Pairs of Lovers Nationwide Register Marriage on Valentine’s Day in Thailand

BANGKOK, Feb 14 (TNA) – Many thousand pairs of lovers nationwide choose Sunday, the St. Valentine’s Day, as the auspicious day in registering their marriage at district offices throughout Thailand. And the most favourite district office to register their wedlock is none other than Bang Rak district in central Bangkok. Bang Rak in Thai means ‘village of love’ and many Thai and foreign lovers on St. Valentine’s Day decided to register their marriage at the district office which has moved its marriage registration section to nearby General Post Office headquarters only for today. The reason for moving the section is simple. The district office does not have enough space for lovers lining up for marriage registration. Again, like the previous St. Valentine’s Day, the Bang Rak district office offers a marriage certificate made of gold valued 20,000 baht to the first couple who registered their marriage at the office. And the winner is 38-year-old Trairut Chaloeytrai and his beautiful bride Siriporn Boonnop, 37. Both have known each other more than decade ago and they arrived at the district office at about 5.00 a.m. in abid to win the gold plate marriage certificate. And they did. The two also received a free five-day honeymoon trip to South Korea and an accident insurance policy worth 2 million baht. The general atmosphere at a flower selling market in the northern capital of Chiang Mai, young men and women wandered around the market and bought red roses for their sweethearts and lovers. The price of a red rose at the market today jumped to between 20 – 30 baht from 5 to 8 baht only while a bunch of roses costs from 100 to around 1,000 baht, depending on the size. Although Sunday is a public holiday, Chiang Mai governor took time off and presided over marriage registration for more than 40 couples at the provincial district office. Some of them have lived together for a long time but decided to officially register their marriage today. In the southern district of Hat Yai, Songkhla province, most hotels have been booked in advance to organise wedding parties on the St. Valentine’s Day, the day of love. (TNA)