Thai-Lao border lively for end of Buddhist Lent events

NAKHON PHANOM, THAILAND, October 6 (TNA) - Lively atmosphere is dominating areas along the Thai-Lao border, where annual events are being organized. In Nakhon Phanom Province in the Thai Northeast, Lao people are flocking into the Thai side to join the illuminated boat festival or Lai Rua Fai, set from October 1-9. The festival, including the Red Cross Fair, is, thus big, with highlights comprising light-and-sound shows and a trade fair of district and government offices. There are also stalls of food and discount products over a distance of about three kilometers along the Mekong River in the Muang Nakhon Phanom Municipality, attracting a large number of Thai and Lao tourists and shoppers. Visitors from other Thai provinces have, in the meantime, registered for border passes to cross the Mekong River to visit places of interest in Thakhaek District of Laos’ Khammouane Province, causing outbound traffic to have overwhelmed local tourist ports of the Muang Nakhon Phanom Municipality and the border checkpoint on the Third Thai-Lao Friendship Bridge, so has inbound traffic, as a large number of Lao people are visiting Nakhon Phanom for shopping and leisure. Ferries plying between Thailand and Laos across the Mekong River there have also been packed, with hundreds of millions of baht expected to be changed hands in the northeastern Thai province during this annual festivity. In nearby Nong Khai Province, Lao people are visiting to buy goods for activities marking the end of the Buddhist Lent on October 8. In Nongkhai’s Phon Phisai District, shoppers have unusually grown in number, as Lao people are actively arriving on ferries to buy goods, including food and beverages, as well as electric fans, refrigerators and televisions, ahead of celebrations for the end of the Buddhist Lent. A Lao trader said that atmosphere in Laos is very lively in the lead-up to the end of the Buddhist Lent, as most Lao people make donations, including appliances at Buddhist temples in the morning and a large number of the people are waiting for the annual phenomenon of Naga fireballs in the Mekong River, especially on the Lao bank of Ban Pak Ngum in Bolikhamxai Province, opposite Nong Khai's Phon Phisai and Ratana Wapi Districts and they are, thus, buying lots of the products during this festive period. (TNA)