Blog 22 - International Soccer, U11 style

One of the "coolness factors" about moving to China was Jacob getting to tell his old soccer team that he was going to play in international tournaments.  We didn’t know exactly where they would be, but the first one landed us in Bangkok Thailand. 

I merged this trip with a required board meeting and brought Jacob down 1 day early.  This gave he and I a full weekend to travel together, hang together, and enjoy one another. 

We started early on day 1 (left at 6am) and this was after getting home from South China around 9pm the night before.  I knew it was going to be a tough turnaround, but we made it work.  It is a long flight to Thailand, but since we arrive around noon, it gave us the entire afternoon to find cool stuff to see. 

My colleague gave me a nice agenda to follow… Basically, taxi to one temple, then walk to another, then walk to a palace, and then taxi to a cool street for food. 

The temples were built to honor Buddha and they were beautiful.  We had a nice time wondering around.  We would have learned more if we had a guide, but sometimes it’s more fun to just walk around and soak it up.  We moved around the same general area, bought some souvenirs for the girls, and road in a boat.  The palace was shut down, but from the outside, that place looked like it was worth spending time there.  Maybe next time.

At the end of the day we found a nice local restaurant that served great Thai food, good smoothies, and had soccer playing on the TVs.  We were two very happy dudes. 

On day 2, we went to work… I spend the morning meeting with my team and he spend most of the time on his iPad.  However, at the end of the day, my friend Martin and colleague Samphun taught him about polypropylene compounding and showed him a bunch of plastic car parts.  Later that day, we went to the board meeting and Jacob spent 1hr with another team learning about polypropylene.  I think these are cool experiences that he will remember for a long time. 

After the board meeting we met up with his team for a fun weekend of soccer.  The coaches had a lot planned out so we just went along for the ride.  It was a ton of fun. 

The soccer consumed Saturday and Sunday from 8am to 5pm both days, the competition was stiff, and we didn’t win much because we had a mishmashed team, but we did pull out a stunning victory against the second best team in the league.  The kids didn’t like losing, but got over it pretty quickly as they remembered how cool it was to play in Thailand. 

Each evening was filled with a fun activity.  The team rented a Karaoke bus for all travel… which on the surface sounds cool, but after 3 minutes of 8-12yr olds trying to outdo one another, we could do without that on the bus.  We spent a lot of time in the pool, ate at a crazy flying chicken restaurant, and finished with an epic VIP bowling night.  It was fun.  

Best of all was just getting to spend time with Jacob.  I think you have to savor these moments, teach as much as you can, and have a lot of fun.  Both of us went 3 for 3 this weekend.  


Picture 1 - Guys trip!  Jacob and I travelling together is totally cool.  He's growing up fast, has lots of thoughts, and is a good boy.  Love that dude.


Picture 2 - Many shapes of Buddha:  These temples were unique.  Full of color, vibrance, and unique shapes.

Picture 3 - When in Rome...:  This temple had a massive laying Buddha and along the walls they had pots to drop coins into.  Not sure what the pots were for, but we did it anyone... I ran out on the second to last bucket. 

Picture 4 - great team fun:  Bangkok is hot, really hot, so the kids got a workout.  They played about 5 games per day (shorter games, but still?!?).  He is a good teammate and turning into a good soccer player too.


Picture 5 - Pure fun:  The karaoke bus was cool, but the bowling was off the hook.  We had such a good time.  The middle picture shows Jacob riding a unicycle while hold a spear with a stabbed chicken on top.  This is the restaurant's shtick; shoot a cooked chicken out of a cannon and some guys riding a unicycle will catch it and take to the tables. 

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