 While
in Chiang Khan, in Northeastern Thailand, I found out that there was a
place that held cockfights every Sunday morning at ten. As luck would have
it, it just happened to be Sunday morning. Laynni, it turned out, was not
the least bit interested, and still wanted to leave as planned. We worked
out a simple solution (in my mind, anyway): I saw my first cockfight, and
now I "owe her one".
Needless to say, she didn't join
me at the big event. That was probably just as well as it seemed to be
very much a men-only type of event. If I had to guess I'd say that it was
less because women weren't allowed to attend than that they weren´t interested
in such a low-brow form of entertainment. In either case, I was enough
of a spectacle on my own. The crowd was surprisingly varied, with
everyone from clean-cut, Sunday-off types to grimy little chicken-men covered
head to toe in tattoos. At first they all just kept glancing at me curiously
and nobody was saying anything. The wait for the fights to start was a
little longer than expected (big surprise, they didn't get going until
after 12), and eventually a couple guys came along that spoke a bit of
English and then the circus began.
"Where you from?", "What your name?", "You Thai lady?" - "What? Mai (no).
Mai." - "No like Thai lady?" - "Oh, yeah, like, sure. Khrap (yes)."
Of course, everyone was already laughing
hysterically by this point and then the "leader" motioned toward the man
next to him while saying, "He number one children". Then made the screwing
motion with his right index finger and his left hand. I sincerely hoped
that meant that he has lots of children. I also began to wonder why the
"screwing motion" seems to get used almost every time there's a language
barrier. Anyway, that comment really cracked everyone up.
Meanwhile, a different guy was desperately
trying to get my attention by yelling, "Khao kaeng, khao kaeng". I smiled
(I think I know this one!) and nodded, "Khao kaeng, khrap, rice" because
I knew it meant some sort of rice dish. Well, that seemed to please him
because he nodded and started talking to someone else. I was left
to wonder what the hell the point of that was.
I didn´t wonder long, though, since
two of them were apparently having a good laugh over my leg hair, specifically
the amount of it, and eventually couldn´t contain their curiosity
and started tugging on it. I fought them off, trying to be as inoffensive
as possible until, mercifully, some roosters were finally brought out and
everyone (OK, most of them) forgot about me and focused on the ring
(a circular fence about three feet high and maybe eight feet across).
A bunch of guys began to take turns
weighing the roosters by hand. They would lift them up, stare studiously
into space for about ten seconds, then nod wisely and spout a number
which would then be loudly disputed by the group. I´m not sure if
they only let cocks of similar weights fight or if they use the weight
to set the odds. Either way, I´m reasonably sure that a scale would have
been a worthwhile investment.
When that was done they oiled the
feathers, taped down the spurs and, just like that, the first fight was
underway. Wow. Who could have imagined that chickens could be so fierce?
I was impressed (and maybe even a little afraid). One guy asked me which
one I thought would win. I just shrugged since I couldn't even tell them
apart.
The men were soon going wild, and
the betting was going fast and furious. Actually, the betting was just
about the only part of the whole thing I understood (I know Thai numbers
and very little else). As the fight went on people yelled out different
odds and how much they were offering and other members of the crowd would
holler out how much they'd take him up for. And there might have been some
sort of scorekeeping system because every once in a while, usually after
some type of spectacular knockdown or something, one guy in particular
would come out with a bunch of numbers that didn't appear connected to
the betting. In the end, the fight reached its twenty-minute time limit,
the cocks were taken away scarred and bloody and with far fewer feathers
than they started the day with. And that was it.
I have no clue who won, although
I have to assume that one of them did. This didn´t seem like a "draw" kind
of sport.
There you have it, my first cockfight.
Quite entertaining, if a bit cruel and violent, but I don't see it becoming
something I follow on a regular basis. Not like the guys you see on the
cover of the dozens of different cockfighting magazines around here, all
smiling broadly while tightly holding their.........oh, never mind.
..
The
author, Dean Johnston "somewhere" in the world |
| Cockfighting
In the News: Thailand: Cockfighting to resume on New Year's Day 2006 |
| Cockfighting
is expected to resume from New Year's Day 2006 if owners register their
roosters and have their health checked before placing them in competitive
matches, Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister Khun Ying Sudarat Keyuraphan
said 18 Nov 2005. Cockfighting is a popular sport in many areas of rural
Thailand. Khun Ying Sudarat said officials would meet with breeders to
agree on government guidelines so that the fighting cocks could compete
again in fighting arenas beginning from the upcoming New Year. However,
she warned that Livestock Development Department statistics show that only
some 40 000 out of a million fighting cocks have been registered. Explaining
the government's vaccination policy regarding bird flu, Khun Ying
Sudarat said research conducted both in and outside Thailand had
shown that the vaccine could not prevent the fatal virus from spreading.
She said vaccinated chickens contracting the virus would not develop symptoms
and could transmit the virus without the owners' awareness. For this reason,
the government has decided to impose a ban on vaccination and apply
a 3-year plan of action, endorsed by international agencies, to control
the disease instead. Khun Ying Sudarat stressed that her ministry plans
to control the outbreak of avian influenza within 3 years. - Courtesy of
EINet, 11/2 |
|
