One of Thailand’s most extraordinary events, the annual Naga Fireball Festival, will be celebrated between 12 and 22 October in the northeastern area of Nong Khai.
Thousands of tourists come to the province to admire spectacular fireballs emerging from the Mekong. A local belief holds that the Nagas, half-human, half-cobra creatures living in the river, light fireballs at the end of Buddhist Lent as a sign of gratitude and devotion to Buddha. Scientists, who are more down-to-earth, attribute the spellbinding phenomenon to methane gas being released from underground.