Vittaya Yoondorn
Pattaya’s gold-outfitted “glitter man” is no longer
the city’s only bicycle-riding source of amusement. Visitors and
residents are now talking about a 49-year-old cowboy who is rolling
along Pattaya and Jomtien beaches on a bike crafted to look like a water
buffalo.
Sunya Sompu turns heads
when riding around town on his water buffalo bike.
Sunya Sompu, a freelance laborer, looks the part of a
Thai cowboy, decked out in checked shirt, leather boots and shorts who
listens to Issan country music while tooling around town on a bike that
uses a water buffalo skull as handlebars.
The water buffalo horns are the symbol of his
favorite band, Carabao, and the bike itself is a sight to behold, with
its frame wrapped in fur. It took time to put his act together, scraping
together 2,000 baht for the bicycle and then finding the ox skull in an
antique shop.
Sunya says he rides every evening around area beaches
to show off his bike and bring a smile to tourists’ faces. He welcomes
people stopping him to talk and hopes he can set a good example for
youngsters.
