Suphanburi - Buffalo Village

The Buffalo Village is located at Sri Prachant District in Suphanburi Province - it is approx. 110 km from Bangkok and is a theme park allowing visitors a taste of how traditional rural life was.

They have many water buffaloes there, including pygmy and albino water buffaloes as well as ones deformed at birth, e.g. having five legs.Visitors can pat and touch some of the gentle animals and ex-farmers are on hand to tell you (in Thai) all about the water buffaloes and how they were used in farming.

Rice growing is another main attraction at the Buffalo Village. The farmers and workers are regularly out in the rice fields tending to the rice with their buffaloes. During planting times, they let the visitors go out into the fields and try their hand at planting rice themselves. Harvest time is also interesting when you can see them go through the harvest process using traditional farming tools.

The aim of the Buffalo Village is not only to raise awareness of the important role the buffaloes have played, but also to help conserve the dwindling breeding stock.Farming life in Thailand has been modernized and "mechanized" so the Buffalo Village offers an opportunity to see how things were done in the not so distant past.

It was not really until during my year in northern Vietnam (where things are still done in the old-fashioned way) I realized how labor intensive rice farming was. But then again, knowing agricultural history in Europe, it is also worth noting that it was not until the mid-1960s that the number of tractors exceed the number of horses. So, horses were actually an important farm animal in Western Europe up until around 1970. That I don't think anybody in Europe considers when looking down on the "third world countries".

All season long, you can hop into the back of a buffalo cart and take a ride around one of the rice fields, but most importantly, there are a number of daily buffalo shows where they sometimes have local children perform some traditional Thai skits and songs.

The main show features about 10-15 water buffaloes doing some simple tricks. It is all narrated in Thai of course. The shows are at 11 a.m and 3 p.m. during the week and 11 a.m., 2.30 p.m. and 4 p.m. on weekends.

Other highlights of the Buffalo Village are the group of traditional Thai style houses and the "resort" where people can rent a simple room for the night.

The major drawback of the Buffalo Village is the dual pricing that is applied. Although the show is only in Thai language, they have decided, for some reason, to charge foreigners a higher price. Full price, including entrance, show and buffalo cart ride is 300 baht for foreigners and 60 baht for Thais. Foreign children are 210 baht and Thai children only 10 baht.

Despite this, I still recommend the Buffalo Village as a destination for a weekend excursion. 

There are also sights to be seen in Suphanburi city - some built with pork-barrel funds from Bangkok secured by Banharn Silpa-archa (former Thai PM) and his daughter. Examples of these sights are the Chalermpatara Park (with a small water-fun-park, an impressive fountain, and the infamous "Banharn Tower" with views of Suphanburi city) and the "museum for the Dragon People" where Silpa-archa celebrates his Chinese heritage. Interestingly, there are three price tiers for entering this private sector "museum". Caucasians are charged an arm and a foot while Thais (and other non-Chinese Asians) merely are fleeced. People of Chinese lineage can get in cheaply. 

To me, the memorial and museum for King Naruesan (king of Ayutthaya for 15 years until his death in 1605) surely beat Banharn's celebration of the Dragon People.