There’s no secret that the old ways of Thai life are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Technological advances, the modernization of the countryside, and a general flow of the young generation towards urban areas are changing the dynamics and appeal of what once was the Thai traditional countryside.
Parents are starting to notice the fast rate at which the generation gap between them and their children (and even between their older and young siblings) is becoming shorter and shorter. While this is inevitable due to the fast pace at which technology is changing our every day life, more and more adults are acknowledging the fact that the old values and lifestyle of their great-grandparents was by far healthier and more moral.
In an attempt to show their children that there’s a world out there that does not revolve around imaginary points earned on a smart phone or tablet game, more and more parents make the effort to take their kids out of the city to explore the village life of their ancestors. One such destination is the Buffalo Village, or “Baan Kwai” in Thai, located in Sri Prachant District of Suphanburi Province, approximately 170 km northwest of Bangkok.
The Buffalo Village is, as its name suggests, a buffalo preservation area covering 40 acres of land that aims at replicating, as faithfully as possible, the rural lifestyle of farmers living in Thailand’s central region. This village would make a perfect destination for a family trip but it’s also worth checking out even if you’re a tourist on holiday, a longtime expat or, even more, a Thai national who lives and works in the city.
Obviously, the focus of the village is the buffalo corral with its many beasts of burden. The village also dubs as a learning and preservation center for buffalos whose numbers have dropped bellow one million from the three million heads recorded in 1996. You will be able to see some very rare types of water buffalo, including an albino buffalo called “Kwan.”
The guide and the farmers attending to the buffalos can tell you all the distinct characteristics each special buffalo has and you can also climb on them to take a picture or go for a short ride. There’s even a buffalo show in which, quite sadly, the animals are made to walk up on small structures but you will also see how to make a “saphan kwai,” a “buffalo bridge,” by lining up the buffalos and walking on their back from one side to the other.
But there are many more things to do and see at the Buffalo Village that don’t involve buffalos. You can actually experience the complete rice making cycle from taking care of seedlings, to turning the paddy filed earth using a wooden plough pulled by buffalos, to planting the rice, and finally to rice-threshing.
If you though planting rice in the paddy field is an easy job, then you’ll find out the exact opposite. While at the same time trying not slip and fall face down in the mud, you enter barefoot a small paddy field with rice sapling in your hand and plant them in neat rows. It is literally backbreaking work and the scorching sun above has no mercy on you either.
Once you understood how difficult it is to be a farmer, you can move on exploring the rest of the village. There’s still plenty to do, including learning how to use a fishing net, how to gather hay with a pitchfork, and how to care for the buffalos. After you’ve gone through through the daily motions of a typical Thai farmer, it’s time to relax.
The village has well-kept gardens and there’s even a lake with two black swans and fish which you can feed while resting in the shade of a roofed jetty. While walking around the village, you’ll discover a small zoo, an orchid garden, a herb garden, Thai wooden houses built on stilts, a souvenir shop, plus several photo stations where you can fool around and pretend you’re a “real” farmer.
There is no doubt that after a trip to Baan Kwai (Buffalo Village) in Suphanburi Province you will appreciate more the hard work farmers throughout Thailand do in order for us to have rice on the table. The village offers an idealized peek into a farmer’s life, but it is important to understand that, out there, in the real world, droughts, bad harvests, financial problems, poaching, and forest encroaching are true problems which Thai farmers struggle with on a daily basis. Maybe next time when we’re about to throw in the bin the rice leftovers from dinner, we’ll think twice and be less wasteful.
The Buffalo Village is located on Suphan Buri-Chai Nat Road at Km 115-116 of Highway 340. The place is open daily from 9 am to 6 pm and tickets for foreigners cost 150 baht for adults and 100 baht for children. If you show your work permit or Thai driving license, you might get a discount. Thai people pay significantly less: 20 baht for adults and 10 baht for children. Visit their website (Thai only) to find out more details.
Watch the buffalo show at “Baan Kwai”:
