Songkhla, Thailand

In an effort to see something other than beaches and islands in the south of Thailand, I picked out the small town of Songkhla for a visit. Getting there was kind of a pain and the town does not much to offer a tourist except exactly what I was looking for: a taste of the culture and real Thai life in the south part of the country.

While on the water (Songkhla is called "the great city of two seas" in Thai), the beaches are not great. The town is pretty uninteresting and the few "tourist attractions" are not worth the time. Shaun and I spent just about every day simply walking about exploring the town and trying to absorb local culture and state of mind. That said, there is not much for me to write about here. The only thing worth writing about is something that still has us laughing.

I noticed since I have been in Asia that almost nobody exercises. There are plenty of old people that do Thai Chi or something similar in the morning in China or some simply stretching or other things to get the blood flowing but people do not really exercise exercise. Nobody breaks a sweat while stretching unless they are training and few are. Nobody is trying to boost their metabolism or build muscle or better their endurance and stamina. The only people I could recall exercising we a small handful of runners in China that had the worst form I had ever seen; it may have been the first time they ever ran and had not discovered the natural, smooth motion that anybody realizes quickly enough. (I am not saying their form was not perfect. I am saying it could not have been further from perfect. My running form I am sure can be improved. Their form could have been improved if the stood still.) When I have in Asia I get confused looks. To me it looks like they think I am in a hurry (which is another foreign idea in Asia) and cannot fathom why somebody would ever move on foot at a pace faster than in staggeringly (and annoyingly) slow walk. People seem baffled that I am running.

OK, anyway, so at some point while walking around Shaun and I hear this music, and it is not the Asian (or AZN, as it is often referred to) pop that I have grown to know all too well. We could not place what the music was; the style sounded familiar but largely unknown to us. It got louder and clear as we got closer and then we saw it. About 100 people following the jazzercize (I have no idea how to spell that) motions of the leader at the front on a platform. We were speechless. Not only did we stop and chuckle at the scene but locals were as well. It was priceless. I took video. We stood and watched for a couple minutes and the continued on walking still laughing at the scene. Our eyes were tearing. All the sudden we heard footsteps behind us. Not just footsteps, but hastened footsteps. And not just hastened footsteps, but the hastened footsteps of people wearing shoes. People do not wear shoes here, they wear sandals. We turning around to see four or five people running - running! - toward us. We gave each other confused looks. They looked like the high school's track or cross-country team because they were wearing matching clothes. Not just running but organized running. Between that and the jazzercise this was already unlike any other place I have been in Asia. We walked more. We can upon a enclosed area with still more people jogging around a track. A relatively large group of people jogging? In Asia? On a actual track? I was stunned.

In addition to being one of my favorite places in Thailand and the other contender for favorite place in the south, Songkhla must be a hotbed of physicality in Asia.