Tourists gather on a sacred mountain in Ubon for New Year sunrise
Scores of visitors climbed the sacred mountain Pha Taem National Park is named after on Saturday afternoon to witness this year’s first sunrise from a cliff top overlooking the Mekong River in Ubon Ratchathani's Khong Chiam district on Sunday morning.
Although the temperature was cool, both foreign and Thai tourists waited overnight on the mountain in the national park, which stretches along the Mekong River opposite a protected forest in Laos.
Local musicians began playing traditional instruments, including the khene, at 4.30am as visitors waited for the sun to rise above the mountain range in Laos’ Phou Xieng Thong National Protected Area.
Pha Taem National Park is known for its dipterocarp forest cover and prehistoric rock paintings. It also attracts tourists for the first sunrise of the year. Besides the spectacular view, many visitors believe that witnessing the sunrise from the sacred mountain will bring prosperity – for at least one lifetime.
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