Koh Samui cast her spell on me, way back in the 80’s The time of my carefree backpacking days. Am I really this old? Today, I am one of the lucky guys, having opted out of the drudgery & gloom of life in the UK. I choose life! Sunshine! Happiness! I live with my family & work in a very peaceful, & quite traditional part of Samui, down on the glorious unspoiled South of the island.
For years I have happily avoided the subject of buffalo fighting, pretending not to be interested in it, to care what it is about. I quite righteously took the higher moral ground, assuming that the buffalo were being used against their will, or, forced to fight for material gain, & who knows I wonder, are they mistreated? But the times they are a changin’
Over the last few months a small piece of undeveloped land has been a hive of gentle activity, taken over, seemingly as a new buffalo boot camp, come fairground, come fighting stadium. It is impossible to avoid as it is directly on the side of our local road, and, smack bang between us & our local market, &, more importantly our nearest 24/7 convenience store.
I am intrigued! My many daily journeys take me past the new boot camp & are proving ever more interesting, I am dying to know what is going on there. At any time there will be 1 or 2 buffalo, tethered, with a ring through their nose, & the rope safely fastened into an immovable object such as a tree. No escape for you Mr. Buffalo
Without exception, there will be at least one young man in attendance, his role, part Jailer, part bodyguard, part provider of cool places to wallow & find succulent shoots. Big job!
This being Thailand, there will naturally be some folk just hangin’ out, either just because they can, or, as part of the team who seem to be involved in the continuous building & ongoing maintenance of the fighting ring or surrounding arena.
As the fighting season approaches, things start to hot up a little, there is constant activity around the boot camp, more people, more buffalo, more food vendors. I guessed that we were heading rapidly towards fight week.
Despite my best efforts I have been drawn into this unknown world, all resolve dashed when a handsome young Thai man drove his shiny new 4 x 4 into my gravel yard, got out, walked to my kitchen & personally handed me the invitation to attend THE BUFFALO FIGHTS. The invitation in the form of a piece of photocopied A4 paper, came complete with the day, date & time of the next events! Coming that week!
To my continued astonishment the invitation to THE BUFFALO FIGHTS was printed in English. Surely only ex-pats, like us, who have unwittingly isolated themselves from their Thai community by their lack of language skills, will understand how bizarre it was to be handed that paper written in English. Mostly we guess what is written on any bill, form, and official document. Somehow we get by!
Pour a drink, call the gang, jointly decide that it is high time we all went along to a buffalo fight, pick a day, and pick a time. Stick THE INVITATION to the fridge, under the industrial magnet
D Day! Meet you at the “stadium gates” OK! Great excitement, what to wear? Take some cash, don’t forget your camera…don’t need to eat, many many food vendors, no problem.
Collected by mad friend, we cruise to the edge of THE STADIUM on the back of her scooter, then watched by hundreds of pairs of amused eyes, we try to park, amongst the madness & countless scooters & motorbikes without losing our dignity & cool. Almost make it
The Stadium entrance is a hawker’s paradise with food vendors, neatly lined up between the roadside & the entrance to the fighting arena, almost like a tunnel, no escape from the Very Tasty Thai Snacks. Delicious! Yummy! Sticky rice in bamboo, fried chicken, fried banana. Yum, We bought BIG bags of it all to keep us sustained though the long fights ahead.
Meander through food vendor tunnel, reach the edge of THE STADUIM, can’t see inside as all blocked off by massive sheets. No chance of our gang slipping in around the back or under the sheeting, too conspicuous, Duly pay our 200 Baht each entrance fee & wander in casually, all wondering what would be happening, where, how? What is the protocol?
Top marks to me! I am the first to find Singha beer For Sale HERE! BIG bottles of beer, we don’t want to have to run across to the bar to buy more & miss any of the action!
Take in turns to lean against one of the massive posts, part of the area structure, carefully position the beers on top of the post. Try to look like we know what we are doing, Oh Yes! We are old hands at this spectator sport. See another ferang looking a bit lost, start up enquiring conversation between us all…. sip the beer. Nibble at the chicken sticks. Debate how & where any bets might be placed, we can’t tell. Then without fanfare it starts!
Two buffalo, centre stage, hidden from each other by a large sort of screen, held firmly in place by two athletic Thai gentlemen. The screen is pulled away. The buffalo face each other, their heads drop, & they start to push heads really really hard against each other. Quick! Get your camera out, gang try to get cameras out of cases, whilst juggling crisps, beer, bags of fried chicken, & the bamboo poles holding the sticky rice. Quick! Take some pictures! Quick! Oh! What happened? I don’t know? Was that it? Who won? How can we tell who won? We look at the 2 buffalo, trying to figure out what had just happened? In the chaos of trying to find cameras, & avoid split beer we missed the main event!
My friend J from England came to stay, we all headed down to chill out at the local beach bar. This is a long sandy beach, Bang Kao Bay, a traditional fishing village, and an area known for the most stunning views of tropical islands just out to sea. Swimming is nigh on impossible as there can be the lowest of low tides, sometimes you could walk out miles out before the sea even touches your ankles.
As we sit, we spy 2 buffalo, standing way out to sea.. Strange we think. Within minutes a young man whizzes along the beach in front of us on his motorbike, leading a very cute looking young buffalo along the sand, at quite some speed, he is followed by an older man running up the beach leading a much older looking beast.
Sadly at this point I have to leave the bar. Later my friends tell me that the bar owner explained all. The new Buffalo Fighting season starts next week, & these guys are in training!
For years I have happily avoided the subject of buffalo fighting, pretending not to be interested in it, to care what it is about. I quite righteously took the higher moral ground, assuming that the buffalo were being used against their will, or, forced to fight for material gain, & who knows I wonder, are they mistreated? But the times they are a changin’
Over the last few months a small piece of undeveloped land has been a hive of gentle activity, taken over, seemingly as a new buffalo boot camp, come fairground, come fighting stadium. It is impossible to avoid as it is directly on the side of our local road, and, smack bang between us & our local market, &, more importantly our nearest 24/7 convenience store.
I am intrigued! My many daily journeys take me past the new boot camp & are proving ever more interesting, I am dying to know what is going on there. At any time there will be 1 or 2 buffalo, tethered, with a ring through their nose, & the rope safely fastened into an immovable object such as a tree. No escape for you Mr. Buffalo
Without exception, there will be at least one young man in attendance, his role, part Jailer, part bodyguard, part provider of cool places to wallow & find succulent shoots. Big job!
This being Thailand, there will naturally be some folk just hangin’ out, either just because they can, or, as part of the team who seem to be involved in the continuous building & ongoing maintenance of the fighting ring or surrounding arena.
As the fighting season approaches, things start to hot up a little, there is constant activity around the boot camp, more people, more buffalo, more food vendors. I guessed that we were heading rapidly towards fight week.
Despite my best efforts I have been drawn into this unknown world, all resolve dashed when a handsome young Thai man drove his shiny new 4 x 4 into my gravel yard, got out, walked to my kitchen & personally handed me the invitation to attend THE BUFFALO FIGHTS. The invitation in the form of a piece of photocopied A4 paper, came complete with the day, date & time of the next events! Coming that week!
To my continued astonishment the invitation to THE BUFFALO FIGHTS was printed in English. Surely only ex-pats, like us, who have unwittingly isolated themselves from their Thai community by their lack of language skills, will understand how bizarre it was to be handed that paper written in English. Mostly we guess what is written on any bill, form, and official document. Somehow we get by!
Pour a drink, call the gang, jointly decide that it is high time we all went along to a buffalo fight, pick a day, and pick a time. Stick THE INVITATION to the fridge, under the industrial magnet
D Day! Meet you at the “stadium gates” OK! Great excitement, what to wear? Take some cash, don’t forget your camera…don’t need to eat, many many food vendors, no problem.
Collected by mad friend, we cruise to the edge of THE STADIUM on the back of her scooter, then watched by hundreds of pairs of amused eyes, we try to park, amongst the madness & countless scooters & motorbikes without losing our dignity & cool. Almost make it
The Stadium entrance is a hawker’s paradise with food vendors, neatly lined up between the roadside & the entrance to the fighting arena, almost like a tunnel, no escape from the Very Tasty Thai Snacks. Delicious! Yummy! Sticky rice in bamboo, fried chicken, fried banana. Yum, We bought BIG bags of it all to keep us sustained though the long fights ahead.
Meander through food vendor tunnel, reach the edge of THE STADUIM, can’t see inside as all blocked off by massive sheets. No chance of our gang slipping in around the back or under the sheeting, too conspicuous, Duly pay our 200 Baht each entrance fee & wander in casually, all wondering what would be happening, where, how? What is the protocol?
Top marks to me! I am the first to find Singha beer For Sale HERE! BIG bottles of beer, we don’t want to have to run across to the bar to buy more & miss any of the action!
Take in turns to lean against one of the massive posts, part of the area structure, carefully position the beers on top of the post. Try to look like we know what we are doing, Oh Yes! We are old hands at this spectator sport. See another ferang looking a bit lost, start up enquiring conversation between us all…. sip the beer. Nibble at the chicken sticks. Debate how & where any bets might be placed, we can’t tell. Then without fanfare it starts!
Two buffalo, centre stage, hidden from each other by a large sort of screen, held firmly in place by two athletic Thai gentlemen. The screen is pulled away. The buffalo face each other, their heads drop, & they start to push heads really really hard against each other. Quick! Get your camera out, gang try to get cameras out of cases, whilst juggling crisps, beer, bags of fried chicken, & the bamboo poles holding the sticky rice. Quick! Take some pictures! Quick! Oh! What happened? I don’t know? Was that it? Who won? How can we tell who won? We look at the 2 buffalo, trying to figure out what had just happened? In the chaos of trying to find cameras, & avoid split beer we missed the main event!
No one timed it but it seemed to us like it had taken maybe 2 minutes. Was that it? Surely not? The crowd of Thai people is dispersing. Then, all gone, just leaving our gang, the other bemused ferang, & a small crowd of diehards emptying the bar. The 2 buffalo are led out of the area.
Home, pour a drink, long contemplation about buffalo fighting. Was it our imagination or did the buffalo almost seem to enjoy it?
Home, pour a drink, long contemplation about buffalo fighting. Was it our imagination or did the buffalo almost seem to enjoy it?
Later, I “Google” Buffalo Fighting, this is what I found:
“Buffalo Fighting Festival One of the best-known festivals on Ko Samui is its Buffalo Fighting Festival, which is held on special occasions such as New Years Day and Songkran. Unlike Spanish bull fighting, the fighting on Ko Samui is fairly harmless. The fighting season varies according to some ancient customs and ceremonies. The buffalo are beautifully decorated with ribbons and gold-painted leaves. Before the contest, which lasts just two rounds, monks spray them with holy water. The winning owner typically takes home millions of baht in prize money.”
“This hugely cheered spectacle is organized at selected venues around Ko Samui, like the stadiums at Ban Saket, Ban Makham, and just outside Nathon town. Banners are displayed well in advance all over the island.
On the day of the fight, the bulls are adorned with colourful ribbons and gold-painted leaves on their horns. Holy water is sprinkled on them as a sign of blessings prior to the fight. The bout takes place in two rounds, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The buffaloes lock horns with each other - much to the cheer of the huge and lively crowd - until the weaker one submits. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser. The champion buffalo becomes worth several million baht”
“Buffalo Fighting Festival One of the best-known festivals on Ko Samui is its Buffalo Fighting Festival, which is held on special occasions such as New Years Day and Songkran. Unlike Spanish bull fighting, the fighting on Ko Samui is fairly harmless. The fighting season varies according to some ancient customs and ceremonies. The buffalo are beautifully decorated with ribbons and gold-painted leaves. Before the contest, which lasts just two rounds, monks spray them with holy water. The winning owner typically takes home millions of baht in prize money.”
“This hugely cheered spectacle is organized at selected venues around Ko Samui, like the stadiums at Ban Saket, Ban Makham, and just outside Nathon town. Banners are displayed well in advance all over the island.
On the day of the fight, the bulls are adorned with colourful ribbons and gold-painted leaves on their horns. Holy water is sprinkled on them as a sign of blessings prior to the fight. The bout takes place in two rounds, one in the morning and the other in the afternoon. The buffaloes lock horns with each other - much to the cheer of the huge and lively crowd - until the weaker one submits. The first Buffalo to turn and run away is considered the loser. The champion buffalo becomes worth several million baht”
My friend J from England came to stay, we all headed down to chill out at the local beach bar. This is a long sandy beach, Bang Kao Bay, a traditional fishing village, and an area known for the most stunning views of tropical islands just out to sea. Swimming is nigh on impossible as there can be the lowest of low tides, sometimes you could walk out miles out before the sea even touches your ankles.
As we sit, we spy 2 buffalo, standing way out to sea.. Strange we think. Within minutes a young man whizzes along the beach in front of us on his motorbike, leading a very cute looking young buffalo along the sand, at quite some speed, he is followed by an older man running up the beach leading a much older looking beast.
Sadly at this point I have to leave the bar. Later my friends tell me that the bar owner explained all. The new Buffalo Fighting season starts next week, & these guys are in training!
