amazing human being

Sylvan is quite popular with the locals. His hacky sac skills have helped bridge the communication gap and allowed him to communicate and interact with local people in a very unique way. Inside the gates of the forbidden city, we found a few groups of people playing the Chinese version of hacky sack. They don't play with a ball, but with a coin wrapped in leather and attached to a feather or a group of feathers. In Vietnam they play something similar and call it "kick kick." It's been interesting to see the transformation of these hacky sac like toys through SE Asia.



Everyone was impressed with Sylvan's skills and even though I couldn't tell what they were saying, it was easy to see that they enjoyed watching him kick they're toy around. At one point they even cheered and clapped.After Sylvan played with this group of people, they gave him one of their hand made hacky sacs. It's probably the most interesting and unique souvenir we've acquired on our trip.

After playing hacky sac, we walked around a bit more and found a man with two sticks and a baton. He was twirling and throwing the baton around and invited us to try it. He spoke very enthusiastic English and was overly impressed with our lack of skill. He told me that I was a natural, but that was nothing compared to the praise Sylvan received. The man was absolutely in awe of Sylvan's natural abilities. He said many things. Here are a few of the better ones:
"You must be great athlete!"
"Amazing human being!"
"It is an honor to watch you play!"
It was really hilarious. We drew a crowd. We seem to draw a crowd wherever we go. People are interested in what we're doing, no matter what it is, and many Chinese ask if they can take pictures of us.