Country Article / Postcards
Water Buffalo For Sale
Date: 09/04/2006
At Kengtung water buffalo market, the best animals can fetch up to $500.
International Living Postcards-- your daily escape
Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006
Kengtung, Myanmar (Burma)
Need to replace your old, worn out water buffalo? Head to Kengtung in Shan State, Myanmar where, three times a week, the water buffalo market is held in an empty field outside town.
You’ll have to take a motorcycle taxi to get there and be sure to hold on tight because the road up the hill is rough and full of holes. During the rainy season it can be downright treacherous. However, if you arrive early, the sound of the monks chanting from the nearby monastery reverberates through the misty hills, adding an ethereal touch to the scene.
The selection of water buffalo is substantial and varied. How do you judge the best beast? Aao San, the young man who brought me to the market, lays out the criteria: “First you check the teeth. Are they good and strong? Then you check to see if the body and the horns are uniform. Don’t forget to look at the toes.”
“Why the toes?” I asked.
He shrugged. “The toes hold the body up. They must have strength.” Water Buffalo 101 out of the way, we moved on to esotericism. “The hips are a personal preference. Some like them big, round and beautiful.” Here, Aao drew out a voluptuous circle in the air. “Others think streamlined are better.” His hands snapped to attention in a rigid line.
The water buffalo market sometimes turns into the scene of domestic drama. I watched a heated argument break out between two men. Aao San translated the dispute:
“The first man woke up to find his water buffalo gone. So, he came here, and found the buffalo with this other man, a farmer from the Akah tribe. The first man is leveling an accusation of theft, but the Akah farmer claims he came by it legally. The two officials,” Aao pointed to two men squatting side by side under two bamboo poles covered with thatch, “They will settle it.”
The officials got up and ambled over to the arguing farmers. One of them produced some papers and the first farmer stomped away. The documents showed that the farmer bought the buffalo from the other man’s wife--she sold it to pay off her husband’s gambling debts.
Most water buffalo go for around $200 to $300, but the best can cost more than $500. Shipping not included.
Leslie Clary
For International Living
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