Parade

Music

00:07

Thompson:  Slowly but surely these people are going bonkers. In fact, the madder the better in north east Thailand town.

Music

00:16

Thompson:   This festival is all about grabbing the attention of the gods, by so disgusting them with human indulgence that they send rain to wash all the evil away.

Banner being raised on balloons

00:29

Thompson:  Once the festival starts, almost no one sleeps - even if they want to.

Music

00:39

Thompson:  Monstrous sound systems blare all day and all night. Throughout the town, people are getting down, and back up.

Thompson on stage dancing

Ton: Interview

00:50

Even the odd visiting farang, or foreigner, is likely to be hauled up on stage and do something they'll regret.

Ton now lives in Bankok.  This is the one time he can come home and be..herself.

01:11

...............

Thompson

01:17

The mystery of how cross-dressing, drinking and religion came to be so mixed up is solved by local anthropologist, Professor Suriya Samuutkupt.

Suriya interview

01:35

Suriya:  Basically it's about sex, about intercourse, about perversiveness. Everyone has to drink and get and get drunk. There's no social order. Males dress like females, they would use phallic symbols, all kinds and all sizes. That creates the chaotic situation. And now the Creator up in heaven must do something and must release the rain. The rain will stop that behaviour. And they could get on with living by growing rice.

Guy selling rockets

02:02

Thompson:   But if the gods aren't watching, the rains won't come.  It's generally agreed that rockets are the best way to knock on heaven's door.

Kaew and Thompson with rockets

02:11

Kaew is one of Yasu Thon's many backyard rocketeers. Tomorrow his rocket will compete with dozens of others, for the honour of staying up the longest.

Kaew

02:24

Kaew:  My rockets always float up into the sky. Always.  Last year we won second prize.  If the judge was impartial we would  have won first prize.  But I didn't want to have a bullfight with them.

Guys build rocket

02:46

Thompson:  Kaew and his rocket men insist on mixing round the clock drinking with cigarettes and gunpowder. 

Kaew smoking

Thompson:   Is it dangerous to smoke near the rocket?

Kaew:   It's prohibited.

03:05

Thompson:  Have you ever blown yourself up?

Kaew:   Sometimes.  A big flame blows up if the cigarette touches the gunpowder.  It's a sure thing.

03:19

Thompson:  While the rocket men compress their gunpowder for maximum thrust, not everyone is looking forward to the launch.

Farmer Noi on tractor

03:29

Farmer Noi wants the rain, but worries about what else will fall from the sky. His home lies right in the path of where the rockets land.

Noi:  I watch the smoke trail. If it comes straight at me I have to run away.

Fireworks

04:07

Thompson:  The night before the big rockets are launched, the town warms up with more conventional missiles. But you quickly realise that this is a little less regulated than cracker nights at home.

04:22

Thompson:   And it's fun for the whole family, as the crowd hurls dangerous explosives.

Music

Kaew dancing/beauty contestants

04:33

Thompson:   While the fireworks get higher, so do the townsfolk. By dawn, about the only one still sober are these beauty contestants. They're vying for the title of - you guessed it - Miss Rocket. While others have been getting off their faces, Yui's been packing hers on.

04:52

It took me since midnight, she tells us. But you have to be patient to be beautiful.

Rocket inspector

Over at the launching site, things are looking uglier. The rocket inspector - in drag - makes a final check on Kaew's entry. It's now ready for its holy mission.

05:10

Suriya:  The earth is female, so when it comes at this time, so it create the fertility which responsible for the rice to feed all of us.

Guys carrying rocket

Men Drinking

05:24

Thompson:  This is the closest thing Thailand has to a space program. In the mission control bunker, a team of skilled technicians ensures that maximum safety standards are observed.

Rocket

05:51

The first rocket takes off with a deafening roar. And Farmer Noi and his family begin a day of dodging huge clumps of bamboo and plastic.

06:20

Soon on the horizon will be Kaew's pride and joy.  The crew still faces the awesome challenge of remaining upright while it hauls the rocket up a platform, an effort not helped by mission control firing a seven metre rocket just ten metres away.

FX:  Rocket

06:44

Thompson:   Not that the crowd appears particularly concerned.

Kaew's rocket is away and there's a confident response from his rocket men. Not so confident is Noi's family, under constant bombardment by their friends in town.

Noi family watch rockets

07:00

Wife:  Go away! Don't come!  Drop! Drop! Drop!  Quick! Quick! Quick!

Noi:  Don't run, kids... 

Noi:  There... over there... The wind blew it in that direction. Down there in the water! There, at Grandpa Tai's.

07:22

Thompson:  Noi's brother returns with the heavenly messenger's earthly remains.

An assessment is made of the damage it could have done to the family home.

Noi examine rocket

Noi:  Half of the house would be ruined...

Wife:   I can't even talk about it.

Noi:   It would totally destroy it.

Rain on parade

07:42

Thompson:  In the end, Kaew's rocket didn't deliver first prize. But it did help the heaven's open.

Right on cue, came the cold shower.

07:54

These practitioners of pious perversity can now get back to normal. At least till next year.

END

08:06

Credits:

Reporter:  Geoff Thompson

Producer:  Eric Campbell

Camera:  Dean Johnson

Sound:  Katie Gunn

Editor:  David Leland

Research:  Sompon