Thailand's New Year revelers leave for holiday

BANGKOK, December 30 (TNA) - Traffic on highways leading to the Thai North and Northeast becomes extremely busy on Friday, the last working day for 2011, as holidaymakers are leaving Bangkok for spending the New Year festival with their relatives and friends in provincial areas. Buses leaving the Thai capital for the upcountry have been packed; while concerned officials have set up centres at bus terminals to facilitate the outbound passengers. A similar scene has also occurred at bus stations in other provinces; while motorists have been strictly checked to ensure that there are no drunk drivers. Not only the inter-provincial buses, but trains have also packed with passengers. In the northern Chiang Mai Province, for instance, a number of people have scrambled for seats on third-class bogies free of charges, prompting State Railway of Thailand (SRT) officials to have urged the passengers not to climb to the train roof for their safety. Meanwhile, government-run Transport Company Limited projected that at least 200,000 people were leaving Bangkok for their hometowns on December 30 alone, as New Year revelers were forming long lines at Bangkok’s Mo Chit central bus terminal waiting to leave the city. Queuing a few hours for bus tickets can be expected for those who have not made prior arrangements for their New Year travelling. Transport Company Limited President Wuttichart Kalaynamitr has assured, however, that no one will be stranded at bus terminals nationwide during the ongoing New Year celebrations. (TNA)