Bernard Laurent is one of many French expats playing petanque in Hua Hin.

 

By Jonathan Fairfield

 

Petanque might only have a niche following in Thailand, or indeed anywhere else outside of its native France, but in Hua Hin its popularity among expats and Thais is thriving.

 

At the Sabai Cafe & Bistro in Thap Thai, not far from the Immigration office, scores of French expats meet up six days a week to play petanque and socialise.

 

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A combination of French expats wanting to meet other French expats in Hua Hin and a willing business owner who quickly recongised the demand for a dedicated petanque venue has seen the Sabai Petanque Club really grow as a community.

 

Sixty three year old French expat Bernard Laurent plays petanque several times a week.

 

Full story: https://www.huahintoday.com/hua-hin-news/the-quintessential-french-game-of-petanque-has-found-legions-of-fans-in-hua-hin/

 

-- © Copyright Hua Hin Today 2022-03-16

 

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It's a game form the south of France, from Provence. And mainly played in the south.

 

Quite strange to read they speak about "Petanque court", and to see a very flat place where they paly it. Pétanque is played anywhere where the is dirt.. and it doesn't need to be played on a flat ground, you can have rocks, holes, etc... And no need to pay for playing !

 

And the game never starts from the same place, but from where the "cochonnet" was sent before.

 

They play it here in Mukdahan too...

Report I heard from are Pattaya estate was they barred all the Frenchmen playing this game as they never bought any beer or soft drinks, but insisted on using the loo. Owner of the area put tables and chairs on their playing field to move them on !

Looks similar to Italian Bocce. My grandfather used to play

In the World ranking Thailand is number 2 behind France. I am not sure how many countries are part of the World Ranking, I would only well over 50 countries.

During my stay at Koh Chang, Trat in 2006/7 we played this game almost every afternoon on Klong Prao beach. At times there were  eight of us from a mix of nationalities, none were French. It was a nice light hearted way to spend some active time on the beach between mouthfuls of ice cold refreshments.