Locals, Tourists Continue Celebrating Songkran Festival In Thailand

BANGKOK, April 15 (TNA) - Thais and foreign tourists on Tuesday continued celebrating Songkran, traditional Thai New Year, while some celebrants started returning from upcountry to the capital. Caretaker Prime Minister and Defence Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her son Supasek Amornchat made merits on the occasion of the Songkran in the northern province of Chiang Mai that is her native province. They worshipped a city pillar and made donations at Wat Chedi Luang that is an important temple of Chiang Mai. Ms Yingluck received a warm welcome from local people while police heavily guarded the place. Then she will stay with her family and return to Bangkok on Wednesday (April 16). In the northernmost province of Chiang Rai, local residents make merits at Buddhist temples as they consider April 15 as the beginning of the New Year in accordance with the Lanna culture in northern Thailand. Local temples are packed with families who offer foods and donations to monks and pray for the peaceful spirits of their ancestors. Meanwhile, young Thai and Lao people have enjoyed water fights on Mae Sai-Chiang Saen Road by the Mekong River since morning. In Lamphun and Phichit provinces, local people wear their beautiful traditional clothes, make merits for their ancestors, bathe Buddha images, extend New Year wishes to old people and seek their blessings. In the Northeast, crowds of local people and tourists participate in a ceremony to bathe the pinnacle of the revered Phra That Phanom pagoda in Nakhon Phanom province. In Kantharalak district of Si Sa Ket province, Thai and Cambodian soldiers and community leaders met to traditionally bathe Buddha images, exchange best wishes on the Songkran occasion and share a meal to boost bilateral relations. Meanwhile, a large number of Songkran celebrants start returning from upcountry to Bangkok. At the Hat Yai train station in the southern Songkhla province, travelers arrived to buy tickets Tuesday morning. All train seats from the South to Bangkok are fully reserved until April 19 while local trains are packed. In Satun province tourists are returning from islands to go to work Wednesday. The local Pak Bara port facing the Andaman Sea is presently crowded.(TNA)