Thai-Myanmar monks to join New Year countdown prayers

PRACHUAP KHIRI KHAN, THAILAND, December 26 (TNA) - Thai and Myanmar Buddhist monks will join the upcoming New Year countdown prayers at the Singkorn Checkpoint, linking Thailand's upper southern Prachuap Khiri Khan Province with neighbouring Myanmar's Myiek or Mergui Province in the Tanintharyi Region. Prachuap Khiri Khan Governor Weera Sriwattanatrakul told journalists on Friday that his province and the Myanmar Myiek Province will co-organise the Thai-Myanmar New Year countdown prayers at the Singkorn Checkpoint, the only place in Thailand where such the cross-border religious event will be held, followed by another merit making activity in which Thai and Myanmar Buddhists offer alms to the monks in the early morning of January 1, as a New Year blessing to them. Weera said the New Year countdown prayers at the Singkorn Checkpoint is part of a Thai-Myanmar New Year fair at the checkpoint, the first of its kind, aimed to strengthen bilateral relations and to bring happiness to people of the two provinces and even the two neighbouring countries. According to the governor, he and Myanmar's Chief Minister of Tanintharyi Region and a board member of the Myiek Chamber of Commerce, U Myat Ko, will jointly preside over the opening of the cross-border fair, set from December 30, 2014-January 4, 2015, in which Thai-Myanmar cultural shows will also be exhibited. During the six-day fair, the opening hours of the Singkorn Checkpoint, situated in Prachaup Khiri Khan's Klong Wan area, will be extended from 8am-6pm to 8am-10pm daily. (TNA)