Sport in SE Asia (by Joe)

They sure seem to love sport in SE Asia. After Thai boxing, as with just about everywhere in the world, soccer is number one. (It never ceases to amaze me how popular the English Premiership is everywhere we have travelled and just what an important 'export' this has become for England).

Currently the bi-annual Association of South East Asian Nations' Football tournament is running. Thailand (who play a bit too fussy for my taste - or did when I saw them draw 1 - 1 with Myanmar on the TV) tend to dominate and have a semi-final tonight against Vietnam. The winner will meet Malaysia or Singapore.

An offshoot sport from football is a sort of volley-football played with a bamboo-strand ball (see top - spot the ball). Rules are the same as volleyball (three touches a side) but only feet and heads (not hands and arms) are allowed. It is widely played and we have witnessed some incredible skills. Volleyball, too is popular.

Perhaps surprisingly, snooker, not pool, seems the more popular ball and cue sport (see above left). Although pool is widely available in tourist areas of Thailand (usually with tables with extra large pockets to increase turnover on the games), snooker is far more popular with the locals in north Thailand, Cambodia and Laos.

At our guesthouse in the remote 4000 islands region in south Laos, there may have been no running water and very sporadic electricity, but we were astounded to find a full-sized snooker table under the main house. It was nearly always in use by the owner and his sons, and was well looked after - there was even a small dustpan and brush on hand to clear away the bugs which liked to settle on the table.

Given the French influence in the region it is less surprising to find boule played widely and competitively (see above right).

As for racket sports - badminton is popular, but for us comes second to the very satisfying sport of 'mosquito-racket': starting at dusk and sometimes carrying on late into the night, highly fired-up up players zap all the mozzies they can with battery-charged toasting-rackets (see left - Laura having a game).

Joe