Thai Boxing at Lumpini

Stickman has a cautionary tale about dual pricing to see Thai boxing at Lumpini Stadium

This week a friend wanted to check out Thai boxing so I took him along to Lumpini Stadium. I haven't been for 10 years and was keen to drag a camera along and capture the action. I knew we were in for trouble when we were intercepted out front of the stadium by two "welcome girls", resplendent in slutty dresses, showing off plenty of leg and speaking passable English. As I waved them aside and said in Thai that I was not a tourist, they refused to listen and made every effort to usher us towards the ticket window on the left where the prices for foreigners were listed in English from 1,000 - 2,000 baht. Having seen that the price for Thais was only 230 baht - displayed in Thai numerals only - at the ticket window on the right, that was the window I headed for. Seeing that I would not listen to the hello girls, a manager approached me and said that as I was not a Thai, I would have to pay the tourist price. I pulled out a form of local ID plus my Thai driver's licence and explained that I had lived and worked in Bangkok for 10 years and most certainly was not a tourist. "You're a foreigner and you must pay the same price as other foreigners", I was told by the expressionless moron. Looking at the crowd buying tickets, perhaps 2% were foreigners, the overwhelming majority Thai. I don't know how long rip off pricing has been in place at the Lumpini Thai Boxing stadium but it is now - and it's a rort. Foreign nationals being asked to pay between 4.5 and 8.5 times the price that Thai nationals are charged is outrageous. Of course we refused to be victims of such a blatant rip off scheme and my mate was yet another foreigner pissed off at Thai price gouging and feeling that the whole Thai experience is simply about being separated from one's money. Instead we went and spent our money at Soi Cowboy where there's no dual pricing.

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Don't know why Stickman didn't watch it on TV.

I posted the item only as I recall posters in the past asking where they can go to watch Thai boxing "in the flesh"

[thanatorn-old]

Speaking as a non-resident, I can understand the frustration of two tier prices which long term residents must feel, but as a "tourist" I tend to put up with it if I want to experience different things, as I am on holiday.

I took five friends to Lumpini a while back - includiing one Thai person, and was greeted by the girls and told the price of 2000 each, including the Thai friend. After popping several pills to stop an immediate heart attack, I duly paid and was a bit peeved at just forking out 12000 that I was taking friends to something I really could not be bothered about.

Well I was so wrong, forget watching it on TV or in the show bars, the real thing is really good and I do not regret spending the money for the experience - obviously not something you can do every weekend.

The inflated price was, we were told, not a foreigners price but a ringside vip seat. The 230 baht seats are a further 20 t0 30 feet back in the stalls or general stands. Yes it was expensive but worth every baht, to be up close to the ringside, even if you sit on a cheap plastic vip seat!!

[TrongpaiExpat]

In my experience, showing a Thai Driver's License and politely pointing out that your are not a tourist works about 90% of the time in venues or National Parks that have tourist duel pricing.

In my experience, showing a Thai Driver's License and politely pointing out that your are not a tourist works about 90% of the time in venues or National Parks that have tourist duel pricing.

As we all know, the rule of law is a rather flexible concept in Thailand, and that attitude comes right from the very top