MY WORLD CUP QUEST: ONE NIGHT IN BANGKOK (PART 1 OF 3)
19/32 WORLD CUP TEAMS COMPLETED
A WORLD CUP HATRICK
On day 9 of the World Cup I decided to go big and not home. I wanted three countries in three games, namely Tunisia, South Korea and Germany. This was a make or break weekend. I needed something on the scoreboard by Monday morning.
Some planning was needed for an operation like this in a city as vast as Bangkok. I lined up three venues in advance of my outing. A shish-pipe restaurant, a craft beer bar with surfing and a board game cafe. Eclectic,yes. Boring no. Each place came with some promise of finding that which I desired. For the first game I went in search of Tunisians at Maroosh. I had previously visited it on the first night of the World Cup as recounted here https://steemit.com/photography/@highselfesteem/my-world-cup-quest-12-000-cigarettes-and-no-one-to-speak-to
BANGKOK GIVES
I was joined by an old friend and a new. Poet was meeting his friend Fighter and joining me on this Friday night of pursuit. Fighter has a passion for martial arts. He studies every martial art that he can find. He began telling me of Irish martial arts I'd never heard of before. There is a unique Irish form of stick fighting (that isn't hurling). There is also Irish wrestling, boxing and shin kicking. Shin kicking has probably remained an obscure sport for many reasons, not least the part where you continually get kicked in the shins until you fall over. After the working week, Friday nights often promise a lot and fail to deliver. A weekend can be hard to predict but I was impressed with what lady chaos had spun my way this time. A Swedish-Thai man was helping me to become acquainted with Irish martial arts for the first time in a Middle Eastern restaurant while we watched Belgium play Tunisia in the World Cup in Russia. We were in Bangkok.
WADING THROUGH RIVERS OF BLOOD
As much fun as the restaurant was we were getting nowhere fast and moved to Beer Republic in search of a Tunisian. The bar was heaving with Belgium. We broke through the red throng and found one of the few chairs at the back of the sizable bar. Once we were settled in at a table I told my friends I had to roam. I wandered around like a man who has lost his son in a shopping mall. I was looking manically and conspicuously around corners and over tables in search of a stranger I didn't know. Tunisia's national colours are also red. I needed to look at everyone up close in a bar containing hundreds of people. This might take a while.
It took a while.
I returned to my friends empty-handed as Belgians around me jumped up and down. They were scoring for fun against Tunisia and I was being commiserated by my friends because I hadn't found anyone to commiserate with. As the game was reaching its final 15 minutes I resigned myself to the situation. The child is lost. Best accept it.
YOU CAN BE MY HERO
Fighter then noticed a woman standing directly behind me. She had just arrived at a table filled with Belgians. "Did you talk to her?" I hadn't. He was keen to help me in my cause. His two metre frame quickly rose from the table before I had the chance to move. He had somehow found the bravery to talk to this beautiful woman. He soon established that was she indeed Tunisian and beckoned me to come over like a lost puppy. My hero. I'd found my Tunisian. More accurately, Fighter had found my Tunisian for me.
She told me that there are many Tunisians in the city and they should be easy to find. I told her that she wasn't easy to find. In the last ten minutes of the game I got to commiserate with her and celebrate with her as the goals kept flying in for both teams. The game finished 5-2. Defeat for Tunisia. Victory from the jaws of defeat for me. A good start to one night in Bangkok.
*Join me in my quest. It started here https://steemit.com/sport/@highselfesteem/i-m-going-to-watch-the-world-cup-with-a-fan-from-every-country-in-bangkok-or-sleep-trying and will continue for the duration of the World Cup.
*Other words, pictures and sounds at my website http://www.thisthailife.com/
*Twitter @ThisThaiLife
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References https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irish_martial_arts#Kicking