The Mekong river is a mighty one.

Born in the mountains of far off Tibet, it makes its way down through China, Mynamar (Burma), Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia before reaching the sea. Along it's length there are legends of an inhabitant of the river, Naga the Serpent king.

The earliest stories of the Serpent King say that Naga is a god of an underwater kingdom called Muang Badan, god with almighty powers who watches over the people living in the Mekong basin. His kingdom is said to stretch right across the world, connected through a vast underground ocean that no man has ever seen.

So embedded in local folklore is the Serpent King, that his shape is reflected in the architecture, in paintings and ancient carvings on old stone walls. In the Golden Triangle, where Mynamar, Thailand and Laos meet, there stands a temple, shaped like a coiled serpent that rises up on the Laotian side of the thundering Mekon.

There is a strange phenomenon that occurs every year in this remote part of the world in Northern Thailand. In October, mysterious lights rise up into the sky, these are not simply plumes of luminescent gas, but balls of light that dance around on the wind. Every year thousands of people witness these lights, which appear when there is full moon towards the end of October.

Witnesses say that the lights appear first underwater, and then float towards the surface, where they stay for a few minutes. And then they shoot suddenly upwards into the night sky, where they hover for about ten minutes and then fly apart.

They are the size of basketballs. Some local people call them the Nekha lights, and attribute them to a fish that swims in the Mekong. Others say that it is the wife of the Serpent King, Naga, releasing her eggs into the world. Little is known about the Naga lights, except that they are real and occur evey full moon in October. It really is a fascinating mystery.

Some skeptics claim that they are rockets set up by skillful locals to draw tourists here, they certainly do a roaring trade in the hotels, bars and selliing gimracks and geegaws. However, the lights have been seen since time immemorial, and are very much part of the local folklore that believe them to be the eggs of Naga the Serpent Kings wife.

Attempts to establish the true nature of this amazing spectacle have never been able to establish the cause, man-made or natural. What is clear is that if it is a hoax, then it's been going on for centuries. Some scientists say that it could be explained by the fact that at this time of the year, there is a huge amount of decomposing plant and animal matter that falls to the bottom of the river. The river isn't very deep here, and the heat from the suns rays cause the rotting matter to emit flammable natural gases. Most of these just escape, but some remain in pockets under trapped under the surface.

At full moon, these bubbles are then literally 'pulled' from the mud, and explode when they are heated by the hot night air.

But that sounds like so much swamp gas to me!

yechydda,