Badminton

Last week, my co-workers invited me to play badminton with them on Friday. Since I was headed off to Koh Phangan on Thursday evening, I had to decline, but told that that I would love to go the Friday of the following week. So this morning, I packed up my gym clothes and by 2:50 in the afternoon we were off to the badminton court.

They play at a place called My House, which is this huge, old, ornate white house turned fitness center. The main floor is a huge court with about 8 smaller badminton courts on each side. I’ve never played badminton before and wanted to watch first, but I soon got the hang of it. For those who, like me, had no clue what badminton is, It is very much like tennis, except that it is played with a birdie (a small rubber ball with a cone of feathers (or plastic) on one side) which makes it more like tennis in slow motion. Some shots straight across the net are quick, but most of the others are so slow that you can pretty much take your time deciding what shot you are going to make. It was a lot of fun and I felt like I was really participating in "Thai life," although modern, because I was the only farang there.