Candles, fireworks and balls of fire

Today was an important temple day in the Thai calendar marking the end of three months as a monk for many young men, the beginning of the cool dry season and here in Nong Khai the time of the fire balls. For days small boys have been letting off fireworks with intermittent bangs startling me as I paint. Today it reached a crescendo with firecrackers going off all the time, This evening all the houses in the ban (village) were lit many small candles in rows about three centimeters apart along any horizontal surfaces available. After dark I drove the motorcy up our street and past one of the temples out into the black night. Then I rode on across the bridge to the farm where Waree’s father sleeps next to the river. He stays here to look after his fish pond, ducks and vegetable garden. I often drive there at night to deliver his evening meal since the children have been away. The ban looked beautiful with all the houses glittering with candles. I was a bit worried that somebody might throw a cracker at me out of the dark as I heard some voices saying “Farang” as I went past and many young men were in high spirits and most likely drunk on Thai whisky. Earlier I had been at the farm and watched buses and trucks overloaded with people hanging off the back making their way to Phompisai for the fire ball festival. We went last year but with a young baby we could not go this time. The fire balls are a natural occurrence on stretches of the Mekong River near Nong Khai and are attended by tens of thousands of people from all over Thailand. Phompisai is packed out with vendors and attractions, lights and dragon boats on the river. Far across the black water you can see the twinkling lights of houses in Lao. The fireballs are an amazing phenomenon especially as they regularly occur on this day of the year and the next two days. I missed them last year so I can only report what I have heard from others. Red balls of fire spontaneously shoot out of the river in the evening of the 28th of October. Scientists think that the balls are caused by methane gas being released from the river bed and ignited by some means. Hopefully next year Adam will be old enough to go and I will have a new camera which will be able to take night photos.