In Chon Buri the buffaloes are judged on looks as well as speed

At the Chon Buri buffalo races, the judges score the buffaloes on build, health and the decorations their owners give them as well as on speed, and the closing day brings slingshot shooting and greased-pole climbing.

The track is about 100 metres of packed soil. In 2026 the festival reaches its 155th edition, from 17 to 25 October, on the grounds in front of the Mueang Chon Buri district office and the provincial hall. The nine days are filled with Muay Thai, Thai chess and a contest for painted plaster buffaloes, and the races themselves come on the last day, after ox-cart processions from the province's districts.

Nobody wrote down how it began. Local historians think it grew out of Chon Buri's years as a trading town for the eastern provinces, when farmers and merchants came in by buffalo cart, parked near the market and left their animals tethered to rest or bathe. Before heading home at the end of the Buddhist rains retreat, some of them raced the buffaloes for fun, and the habit stuck. The first races were probably held at Wat Luang, now Wat Yai Inthraram, and the festival still opens there with a tribute to King Taksin. The traditional dates are the 14th and 15th days of the waxing moon in the 11th lunar month, just after the planting season.

Ang Sila, on the coast south of Chon Buri town, is known for its mortars. It was once called Ang Hin, after the large granite and sandstone basins found there. The local granite is hard, streaked white and yellow, and after the Second World War Chinese migrants began cutting it into mortars and pestles, grinding stones and statues that sold across Thailand. The old market was established in 1876 and was once visited by King Chulalongkorn; most of the crabs, prawns and fish on its stalls come from the Bay of Bangkok.

Further down the coast is Si Racha. Sriraja Panich, one of Thailand's best-known chilli sauces, is named after the town and has been bottled since the 1930s. Offshore, on Ko Si Chang, a royal seaside residence was built in 1889 under King Chulalongkorn (Rama V). It fell out of use during the 1893 crisis with France, and Chulalongkorn University has been restoring it as a museum since 2004.