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OVERTURES<br />
NEWS AND EVENTS<br />
<strong>2018</strong><br />
21OCT<br />
LUANG PRABANG<br />
THE MEKONG RUN<br />
Take to running for a real cause with the Luang<br />
Prabang Half Marathon – a goodwill run in the<br />
Unesco World Heritage Site on the Mekong<br />
River. Organised by the Lao Friends Hospital<br />
for Children, the charity race will take place<br />
on Sunday, <strong>Oct</strong>ober 21. Good for all fitness<br />
levels, the race offers three distances – 7<br />
kilometres, 14 kilometres and half marathon<br />
(21 kilometres). The starting and finishing line<br />
will be in front of the National Museum that<br />
was once a royal palace. With Luang Prabang<br />
tucked away in the mountainous valley of<br />
Northern Laos and sitting at the confluence<br />
of the Mekong and Khan rivers, the marathon<br />
takes runners along a route of Buddhist<br />
temples and colonial architecture. This annual<br />
race hopes to raise more than US$50,000 to<br />
benefit impoverished Lao children. The LPB Half<br />
Marathon will be providing free medical care<br />
for the children as well. Online registration, with<br />
an early-bird promotion rate, is available on its<br />
official website. luangprabanghalfmarathon.com<br />
<strong>2018</strong><br />
23OCT<br />
CHON BURI<br />
BUFFALO RACING FESTIVAL<br />
A different kind of race makes for a fun festival<br />
in <strong>Thai</strong>land. “Wing Kwai” or the Buffalo Racing<br />
Festival <strong>2018</strong>, held annually for more than 140<br />
years, takes place in front of Chon Buri City<br />
Municipality Office on 23 <strong>Oct</strong>ober, one day<br />
before the end of Buddhist Lent. The event<br />
follows the long period of hard work for farmers<br />
and buffaloes. You get to see water buffalo racing<br />
which is divided into various categories according<br />
to their age. Apart from the excitement of<br />
buffaloes racing each other, entertaining activities<br />
such as the Miss Farmer Beauty Contest, Buffalo<br />
Fashion Contest, the Healthiest Buffalo Contest<br />
round out the event. tourismthailand.org<br />
20-22OCT<br />
<strong>2018</strong><br />
MAE HONG SON<br />
CHONG PARA FESTIVAL<br />
Mae Hong Son in northern <strong>Thai</strong>land will be<br />
celebrating the Chong Para Festival signalling<br />
the end of the three-month long Buddhist<br />
Retreat on <strong>Oct</strong>ober 20-22, highlighted with<br />
a cultural performance from the Shan ethnic<br />
group. Dancers dressed in half-bird costumes<br />
move to percussive beats before a bonfire,<br />
transporting the visitor back some 100 years<br />
with the dances. The festival marks the Lord<br />
Buddha’s return from heaven after visiting<br />
his mother for three months. The Shan people<br />
in Mae Hong Son build small wooden castles,<br />
decorating them with colourful paper and<br />
illuminating them with lanterns that welcome<br />
the Lord Buddha. The festival begins with<br />
local folks bringing offerings to monks in the<br />
temples in a procession and carrying the<br />
models of castles on poles. Performed on<br />
temple grounds will be theatre and dance<br />
performances — some of them unique to<br />
northern <strong>Thai</strong>land. Mae Hong Son’s beautiful<br />
province setting fulfils a travellers’ notion<br />
of how a northern <strong>Thai</strong> city should be, with<br />
white-washed pagodas topped with golden<br />
parasols, women with thanaka powder on<br />
their cheeks going past, while the air fills<br />
with the smoke of cheroots.<br />
tourismthailand.org<br />
20
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