THAILAND TRAVEL NEWS: The 2009 Pattaya International Balloon Festival gets underway on December 10 with more than 40 competitors from Japan, Finland, the Netherlands, the UK and Thailand taking part.

The colourful four day event is one of the few “shaped” balloon events in Asia and as such promises to provide a visual spectacle of hot air balloons of different designs taking to the sky.

At night, there will be a “Night Glow” show featuring glowing fancy balloons and the Asian debut of “Light and Sound Model Balloon” by 20 crews from Germany.

The 2009 Pattaya International Balloon Festival is being held at the Thammasat University, Pattaya campus, Highway 36, Banglamung, Chon Buri province, with the competitions getting underway not long after sunrise each day.

The event is free for the public to attend and features a MIss Balloon 2009 beauty contest, and a live concert each day from 6.30pm by bands including Boy Peacemaker, ETC, Calorie Blah Blah, Paradox, Am Fine, Ford Sobchai, Lao Lom, and M Attapol.

There will also be free live screenings of three different Thai feature movies from Saha Mongkol Film each night.

The 2009 Pattaya International Balloon Festival is being staged for the fourth year in Pattaya and competitors are expected to add considerable splashes of brightness to Pattaya’s blue sky.

By John Le Fevre

Thailand Travel News for November 30, 2009