Phuket goes high-tech for Chalong Temple Fair fireworks

PHUKET: This year’s Chalong Temple Fair will feature the most impressive fireworks display ever seen in Phuket or anywhere else in the South of Thailand, organizers say.

This year’s fair runs for seven days, the first day coinciding with the arrival of Chinese New Year on February 3.

Samran Chindaphol, chairman of the organizing committee, said the fireworks display will take place on the last night of the event, February 9.

The computer-orchestrated pyrotechnics will include high-quality fireworks imported from China and Japan, he said.

Other entertainments staged during the fair will include traditional nang talung shadow puppet performances, likay folk operas and renditions of the Manorah play, for which the southern region is famous.

There will be many other exhibits and products for sale, including handicrafts manufactured under the government’s One Tambon One Product (Otop) program.

There will also be a religious ceremony at the temple hall starting at 7pm on February 2.

The organizers encourage merrymakers from all over Phuket and nearby provinces to come and enjoy the fair, which is the largest temple fair in Thailand.

— Stephen Fein