Tag Archives: sepak_takraw

Sepak Takraw, Bang Lamung, Thailand

Here is a nice shot from the other night at takraw. These guys were pretty dream team. But, I was pretty much the best white guy out there.

It’s a complete toss up, this Miike Snow album or Phoenix’s ‘Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix‘. I could ride out 2009 on these 2 albums alone. If Velveteen put out a new album right now, my head would explode.

And I leave you with nice picture of food taken by Lorraine. We tried to take the motobike over to Koh Larn which is a small island just off the gulf. We were denied for the noon ferry. As we were about to leave the pier we were treated to a nice moto-on-moto crash. I looked away at the last second but, Lorraine had to see how it ended. Jeb! Meh, we wound up at Jomtien Beach.

Food vendor on Jomtien

We tried to play on the usual grass/sand court last night but due to the heavy rain we recieved in the morning, we had to move over to the concrete court. This court was poured by one of the guys in his spare time some time ago. Since it’s been poured, the area around it has become a Cambodian work camp. I’ve posted some pictures and some video on Flickr for you to see. I took a foot to the face in the midst of some fierce competition and oddly enough, I was invited out for beers afterwards. A little blood for beer, not bad.

I was invited tonight to play the “local sport” known as takraw. As soon as I was explained what the game was, I knew I had seen it before. Since I spent time in hippydom, I knew I was made for this sport. If you are unfamiliar with this game, this clip from YouTube might refresh your memory.

We drove about 5 minutes from my house to a back street where it opened up to the “local stadium”. This local stadium consisted of a small clearing amidst the palms where a net was strung between 2 poles cemented in 2 old tires in which a volleyball net was strung across. We had green tea made from rice and practiced as the locals showed up slowly as their work day ended. We practiced for a few minutes with a break or two to correct the net poles. Within a half hour we had enough guys to begin playing actual games. It’s 3-on-3 and I believe there were 9 of us in total to rotate in and out.

This was easily one of the greatest sporting experiences I’ve had. I think the locals got a kick out of seeing a farang practicing as they showed up. I think I did pretty good for my first time out. I’ve always enjoyed playing hackey-sack so this wasn’t too far of a stretch for me. Everyone was very supportive and when I made a good volley or return, I’d hear them laugh chatter to eachother with the word “farang” being thrown in between. I was beaming with the feeling of acceptance and the local comraderie. This was everything I hoped I’d be thrown into when we signed up for this new world.

In searching out more info and tips I came across this awesome piece from the Onion, enjoy!