Category: Asia

The Pride and Ubiquity of Volleyball in Thailand

May 23, 2014

In my experience in the States, volleyball was a sport played mainly by high school girls and occasionally people at the beach. My personal experience with the sport is limited to the volleyball unit in my Team Sports class in high school, which I took to fulfill the P.E. graduation requirement, and a few volleys back and forth in some sand on a beach somewhere. I grew up playing basketball and soccer mostly, which is interesting to most Thai people as these are considered “boy” sports. Volleyball is a “girl” sport, so it is often assumed that I want to get in on the rotations of friendly pick up matches.

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Comparing Sports Culture: US and Thailand

May 20, 2014

When I think of sports back home, I think of the big four: baseball, basketball, football and hockey. I grew up outside of Detroit, which has a sports franchise in all four of these sports, and 75% of them have had championship or near championship runs during my life time (poor, poor Detroit Lions). When I moved to Portland, I became more aware of the growing popularity of soccer with their newly minted Major League Soccer team, the Portland Timbers, but still, like most Americans, was not quite able to jump on board with the so-called beautiful game. Perhaps it was the flashbacks to playing as a child and working as a referee as a preteen. In any event, moving to Thailand has totally disoriented me in terms of sports.

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Martial Law Declared in Thailand

May 20, 2014

Martial law was declared this morning by the military. They are insisting that it is not a coup. Things are calm where I’m at, so no worries there. Considering that there was no clear rule for who was to replace Yingluck, this isn’t entirely surprising.

This follows months of protests, the dissolution of the government and new elections. The situation is still unfolding, and as more information comes out and I see how my friends and colleagues are impacted, I’ll update you.

Voided Elections, Impeachment & Protests in Thailand

May 16, 2014

In my last political update, things in Bangkok were looking pretty calm. Most protest sites had been cleared and consolidated to Lumpini Park. Government-wise, a lot of things were up in the air: the election had been declared void and caretaker prime minister Yingluck was facing two sets of charges (one for the removal of the head of the National Security Council and corruption charges for negligence in her overseeing of the rice subsidy program.)

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Bpai Tiao: Yasothon’s Bun Bang Fai (Rocket) Festival

May 13, 2014

In Thailand, a bpai tiao is a trip of any length. I’ve written about some of my more significant bpai tiaos to tourist destinations here, to be used as travel ideas and tips.

Previously, I posted about the festivals that I was planning on attending this year in Thailand, one of which was the Rocket Festival in Yasothon. That took place this past weekend and I made it out to rural Isaan just for the occasion.

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Jazz, Thailand and King Bhumibol

May 6, 2014

While Thailand certainly has it’s own classical music genres that originated with the royal courts about 800 years ago, and folk music, don’t think that there are no modern or international genres enjoyed here. If we move chronologically through the development of music in Thailand we next come to the proliferation of jazz in the 1930s. Jazz continues to hold a special place in Thailand’s musical repertoire as the King is not only a jazz saxophonist but a jazz composer as well.

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