Sea Games 2007-Thailand

I have been in Thailand for 2 weeks already, covering the Sea Games in Bangkok, and now in Nakhon Ratchasima (Korat). Its a large rural province more than 3 hours by bus and 250 km northeast of Bangkok. Nothing much compared to the nightlife of Bangkok, but the sporting action make up for it.

Have been working more than 12 hours daily, rushing from venue to venue, with the help of our driver Kay (in picture). Tiring task, but a good break from the daily news assignments back home. The Thais love sports! While in Bangkok for the 1st week. youth can be seen playing football on pavement outside the stadium every night, there are no designated fields, just a pair of shoes as goal post and its play time. There could be hundreds of them playing on every empty space they can find around the stadium (see picture). As if to show their support for sports, the authority played music on outdoor speakers at these ad-hoc sport venue. As for the Sea Games, there are bound to have spectators in every sporting venue, and of course, the Thais are participating in almost every single event. Im writing this at the aquacentre while a water polo match is going (Thai vs Malaysia).





I beginning to enjoy shooting sports. The excitement and electic atmosphere are addictive, and less posed picture are required. Sadly, posed picture are still the preferred front page photo in my publication. Isn't sports all about heart-stopping action, triumph and humans physical and mental prowess? As a reader, I wont rather see action pictures than the number and colour of medals we got for the day.