The last time I attended school in Thailand was around the first week in October when the students were gearing up for their end of semester exams. Since then I have been travelling on the eastern side of the country, visiting many different towns and meeting with other exchange students.
It has been a wonderful break between semesters from the normal routine I had established at school with all my classes.It was a summer vacation and the first thing I had to do was fill up every day with something I hadn't seen or done. It didn't take me long to come up with a list.
My first destination was to the island of Koh Chang to meet with other exchange students from Canada, Brazil, South Africa and the U.S.
Koh Chang is located 13 hours away from my host town of Chumphae on the eastern seaboard of Thailand, close to the Cambodian border. It is an island devoted to tourism and hospitality, yet in a subtle way compared to other Thai islands. Since the rainy season has ended and the cool season is just beginning, we were able to have some privacy, as there weren't very many tourists. For around 75 Baht or $2 Canadian per person for each night, we stayed for about a week at a bungalow resort located right on the beach. It was a chance to catch up on speaking English rather than the basic Thai I have learned so far.
Swimming was spectacular as you could walk out forever heading away from the beach in water that is as warm as a bath. The island also includes many beautiful waterfalls, where our group spent the whole day swimming. It was a great change from the typical warm Thai ocean and was comparable to swimming in Georgia Strait. Overall the island offered a relaxing atmosphere in a setting that could have been out of a movie.
Next on my list was to attend the annual event roughly translated as Naga Fireballs, which happens in the province of Nong Khai on the Mekong River where the country of Laos sits on the other side.
Each year during the full moon of October, a mysterious phenomena occurs on the river at some stage in either the evening of the full moon or the following night. Under the twilight of one of those nights a varying number of fireballs can be seen shooting out of the river into the dark sky. The general consensus among the Thai people is that they really don't know if the fireballs, which have been happening for as far back as anyone can remember, are natural or not. It is said that the balls of fire shoot out of the Mekong River as Naga celebrates the end of the Buddhist rains as they retreat during this time. With other theories blaming drunken Lao soldiers who have been taking part in festivities and firing off their rifles into the sky you really don't know who to believe. Another theory is that methane gas, which is trapped below the riverbed, is released as it heats up during the full moon occurrence each year. I have not made up my mind on the authenticity of the event, but I have some positive evidence.
As we awaited the Naga Fireballs along the bank of the Mekong River, suddenly they were seen leaving no trail, no smoke and no sound. Shooting far into the night's sky they would go forever while everyone tried to come to their own conclusion. They weren't comparable to the fireworks that were going off at the same time or even a gunshot. Whether you believe it is a natural happening or not, it made for a great festival full of culture and fire.
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