So there I am, sat outside the mother in-laws house, contemplating another day of being bored in Buriram, smoking like a chimney and drinking copious amounts of coffee. The Brother in-law walks in the house, grabs a hammer, mutters something and wanders off, “what’s he doing with the hammer” I ask my wife, “going to kill a pig” she replies. Now I have a predicament, shall I go and video the pig’s death, no, although it might get a few hits on youtube I just can’t bring myself to watch. A couple of minutes pass by and then comes the inevitable death cry of the pig.
Believe me, I didn’t enjoy hearing that poor creature die, several questions entered my head. Did they really kill it with a hammer, turns out that it’s standard practice in Thailand to stun the pig with a hammer and then cut the throat to bleed it. Who killed the pig ?, when villagers want to kill a single pig they will hire the services of a slaughter-man/butcher.
