Thais enjoy festive season ahead of new year

Festive season kicked off in Thailand on Sunday, the Christmas Day, ahead of the long New Year holiday with a large number of crowds shopping for food and gifts and booking tickets to return to their homes upcountry. All northbound trains were fully booked from Dec. 27 till Jan. 4 next year. In the northeastern Si Sa Ket province, the Thai-Cambodian border town turned lively as Cambodian people crossed over at Chong Sa-ngam border crossing to buy goods in preparation for New Year festivities. Down in the South, Christmas and New Year celebrations are also in full swing. Some homestays on a resort island in Songkhla province have been fully packed with tourists since last Friday until after the New Year period. Meanwhile, the ABAC Poll Happiness Center on Sunday revealed the well-being index of Thais in term of economic conditions, indicating it has improved, but remained lower than the benchmark of 100 points. The poll said the overall happiness index, however, found Thai people are almost happy with the scores at 98.3 points and that they wanted all parties to help maintain a good political situation and to prevent more conflicts which could disrupt the happiness of citizens.