The weather here on Penang is breezy and sunny and irresistible, so I went on another motorcycle tour of the island. And I saw teenagers playing Sepak Raga on three courts within a kilometer of each other. I was pleasantly surprised!  I hadn’t brought a camera, because I had only intended to swim from the beach of a fishing village on the corner of the island opposite from home, 24 km away. But after passing the first court then passing the second not so fast and thinking about spectating, I stopped to enjoy watching matches at the third court that I’d come upon at low speed in a neighborhood with a mosque, Islamic school and a small Sepak court. 

For months I hadn’t seen anyone playing Sepak Raga here in Malaysia, the cradle of the sport. I hadn’t seen it on TV or in newspapers, either. I have seen football and cricket from a distance when passing colleges on Penang. Today, in Kampung Sungai Batu, I watched teenage boys playing pretty well for a while. When their game was over and six other boys took the court, the quality of game play fell off noticeably, so I began to lose interest. But it had been interesting for half an hour. The late-afternoon weather was wonderful and a tree shaded most of the court. I noticed that whoever poured the cement court had placed glossy ceramic tiles to delineate the borders, circles and semicircles of the court, which I think is a prettier and more-durable solution than painted lines which can be easily worn off by shoes and weather.