest and ended up sitting in the very front row.
After the event was over we headed back but because we did not have dinner we ended up eating at a local diner close to the gym. Diner in the mold of a Denny's. I was actually impressed. I ended up ordering a ribeye steak, fries, and a pepsi.
After dinner we head back to the gym close to midnight. I went to bed with a renewed passion to train.
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