00:03A rocket roars across a field as cheering spectators look on.
00:07It crashes to the ground beneath the pagoda-shaped target,
00:11but despite the miss, the crowd's adrenaline is surging.
00:14Here in Thailand's Patum Thani province, the ethnic Mon community gathers each year
00:19to watch rockets like these tear across a 300-meter course
00:22and to see which of the two teams will win the best prizes for hitting their targets.
00:30At the end of a wire is the top of a pagoda. That's the biggest prize.
00:34There are also small prize boards, each carrying different prize money.
00:37But the biggest prize is at the top of the pagoda,
00:40which you win if you knock it over after the rocket hits.
00:47Locals have given this contest the name Luk Nu, or Little Rat.
00:51Unlike Thailand's other famous rocket festival, the goal isn't height, but accuracy.
00:56There are guide wires to keep the rockets on track,
00:59but no guarantees the rockets won't explode or careen in unexpected directions.
01:05The teams are made up of representatives from local temples
01:08who've developed a friendly rivalry over the years.
01:11It was in temples that these rockets originated.
01:14In the past, when a senior monk died,
01:17temples used rockets to light their funeral pyres.
01:19The evolution into a competition with targets is the work of a local official
01:24who says it's become a great show of community.
01:29We believe tradition must go hand-in-hand with the cultural heritage of the Man people.
01:33So I came up with the idea of making it a competition between temples.
01:37It is probably the only sport that brings together all the temples in Patamthani province,
01:41and it has been very well received.
01:44For the crowds that come to watch, though, the excitement comes from the suspense.
01:48The rockets might go anywhere.
01:50And with prizes ranging from 15 US dollars to more than 900 US dollars based on hits,
01:56there's good money at stake.
01:58I came to carry on the Thai tradition.
02:00Even though it rained today, I was determined to come and watch it.
02:06And the rockets, a symbol of non-culture and local identity, never disappoint.
02:11Klein Wang and John Van Trieste for Taiwan Plus.
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