Phuket, Thailand - July 16, 2011 (Honeymoon - Part II)
Photos Here:
A few travel tips I couldn't post in the Picasa Album:
Taxi Mafia?
There is a taxi mafia in Phuket. There is only one spot on the island you can get a metered taxi, the Airport. Even at the airport, you need to know exactly where to find the queue. Metered taxis are not even available to get back to the airport. There is no number to call to order one. I was asking our cabbie on the way from the airport about it and he gave me his personal card. When I later asked the front desk to arrange a pickup, our reputable chain hotel refused to do so and recommended we find one outside. If you need to get your way, and know you are getting hustled, a good way for them to accommodate you is to start getting angry in the hotel lobby in front of newly arriving guests trying to check in. My call was then swiftly put through without them feeding me anymore BS. That's how you beat the system to and from the airport.
How do you beat them on a daily basis? Motorbikes.
Motorbikes only cost $10 a day (and that was for a higher end 150cc version) plus a few dollars a day in petrol. For comparison, a ride in a tuk-tuk is a minimum of about $10 and that will only take you a few miles. Due to the low volume of tourists, the tuk-tuks could maneuver through traffic fairly quickly, but I imagine during the high season is it near impossible to get anywhere as a result of all the traffic.
Side note: I would recommend renting from the most reputable rental place you can find. We were lucky and the owner of a local cafe also owned the motorbike rental place next door. He was a Danish ex-pat with a Thai wife. Some of the less reputable places tend to be locally owned and will potentially scam you. The scam works where they will rent you something expensive like a motorbike or jet ski, then demand 1,000s of Bhat for repairs. Caveat emptor.
Ko Panyee
This is the floating village we stopped at on our speedboat tour of Phang Nga. I had seen this video a few months before we left but hadn't thought about it since. We stopped at a floating village for lunch. After wandering around I came across the field and thought, wow is this the same one? Sure enough...
The village includes a floating soccer field. Inspired by the 1986 FIFA World Cup, children built the pitch from old scraps of wood and fishing rafts. As of 2011, Panyee FC is one of the most successful youth soccer clubs in Southern Thailand. A 2011 brand campaign for TMB Bank includes a short film that tells the team's story. The film is based on interviews with the original team, and it stars local children rebuilding the field on location. (c/o wikipedia)
Thai Muai Thai Boxing @ Bangla Boxing Stadium, Patong Beach, Phuket, Thailand
How the scam works...
When tourists go to Thailand, one of the things they want to see is some authentic Muai Thai boxing. We tried to see Muai Thai in some of the famous places in Bangkok, but unfortunately there was a Bhuddist holiday and there were no fights during our stay. The largest beach city in Phuket is Patong. It has a decent sized boxing stadium and we bought ring side seats. There are flyers everywhere, there are trucks that parade around to promote the night's matches. They even have some fighters in the cab of the truck dressed in their outfits, complete with their gloves and and warmup robe.
We were sitting behind one of the judges on the side of the ring. He had a fight card with all of nine of the nights fights. Before he even got to his seat, there was blue line going through one fighter each fight. Just in case this was a setup, since it was blatently laying there exposed (why not turn it over?) or if it was just the guys predictions, I didn't bet on the first three fights. Once he got to his seat he was blocking our view of the paper but we had already written them down. After he got the first 3 right, I attemped to bet on the next one. The bookie wouldn't take my bet because he claimed that too many people were betting on the fighter that I chose. Huge red flag.
Other Red flags:
-Signifigantly more tourists than locals- the locals can enter for free (or dirt cheap).
-The bookies would only take bets on one of the fighters, they would say there was too much action on the one side etc, but then would only give you 1:1 odds on the other fighter. Bet 1000 Bhat ($33)
-We got there a little late and there were not many VIP seats left. VIP ringside seats were maybe $45 vs $35 to be in the stands, which were probably a better view anyway. When the usher saw my tickets he originally was going to sit us in the back, but then looked me up and down and I'm guessing profiled me a potential gambler with money. (Younger guy, dressed nice, might want to bet to impress his girl, etc.) He walks us up to the second row on the side, RIGHT next to where the one bookie was stationed.
-The bookie would come over and pretend to give you inside information on the fighters and say who he was betting on. The guy in front of me (talking to the bookie in the video) was receiving this 'advice.' He would tell me the one kid was a ladyboy or one of them was tired etc. Early in the night he actually gave good advice (knowing a dramatic comback was about to take place since the results were already determined).
-The bookie would actually yell out "BLUE, BLUE" and once the fighter kid (mid fight!) would look at him he would motion for the kid to lay off. From that point on the kid would pound away with body shots only, then take a few shots.
-Rounds were all of random lengths, and fights lasted a random amount of rounds before decisions were made.
-The referee would collect the fightcards from the judges. Our judge didn't even fill his out, and the ref didnt even look at them before raising someones arm.
-The one boxer was barely grazed by a head shot, fell to the mat and then spasmed a few times before pretending to be knocked out for a good minute. They made a big deal about getting the smelling salt out and waiving it around and the guy still didn't react. He finally 'woke up' and was helped out of the ring.
-In the 3rd round of the one fight, the bookie came over to the guy in front of me and told him he would give him 10 to 1 odds on the one fighter. The guy took the bet and the guy he bet on lost in a "shocking comback" about a minute later.
I do realize these local Muai Thai clubs need funding to cover their operation costs. I'm guessing they receive a good amount by hosting events like this and additional money from foreigners who live with them and train for a few months paying rent. I wasn't angry that they were scamming all of these people. It did provide some entertainment value if you could ignore the fact a lot of little things didn't add up (or you were just oblivious to it, which I couldn't comprehend how this was possible, but apparently a lot of the tourists were clueless). Overall I would just wish they were a little more slick about it. Kind of like going to watch the Globetrotters, you know what you are in for, but they at least put on a great show.
Or maybe my expectations were just too high, especially after the way they hyped it in the recording outside the stadium (from the video):
~snake charming music in background~
Ladies and Gentleman,
Welcome,
to Club Phuket Thai Boxing Muai Thai.
SUPER Real Fights,
the Greatest of the Year
BIG FIGHT,
BIG FIGHT,
BIG FIGHT.
uninteligable
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT.
Bangla Boxing Stadium,
Bangla Boxing Stadium.
Start 9pm,
Start 9pm.
See the Best of the Best,
See the champ of the (?)
Biggest fight of the Month
Thai Boxing Muai Thai
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT,
TONIGHT.
Bangla Boxing Stadium,
Bangla Boxing Stadium.
The new stadium of Club Phuket
Start 9pm.
Start 9pm.
~Repeat ad infinitum~
Final note:
The Thai people are a loving people. You would rarely if ever see any agression toward the tourists or one another. Considering the lack of order on the roads, this is pretty impressive. Despite their schemes to extract money from tourists, for the most part they are very helpful, friendly, and good-hearted .
China pics coming soon...
