Comments on: What’s a guy to do?

By: Jeff B.

Jeff B. — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:40:14 +0000

I attended a kick boxing match at an arena in Bangkok once and it was quite fun. The crowd really gets into it too. An entire section of the seats was reserved for people gambling on the matches. They had an apparently very elaborate system of hand signals they used with each other to place and take bets.

By: Jeff

Jeff — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:31:10 +0000

We take our comments any way we can get them Paulina, thanks for running up the numbers! I could see myself enjoying cricket, though I don’t think I’ll ever get used to the terminology.

You know, I was trying to find some “lesser known” sports, and the only I came up with (in a pretty shallow google search) was sepak takrow, which is a southeastern asian game that is something like hacky-sack + volleyball + badminton. The only way to spike the ball is with a bicycle kick, and they say the better players can “spike” the ball and land on their feet. This was #6 on my list =).

But goat carcass polo sounds very … odd. I mean, why use a ball when a goat carcass will do the same thing? But as they say, when in Rome …

By: Laura

Laura — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 15:18:24 +0000

You should try and find some of the lesser-known culturally specific sports. For example, when Boris was getting ready to go to Kyrgyzstan we read about the national sport of Kok Boru or Ulka Tartysh where they ride around on horses and try to get control of a headless goat carcass, sort of like goat carcass polo I guess (http://www.photofactory.nl/Home/index_bestanden/Series/Ulak%20Tartysh.htm). I’m sure there are a lot of weird sports out there that you’d never get a chance to see anywhere else.

By: Paulina

Paulina — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:02:23 +0000

nuts i thought i cancelled quickly enough to prevent that first post from actually posting so i could add that comment about elephant polo. sorry for deluding you into thinking that more people had actually commented.

By: Paulina

Paulina — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:01:00 +0000

Jeff, I think you’ll really enjoy cricket. More specifically, I think you’ll really enjoy sitting in the sun, beer in hand, and having some local try to explain the rules to you. It’s pretty popular in Australia, we played a little bit and it’s pretty fun! But definitely go for a shorter, one-day-only match, rather than the 5-day events a cricket game can be…

Also elephant polo??!!?! Seriously?!?! That sounds awesome. I request pictures. Many, many pictures.

By: Paulina

Paulina — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 12:00:04 +0000

By: Emily Van Voorhis

Emily Van Voorhis — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 01:42:23 +0000

I stumbled across your site from somewhere—can’t remember where, but I love reading your updates and getting inspired for future trips. My husband and I did a 6-week trip to Europe before we relocated to Los Angeles, CA where we currently live. I would love to do a trip like you guys at some point! In October I was in Zimbabwe for a medical missions trip and we watched the Rugby World Cup (happens every 4 years) between England and South Africa and it was CRAZY!! You should definitely check out a Springboek game and get a shirt. When I was traveling back through J’burg the whole town was painted green for the champions.

By: Gregory

Gregory — Tue, 01 Apr 2008 23:19:54 +0000

I’m going to go out on a limb here and say, “Yes!” Yes as in “over 250 million Indians” can be wrong. I think you’ll be fine with the local games you come across. I’d definitely check out soccer in South America, but make sure you know what you’re getting into. Theres probably a greater chance of dying at a soccer match that erupts into a riot than just about anything else you’ll be doing. There’ll be another Super Bowl, March Madness, World Series, etc. when you return so just hope its not the Seahawks, Rice, or Mariners and you’ll be fine.