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Lumpini Stadium

The Lumpini Stadium in Bangkok is the best known Muay Thai stadium in the world. Located in the middle of Bangkok, and super easy to reach with the MIT, the Thai underground. Just get out at Lumpini Station (makes sense doesn’t it). Luckily, the personnel working in the subway is quite capable of speaking English. Off course taking a taxi is another option but a little more expensive.

The stadium itself is surrounded by shops where you can buy a lot of Muay Thai related products.
For more details about this check out my post on buying supplies in bangkok

From all the plans I had before going to Thailand, this was one of the top priorities. To visit the Lumpini, where people like Ramon Dekkers fought legendary fights, people like Buakaw Por Pramuk established their reputation, Rob Kaman, Samkor, and I can go on and on about how many great fighters there have been fighting here.

When you arrive with the MIT and surface out of the station, you can see the stadium across the street. I believe I almost ran to the bridge crossing the road. Now this might come across as a little bit exaggerated but this is been a life long wish of me.

I was here with my brother Rafael and my sister Kim, and especially Rafael shares my opinion about being here.

When you arrive at the stadium, take your time to look around and absorb everything. Right away certain ‘promoters’ tried to sell us tickets for a good price, but my friend warned me not to do this, so I politely passed. We bought a ticket for the 3rd floor because we decided to experience it like all Thai people do. Ringside are usually foreigners and I like to walk around and have some space, so this was perfect. For foreigners the ticket was 1,000 Baht and I imagine that Thai pay far less than that. But after all, it is their stadium and this price is more than reasonable I think.

One thing that immediately stood out when entering the stadium, was the fact that on the right side of the stadium it was really crowded while the left side, it was almost empty. The right side is the side where the gamblers reside, a spectacle on itself. These people have such an energy and are gambling with such an enthusiasm that you would think they are putting their life savings on the line. Something that probably could be true. They are shouting and waving their hands like they are waving at their favorite celebrity. From the third floor we had a perfect view. The ambiance is something inexplicable, but something well worth enjoying when you are in the area, even when you are not really a fan of Muay Thai.

We came this evening for my friend who had a fight scheduled. It was rally awesome to see him fight and even though he did not win, he put up a hell of a fight. I can only imagine how crazy it must be to fight in this place, what an experience must this be!

Just outside the arena are several restaurants where you can buy all kind of food, but all Thai food, which is not a problem for me. I love Thai food! You can just go out and get a stamp so you can reenter the building without any problems. One thing about Thailand is the fact that there are more insects that also grow bigger than in Holland. At one time we saw some huge cockroaches, however, they don’t do anything, just annoy you. This doesn’t distracted me too much, the fights were of such a high level that I was focused on the ring and what happened in it. I believe there could have been someone screaming in my ear to make appoint and I wouldn’t have heard a word.

When the main event took place, the crowd went wild. It seemed like almost everybody had placed a bet on one of the fighters. So when their fighter did something, you could hear a couple hundred people screaming. Not randomly, but think for one kick, everybody screams “HEY!”. This goes on and on and in the clinch they are screaming for knees. It is a surreal experience, but Oh So Awesome.

Like I said, even if you’re not particular a fan of Muay Thai, you should go and visit Lumpini once.

If you have been here or just want to drop me a message, leave a comment or use the contact form.

Thanks for visiting the site.

In strength and peace my friends,

signing off,

MTD