Active cross-border trade, travels ahead of Songkran Festival

BORDER AREAS, THAILAND, April 10 (TNA) - Cross-border businesses and travels are now active between Thailand and neighboring countries ahead of the Songkran Festival next week. In Prachuap Khiri Khan Province in the Upper Thai South, the opening hours of the Singkorn Border Pass in Muang District, opposite Myanmar's Mudong Village, are extended from 6:30am-6pm to 6:30am-10pm from April 11-17 to promote the cross-border businesses and travels during the Songkran or the Traditional Thai New Year Festival. Muang Prachuap Khiri Khan District Chief Somporn Patchimphet explained that the change is aimed to allow people from both sides of the border to celebrate the annual Songkran or Water Splashing Festival and conveniently join activities during the festivity period, including parades and old-styled Thai-Myanmar bouts. Somporn announced that his district will regularly open a weekend market near the Singkorn Border Pass after the Songkran Festival to boost cross-border tourism and trade. In Ranong Province in the Thai South, opposite Myanmar's Kaw Thaung Township, Myanmar workers are actively returning to their homeland by sea for Songkran long holidays, causing ferries to be packed for the time being. In Sa Kaeo Province in the Thai East, bordering Cambodia, Cambodian traders are actively cross the border to buy consumer products in Aranyaprathet District for resale on their soil during the upcoming Songkran Festival. Thousands of Cambodian workers are also leaving the border district for their homeland for a family reunion during the Songkran Festival. (TNA)