Great balls of fire in Thai phenomenon: 26-10-2007
A mysterious but beautiful event has residents of Nong Khai baffled when every year on the first full moon in October hundreds of egg-sized fireballs rise from the Mekong River and then vaporise without a trace.
From October 26th to 27th this year, tourists in Northern Thailand can witness the odd event, which has been turned into a two-day festival celebrating the red, pink and orange Naga Fireballs.
Coinciding with end of the Buddhist Rains Retreat, local residents believe the fire may be emitted by the legendary serpent Naga in honour of Buddha. Accordingly, natives celebrate the phenomenon in traditional Thai style, with Son et Lumiere shows, an illuminated boat competition and the King's Cup boat race.
Scientists, on the other hand, believe that the fireballs are created by a natural environmental process. They claim that decomposing biological matter at the bottom of the river begins to give off flammable gases in the sun's heat, which are only released by the gravitational pull of a full moon.
Whichever theory you happen to believe, there is no denying that the Naga fireballs are an amazing spectacle to behold.
Meanwhile, further along the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom, natives mark the religious day with the Ok Phansan festival, setting candles out to sail in elaborate boats fashioned from bamboo or banana leaves.