X'Mas celebrations in Thailand

THAILAND, December 26 (TNA) - Christmas celebrations have been seen across Thailand, especially in resort and charming areas where international tourists are gathering for their seasonal holidays. In Sakon Nakhon Province in the Thai Northeast, General Tanasak Patimapragorn, Deputy Chief of the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO), presided over a Christmas celebrating tradition on December 25, coupled with church members in the province and adjacent Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan and Kalasin Provinces. The grand event in Sakon Nakhon included the so-called "big star procession" of over 200 cars where "Santas and Santinas" have joined over 100 "Roman soldiers" to present their vivid and smiling gifts to people while moving around the provincial main municipal area. Besides, musical concerts were organized in which the chorus of Christmas songs and plays were performed on stages to entertain a large crowd of locals and international visitors to the northeastern Thai province. Monday's procession was organized from a belief of members of the Roman Catholic Church that illuminating stars on the sky on the Christmas night symbolize the birth on the Earth of the Jesus Christ. In the globally-renowned Chiang Mai Province in the Thai North, throngs of locals and international tourists crowded restaurants and department stores where there were colorfully-decorated Christmas trees to take photos with their families and friends. Similar illuminating Christmas trees were also decorated at other tourist attractions across the resort city. At the Chiang Mai Night Safari, crowds of international tourists enjoyed amazing fire and light and sound shows, as well as other performances, together with their close looks on wild and rare animals in their confined zones amid the chilly weather. In Pattaya City of the seaside Chon Buri Province in the Thai East, illuminating Christmas trees with colorful decorations and cheerful Santas were also seen widely. In Surat Thani Province in the Thai South, international tourists crowded its attractive Samui Island, in particular, to celebrate their Christmas at restaurants and entertainment venues along Chaweng Beach amid traffic congestion. As hotels on the Samui Island have been 80 per cent-booked and inbound flights have been fully-seated with passengers, it was expected that more than one billion baht should be changed hands on the resort island during the Christmas and New Year celebrations currently. (TNA)