The world's universal sport

Futbol. Or as we United-Statesians call it: soccer. It certainly is the world's universal, unifying sport, as you'll see just a lil bit below.

Earlier this afternoon, after a long, long conversation -- concerning life and love -- over coffee (for me) and ice cream (for Paul) at the Dao Savanh restaurant here in Savannakhet, I suggested that we take a stroll to let everything digest and to see the town a little more since we're leaving tomorrow morning for Pakse. While walking along, we saw a typical storefront selling all sorts of clothing and various random items. Among those other things I noticed several soccer balls hanging there; we tried to bargain the guy down from the 60,000 kip price tag, but he wouldn't budge. We moved on, but the idea was set in my head; we had the rest of the afternoon to kill, so why not? We fortuitously came upon another shop on the other side of the nearby intersection, and were successful in bargaining down to 40,000 kip for a small soccer ball. But where were we to play? I looked down a side street right there, and saw a group of kids milling about; a couple of girls were flying a kite high, high in the air. So we walked over and tossed the ball towards the the young boys, all probably around the ages of 10-12. For the next half-hour, Paul and I played soccer with them. At the beginning they tried to dribble the ball past us. But by the end we all gathered in a circle to see how many times we could hit the ball without it hitting the ground. I should also mention that, while Paul and I were wearing sneakers, all of these kids were running around barefoot on a gravel and dirt side-street. Older people in nearby buildings would stop to watch us play with the kids. The kids had asked us where we were from, so we told them "America." At the end, having sufficiently worn ourselves out, we went around to each boy -- I shook their hand, Paul gave them a high-five -- and left them with the soccer ball. When they realized that we were leaving the soccer ball with them, the kids' faces lit up like it was Christmas morning; they were thrilled! Paul and I felt proud that we had played our role as positive intercultural ambassadors. Those kids won't forget that a couple crazy guys from America had lots of fun playing soccer with them on their little street. As I told Paul, that's the kind of shit that's not in the guidebooks, and when we look back on this trip, whether it be in just a few days or weeks or months or even many years from now, that's the kind of memory that we'll feel good about, knowing that so many other tourists stick to their Lonely Planet itinerary and follow the elephant-train of tourists from one spot to the next. We had a blast kicking the ball around with those kids, and all it took was a $5 ball and just making shit happen.

Alright, time to make a decision. We might actually take a bus out tonight, in order to get to Pakse in time to fly from there to Siem Reap, Cambodia tomorrow morning. Do I really feel like leaving right now? Not really, but we have to be mindful of the fact that time is at such a premium at this point in the trip. I gotta sign out now; time to figure out what the heck we're doing . . .