【新唐人】CHAO: Hundreds of people have gathered to watch the annual Buffalo Races Festival in the tourist city of Chonburi, about 80 km east of Bangkok. The festival, which started as a social event for farmers after the rice harvesting season every October. This year, the winning jockey and buffalo will receive a prize of 5,000 baht ($122.1) and farm equipment.
STORY: As the race kicked off, barefoot jockeys used their whip to drive the buffalos faster. The jockeys race with the buffaloes along the 110 metre long dirt track to the finish line, with little to protect them from falls and injuries.
The festival, which brings in hundreds of people every year, has started to attract a number of tourists.
James Blair from Scotland, who took time off from his job in Thailand to attend the event, says: “It’s brilliant. It’s really really good fun. Dangerous as well. You never get anything like this in the U.K. ever. So it’s very good."
59-year-old Tod Supapron has been a big fan of buffalo racing ever since he was a boy. He attends the event every year with his family.
He said: “I have seen it since I was big enough to start remembering things, about when I was seven or eight years old. Chonburi started the festival and it has been about 134 years now. Now I am 59 years old, so I have watched (this festival) for more than 40 years."
A buffalo parade in honour of the animal is carried out during the festival. Buffaloes are paraded down the streets in bright costumes as passers by cheer on.
