I recently had the idea that I would like to go to the Philippines specifically to explore the pool culture in this fascinating country.
Is this a crazy idea? Going to foreign land for the specific purpose of billiard tourism?
I figure I can start by making contacts over there through facebook and emails to any relevant bloggers I can uncover from teh innarnet. Also, http://www.couchsurfing.org/ may be of help. Anyone got any advice?
Many, many excellent pool players are from the Philippines, names such as Francisco Bustamente and Efren Reyes should be familiar to all pool players. I have heard that there have more pool tables per capita than any other country in the world. Beyond just the pool, I am also interested in the geographical and historical aspects of the country, the language, and of course the food.
Here is the wikipedia entry on the Philippines, and here is the one on Efren Reyes.
Has anyone been there? Do you have any insights or resources you could recommend?
I'm looking forward to planning this trip :D
I once had a professor who traveled the world to go bird watching. Never saw one monument or talked to any locals, just watched birds. So why not pool? After all, "tourism" cannot encompass every aspect of a country, just some, so why not the billiard side?
ReplyDeleteThat sounds like a fantastic idea! I don't know anyone personally but I think if you posted on AZ billiards you would get some responses, perhaps they could direct you to Phillipine blogs/forums. Maybe R.A. Dyer at poolhistory.com could help
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