Valentine’s Day celebrations throughout Thailand

BANGKOK, February 14 (TNA) - Love is in the air throughout Thailand on the Saint Valentine’s Day today, coming from lovers, family members and friends. Even in the violence-plagued Yala Province in the deep South, students and adults have bought roses, mostly red ones, to express their love. In the northern Pichit Province, people have mostly bought jasmine and marigold garlands for their parents and loved ones although the prices of roses now double. In Chiang Rai Province, also in the Thai North, young buyers have overwhelmed flower stalls, where roses, imported from Kunming, southern China, are priced at 50-150 baht each and a bunch of roses is retailed at 500 baht. On the top of Doi Inthanon Mountain, Thailand's highest northern spot in Chiang Mai Province, 13 couples had their Lanna-styled wedding at temperatures as low as around 18 degrees Celsius. Other Thai and foreign couples have filled the Muang Chiang Mai district office for their marriage registrations. In Surin Province in the Northeast, a 95-year-old man who has lived with his common-law wife aged 90 for over 70 years reached the Prasat district office to seek their marriage certificate amidst the joy of their children and grandchildren. In Nakhon Phanom Province, also in the Thai Northeast, roses are more expensive due to drought, prompting several teenagers to turn to plastic roses which are cheaper and last longer. In Thailand's northeastern Khon Kaen Province, local police have handed roses to passersby to improve public relations and refrained from issuing tickets today; while a number of lovers have sought their marriage registrations. (TNA)