Tennis

I walked down to the tennis courts tonight to hit against the wall. Alex has a loose plan of pitting me against Svobo, another backgammon player, who likes to play tennis and doesn't mind losing a few thousand dollars, at some time in the future. But for now it is nice just to get out of the hotel and do something that transcends language barriers.

But when I show up, a kid is getting a lesson on the court that borders the wall. He is working on his serve and is just getting to the bottom of a basket of balls. I consider asking him to move to the next court over, which is open. I could gather the balls in return for his cooperation. But there is no way I could explain such an intricate plan in Thai. What would likely happen is, he would immediately move, and wouldn't let me pick up the balls, and I would feel bad. So instead I walk around for a few minutes.

The tennis courts are in the middle of a large area devoted to sports, which includes a track and field, basketball courts, and several martial arts gyms. So far it is my favorite place in Chiang Mai. It evokes neither poverty nor tourism, a true rarity. It hums pleasantly at all hours with joggers, pickup basketball players, and street vendors.

There's even a cafe where they play checkers and Thai chess (like the European version, except the pawns all start one square forward, the bishops move differently, and the queen is much weaker). All the guys at the cafe are very keen for me to play. I sit down against an old man and lose by hopelessly misplacing my bishops - I have no intuitive sense of how to use the pieces with unfamiliar moves. Next we try a game of European chess. He moves his f-pawn too early, which would be fine in Thai chess, but here exposes him to a vicious attack from the more powerful European queen and bishop. It's clear that neither of us has a chance at the other's game.

When I get back to the tennis courts the lesson has wrapped up, but I run into another obstacle. A stray cat has curled up about five feet from the wall, right in front of the T in the middle of the drawn on net. It ignores repeated nudges from my foot and racquet. I shrug and start hitting. For the next half hour the cat doesn't budge, and miraculously I never hit it.

On the next court over two pretty good players are hitting, one a young kid. The older guy gets tired and asks if I want a turn. I happily take the chance to hit some struck balls. We hit for awhile - he is much better than me, but I try to get enough balls in to make it worth his time. After awhile his dad shows up and watches. We have a lot of exchanges like this:
-I hit the ball ten feet deep.
-The kid sportingly tries to hit it back but clips the net.
-The dad yells something in Thai and mimes a backhand.

They don't seem to do anything half-ass here. If you play tennis, you had better hit every single shot in.