Buffalos look scary, but they are nothing to worry about in Thailand

I remember the first time I encountered one of these beasts. Based on my limited farm experience in the western world, I always feared any large creature with massive horns. My friend's had a farm with a bull pen and that was a terrifying place to be near and of course is where we spent a majority of our time attempting to get the bull all worked up.

So when I got to Thailand and first encountered one of these guys in the jungle, which you will do if you live here for a while. I froze in fear. I slowly backed away and was preparing to make what almost surely would have been a failed attempt to run up a tree only to turn around later and discover that this guy hadn't even moved. He was completely uninterested in my presence.

Buffalos in Thailand are not to be confused with the great American Buffalo that we killed almost all of 300 years ago. They are not aggressive and don't really have any reason to be since there are no predators for it. They are also completely domesticated. While I can't help but feel a little bit bad for them, they basically spend their entire day tethered off to some sort of rock or tree and just chew on the grass and all plants around them all day, every day.

Some Thai friends of mine that grew up here tell me stories about how they had to walk the buffalo to school with them and tie it off somewhere and there it would remain, all day, without ever even trying to get away. They are known as powerfully stupid animals to the point where using the Thai word for buffalo - "Quai" - is considered a rather dangerous insult. Unless you want to fight the guy, don't call them that.

The rest of the run that day was rather wildlife free and the trail consisted of significantly more tarmac than we are normally expecting. The Hares received a lot of grief for this and spent some time on the ice because of it. In Hash House Harrier circles, unless you are based out of an urban area, it is expected that we end up in nature as much as possible. If there are buffalos out there, great. It's just a nice addition to the process.

This is more along the lines of what we are looking for in a trail run especially since it is completely unclear as to which direction we are supposed to be heading. This is one of the times where the trail is unknown and the FRB (front running bastards) have to figure out where the true trail is in order to help the rest of us get through the course.

All in all we had a good crew this past week and we are seeing more and more of our members returning to the area as the smoky season will soon be coming to an end. You can tell by the gloomy sky that there is still a perma-haze that is just part of your day to day life if you live in Chiang Mai from January to April. There doesn't seem to be any change in this from one year to the next despite constant government promises that they are going to do something about it. They never will.... we've figured it out at this point.

We are still doing runs ever Monday, Thursday, and Saturday here in Chiang Mai, Thailand and membership to the Hash is not a requirement to join us. So if you find yourself in the area, please drop us a line and come along for some booze, running, and fun.